Officials at the Curragh are keeping an eye on the weather ahead of the start of the Irish Flat season on Sunday.

Although the fixture, featuring the BetVictor Irish Lincolnshire, is not in doubt, further rain is forecast which could turn the ground heavy.

“The ground is soft, but we are watching the forecast very carefully as we have some heavy rain forecast for tonight and into tomorrow morning and that will dictate things,” said general manager Paul Hensey.

“If it misses us we will still be on soft ground, but if we get all the rain they are talking about, we will probably be on heavy ground.

“They say we could have up to an inch but have backtracked a bit and, fingers crossed, it might not be as bad as originally forecast.

“The meeting is not in doubt at the moment. It isn’t ideal if we got that rain and started the season off on heavy ground for Flat horses early in the year.

“It’s a good competitive card. The Lincolnshire looks like being a very good race and there is some quality and some nicely-bred two-year-olds in the first race as well.

“That two-year-old race has turned out to be a fantastic race over the years and Dawn Approach won it last year and we had future Group One horses in it the year before as well. It takes a bit of winning.”