News round-up: The ground for the opening of the 2006 Flat season at the Curragh on Sunday will be testing and there could also be heavy going for Irish racing's headquarters on Monday with a local pressure group going to the High Court over the proposed new €90 million facelift to the track.
A group titled the "Friends of the Curragh Environment Ltd" is seeking a judicial review of An Bord Pleanála's decision to give the green light to planning permission for the revamp of the Curragh racecourse.
Work on the building of the new road at the back of the Current stands is set to start on April 1st and will be the first step in a massive project that will see the current stands torn down and replaced with a state-of-the-art facility for the 21st century.
However, any reversal in the High Court would throw the current timetable for construction into serious doubt and be a blow to the Turf Club's ambitions to have the new stands built and ready for use in the next couple of years.
"It would certainly mean a hold-up if the review is granted and one that could take a while," a Turf Club spokesman acknowledged yesterday.
If work does begin on schedule, the Curragh management insist there will be no disruption to the racing programme and the track's manager, Paul Hensey, said any impact will be "minimal".
Hensey also reported the going on the straight course is currently "heavy" while it's "soft" on the round course.
He doesn't expect any change by Sunday. "The forecast is for a cold-day week and I wouldn't expect any dramatic improvement at this time of the year," he said.
The feature contest on Sunday will be the Group Three Park Express Stakes over a mile and Aidan O'Brien has left in the Epsom Oaks second favourite Chenchikova among the 16 entries for the race.
The full-sister to the double Derby and double Breeders' Cup winner High Chapparal is currently a 14 to 1 shot with Ladbrokes for the Oaks and is 33 to 1 for the 1,000 Guineas on the back of her winning Tipperary debut last September.
O'Brien has also left in two other fillies but another of the Classic crop on view could be the John Dunlop-trained Manbala who won the third of her three starts as a juvenile in a Group Three at the San Siro in Milan.
The stand-out name among the older horses in the race appears to be the Jim Bolger-trained six-year-old Tropical Lady while Rae Guest's Bahia Breeze is the only British entry.
A total of 41 remain in the ladbroke.com Irish Lincolnshire including the former winners Tolpuddle and Victram who landed the Imperial Cup at Sandown on his last start. Mick Channon's Nottingham winner Chrysander is the sole cross-channel entry.
There will be a number of maiden races on the eight-race Curragh card, including the concluding mile event which includes the John Oxx-trained Derby entry King In Waiting, a full brother to the Classic-placed Let The Lion Roar.
"He is in on Sunday and the plan is to run. He goes on soft ground," Oxx said yesterday.
