Curragh ground heavy ahead of Irish Guineas

Participants in the 2009 Irish Guineas are looking at heavy ground conditions this weekend following further rain on the Curragh Racecourse.

Another inch of rain fell on the home of Irish thoroughbred racing on Tuesday, further softening a racecourse that has been steadily drenched over the past week.

A soft course will provide a very different spectacle to that which was offered at the Newmarket Guineas, where very firm ground played a role in producing upset winners in both the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas.

There are, however, concerns that additional rain could rule out racing over the weekend. Forecasts show a lifting of the heavy weather towards the weekend, which should be sufficient to allow racing to take place at the Curragh.

“It’s been dry on Wednesday afternoon, but there is the possibility of further showers,” racecourse manager Paul Hensey was quoted as saying by the Press Association. “From Thursday onwards we are expecting significant improvement in the weather.”

“There will be occasional showers but nothing like we’ve experienced over the last few days. It’s been desperate. Up to eight o’clock on Wednesday we’d had 23 millimetres of rain in the previous 24-hour period and we’d had 12mm on Monday. The course has taken it well enough, but it just needs an opportunity to dry and to soak up the rain and it will be fine if it does.”

“We’ve been raceable, but we don’t need another day like Tuesday, that would leave us in trouble.”