BALLINDENISK International Horse Trials, due to kick off at Peter Fell's farm in Co Cork tomorrow (Thursday), has been cancelled.

Following a course inspection this morning (Wednesday), Fell was left with no choice but to cancel the first Irish international event of the year.

Speaking to The Irish Field after the announcement, Fell said the unforecasted rain on Tuesday night "pushed us over the edge".

He extended his sympathy to the riders who were arriving at the venue to the disappointing news. "We have 12 or 14 lorries here at the moment. The riders are very disappointed, one rider here needed qualification for WEG.

"I really feel so sorry for the riders, I am meeting them now as they are all coming in and I want to go and apologise to them."

Ultimately the decision was made on the grounds of safety. "Safety is the absolute and utter paramount of the whole thing. We have to make sure it's a safe and fair competition. We can't be sitting afterwards and saying oh God, we shouldn't have run this. If the rain hadn't come last night, we would have been okay to run," he added.

International riders were travelling for 10 countries, with 32 competitors from Britain alone.

A spokesperson for Eventing Ireland said Tyrella has now opened for additional entires until 12pm today.