Downpours set to hold up O'Brien's world record bid

Bad weather this weekend looks set to have a big say in Aidan O'Brien's march on a world record number of Group 1 wins this season.

The Ballydoyle handler could pick up two more top-grade victories at Leopardstown tomorrow with Duke Of Marmalade in the Irish Champion Stakes and a quartet of contenders in the Matron Stakes, while he is triple-handed in Haydock's Betfred Sprint Cup and has Henrythenavigator as team leader in Sunday's Prix du Moulin at Longchamp.

But instead of possibly taking his tally from 18 to 22, three shy of Bobby Frankel's world record of 25 wins, heavy rain looks set to ruin O'Brien's weekend.

Duke Of Marmalade is likely to be withdrawn if the expected downpours hit Leopardstown while Haydock's valuable card could be wiped out altogether.

O'Brien, who is happy with the ground at both Leopardstown and Longchamp at present, said: "The plan is to run Henrythenavigator on Sunday, but we wouldn't want it to get really soft for him.

"It's basically the same story with Duke Of Marmalade and the Leopardstown race. We'll be keeping the situation under review."

Haydock expects up to 30mm of rain this morning - the Met Office warn it could be 50mm - which would force clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright into announcing an inspection.

He said: "If we get 20-30mm of rain that would be a bore. There is going to be a limit. We will see what happens."