RACING at Cork on Tuesday was abandoned after just four races, due to high winds at the course.

The opening contests on the eight-race card had taken place without incident, but persistently strong winds became worse during the fourth race. A decision to delay the fifth, the Listed Navigation Stakes, by 30 minutes was taken in the hope the winds would die down, but dangerously high winds persisted.

A statement from the IHRB said: “Following the running of race four, the Raceday Stewards heard from a delegation of Senior Riders, the IHRB clerk of the course and the Racecourse Manager, in relation to the deteriorating weather conditions.

“Having considered all the evidence and in the [interest of] safety of everyone involved, the Raceday Stewards abandoned the remaining four races.”

More to come

The meeting began with the success of El Domino (4/1) in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden, continuing the excellent form of trainer Andy Slattery and son, jockey Andrew Slattery.

The son of Ardad raced prominently and, having led a furlong out, scored readily by two lengths from Spirit Of The Nile.

Slattery senior stated: “He is a lovely horse, but was weak and immature. He had two weeks on the walker after his run the last day, due to sore shins, and that’s him finished now for the year. We’ll geld him during the week.

“His owner Noel McElholm is 87 and couldn’t make the trip today. He previously had Poppadom with us, so replaced him with this horse. He is just very immature and will be a lovely three-year-old. It is grand to get this win into him.”

Murtagh’s Pink Venom backs up in style

JOHNNY Murtagh’s Pink Venom (1/1 favourite) registered consecutive nursery wins in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Nursery, when following up a recent Fairyhouse success.

Ridden by Ben Coen, the Noel Hartley-owned filly was initially held up in rear, but improved to lead over a furlong out and went on to beat Whosinterviewinwho by a length and three-quarters, with another four and a half lengths back to the third.

Coen commented: “She is a nice filly, who did that well. We probably hit the front too soon, but once I had her rolling on that ground, I wanted to keep her going.

“Hopefully, she can stay progressing and is a very genuine filly. We’ve always liked her, so it was nice to see her go and do it. It is tough going with the headwind, but it’s Ireland, you get used to it!”

Toughness tells

As Thesecretadversary prepares for the Prix de la Foret on Sunday, his close relation Saint Agatha (6/1) got off the mark for the same connections, Fozzy Stack, Cayton Park Stud and Mrs John Magnier, in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies’ Handicap.

Placed on two of her five previous starts, the daughter of St Mark’s Basilica was pushed along to lead before the final furlong and quickened away from My Cubby Bear to score by three and three-quarter lengths under Seamie Heffernan.

Heffernan reported: “I thought plenty of her last year and she had a very good first run at the Curragh, but has disappointed since. She has been working well on the grass lately and Fozzy said the ground wouldn’t be a problem.

“She was down to a mark of which we thought she was way above and hopefully now she can get back up to what we thought she was. Fozzy’s are trained to be tough and, when the ground gets slow, toughness comes into it.”

Long time coming

The WTW Willis Handicap over six furlongs proved to be the finale, and went to the Ger Keane-trained Verified (9/2 favourite) in the silks of Mrs E. Keane.

The five-year-old gelding was a 24-race maiden coming into the 19-runner race and, as the wind picked up, Gary Carroll’s patiently-ridden mount finished with a wet sail to score from Pansy Poe.

The winning trainer said: “He is a grand horse and has been waiting for that ease in the ground. He had form on this ground here before we got him and we had been looking for a race all year for him. This ground and race came just at the right time.

“Gary rides a lot of work for us, had ridden this horse at home and, with Colin initially due to be elsewhere today, we left Gary on.

“He probably wants that six furlongs and there’s a race for him in Navan next week.”