{"id":296436,"date":"2026-02-13T18:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/296436\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T18:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:36:07","slug":"freezing-conditions-threaten-weekend-jumps-action-in-ireland-and-britain-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/296436\/","title":{"rendered":"Freezing conditions threaten weekend jumps action in Ireland and Britain \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rare gap in seemingly incessant rain is being filled by freezing conditions that threaten to disrupt this weekend\u2019s jumping action<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gowran\u2019s Red Mills Chase card on Saturday relies on the track passing an 8am inspection. Temperatures nationally could get as low as -4 overnight. The track was raceable on Friday.<\/p>\n

Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board <\/a>clerk of the course Paddy Graffin is \u201chopeful\u201d of racing going ahead with temperatures expected to rise quickly in the morning.<\/p>\n

Up to 8mm of forecast rainfall mixed in with the freezing conditions means the situation at Punchestown is being monitored in advance of Sunday\u2019s card featuring the \u20ac100,000 1xbet Grand National Trial. Fairyhouse was waterlogged on Friday in advance of Monday\u2019s card at the Co Meath track.<\/p>\n

In Britain<\/a>, no problems are anticipated for Saturday\u2019s Grade One action in the Betfair Ascot Chase. However, Wincanton and Haydock will have to pass 8am inspections due to forecast sub-zero overnight temperatures.<\/p>\n

It all makes for a rather more gruelling than romantic St Valentine\u2019s Day scenario, although there will be plenty of sentimental feelings if Jonbon can secure a 12th Grade One career victory in the Ascot feature.<\/p>\n

JP McManus\u2019s stalwart is odds-on to score at the track where he won the Clarence House last month. Harry Cobden, who takes over as McManus\u2019s number-one jockey next season, had been due to ride Jonbon on that occasion but had to cry off due to injury from an earlier fall. Ironically, Cobden is on probably Jonbon\u2019s biggest danger, Pic D\u2019Orhy, winner of the race for the last two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a bit concerned about the weather, like everyone, as he\u2019s not madly in love with soft ground,\u201d said Jonbon\u2019s trainer Nicky Henderson. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going up to a proper trip now for the first time, so it\u2019ll be interesting to say the least. The natural progression from here is the Ryanair [Chase, at Cheltenham]. He won the Clarence House last time at Ascot over two, but stamina won the day when it finally kicked in, so I\u2019d be fairly hopeful of him staying.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has won over 2\u00bd [miles] at Aintree, but that is a different place altogether,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Heavy ground at Gowran <\/a>is famously testing and hardly an ideal prospect for the five-time Grade One winner Impaire Et Passe, who makes a belated start to the season in the Red Mills Chase.<\/p>\n

He faces just three opponents, but it\u2019s an intriguing contest where none of the four can be ruled out. Sa Fureur hasn\u2019t run over fences in more than a year, but on figures has a shot at getting the better of Impaire Et Paase and, crucially, he will have no trouble with the conditions.<\/p>\n

Storm Heart set a 147-rating standard in the earlier Red Mills Trial Hurdle. His stable companion, Kawamboonga, is much less exposed and hasn\u2019t run in more than a year. However, his maiden hurdle form looks solid and Willie Mullins issued an upbeat bulletin during the week.<\/p>\n

Gordon Elliott has won five of the last six National Trials and is due to run six in Sunday\u2019s race. Gavin Cromwell has three hopefuls, and the trainer has put Eoin Staples on The Lovely Man, a winner over hurdles last time and proven on heavy ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rare gap in seemingly incessant rain is being filled by freezing conditions that threaten to disrupt this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2860,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-296436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-horse-racing","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}