Leopardstown optimistic for Christmas Officials at Leopardstown are more than hopeful that the big upcoming four-day Christmas fixture will be able to go ahead. However, today's meetings at Navan and Thurles fell by the wayside and were joined by tomorrow's scheduled fixture at Punchestown. "We're not in a bad condition. We had a slight dusting of snow overnight but we don't have any frost in the ground," said Leopardstown racecourse manager Tom Burke. "The forecast going forward is there is a risk of some snow showers up to Tuesday evening but at the moment, there is nothing too serious coming up. "There is an indication of a lift of temperatures just going into Christmas and on the 26th some charts suggest we could get up to around 10C. The ground is soft at the moment." Navan and Thurles were hit by sub-zero temperatures overnight and their cancellation meant there was no racing in Ireland or Britain today. Turf Club press officer Cliff Noone said: "Both meetings are off following a severe overnight frost. Temperatures dipped below minus 10C overnight, so they had no chance." He added: "Punchestown have had to call Monday's meeting off. The track is frozen and they also have a covering of snow."
