Such was the downpour, the track quickly became waterlogged, forcing the racing committee to cancel the last eight races.

"A couple'' of drivers reportedly protested the decision, but track spokesman Michael DaCosta said yesterday the track was "definitely'' dangerous, not only to drivers and horses but also operators of the public announcement system.

Earlier, however, several ponies moved up to faster time bars.

Tony Adcock's Diamondway broke his own record for a trotter when he covered the half mile in 1:09. He now moves up to the Junior Free-For-All along with Timmy Boyle's Shamrock Temujen.

Miss Tuffer Road, owned and driven by Leslie Wolffe and Miss L.L.Dane, owned by the Mello family, both moved up to the 1:12/2-1:13/4 time bar.

The other two ponies who will race at a higher level at the next meet are Bermuda Warrior driven by Francis DeSilva and the Wilson stables' Grand Willy, driven by Johnnie Five.

Fancy That, owned and driven by Charles Whited sr, won her first race of the season as she edged Speedway Jr and Just Cruising.

The only double winner of the day was Motown Scott while Championne County won her first heat in the 1:10-1:12/1 time bar, making David Lopes the day's top driver with three wins.

SQUASH SQU Top Bermudian junior squash player Nick Kyme was pipped at the post during his first venture overseas in the Under-19 category.

Kyme, who turned 16 earlier this month, narrowly lost in the final of the Choate Invitational Squash Championships, a United States Squash Racquets Association sanctioned event, held in Connecticut over the weekend.

Playing his third match of the day -- his fifth in two days -- Kyme ran out of steam after going two games up against Andrew Merrill, losing 4-9, 7-9, 9-6, 9-1, 9-7.

Merrill was the top seed and ranked number two among the New England region at the end of last year.

Hours earlier Kyme had breezed to an easy 9-3, 9-2, 9-4 victory over second seeded David Grote of Cincinnati.

During the week Kyme managed to down Merrill during an inter-school league match, which resulted in a similar 3-2 score.

Kyme was coming off a successful month in December, which saw him reach the quarter-finals of the US and Scottish Open Under-16 Championships.

SNOOKER SNO The finals of the Gosling Cup will be played on Tuesday, February 11 at the Old Colony Club, starting at 8.00 p.m, when St.George's Dinghy and Sports Club I will meet Old Colony Club I in the best-of-five match.

Entries for the Bermuda Open singles and doubles championship will close this Friday. Entry forms can be picked up from Old Colony Club. Late entries will not be accepted.

The International Snooker League tournament will be played in May. Winner of the Open singles will represent Bermuda as well as two other players, plus a reserve. A play-off will be held in April to complete the team.

BRIDGE BDG The Bermuda Regional Bridge tournament got underway on Saturday with more than 500 participants taking part in the Ernie Owen Charity Pairs, the first event of the week-long competition.

Winners were Wendy Dooley and Donald Sutherland of Canada while the top local pair were David Sykes and Lynn O'Neil.

There were six 14-table sections and placing first in Section A were the pairs of Alan Douglas and Ian Harvey, Joe Wakefield and Ethel Birnbaum of Portland, Oregon, Audrey Smith and Margery Cowan of Canada and David Pereira and Barry Rahman.

Sunday saw an even larger crop appearing in the Masters and Non-masters Pairs, with Dave Willis and Julia Rowlands of Canada tying Rebecca Rogers and Bobby Wolfe of Texas for the top spot.

Wolfe is rated among the best Bridge players of all time, having won numerous world titles. And it looked as if he and Rogers would have first all to themselves on Sunday but, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, Rogers highlighted a scoring error in her favour to the tournament director, meaning she and her partner could only tie.

Top Bermudians in the category were Alan Douglas and David Cordon, who placed eighth.

Section winners in the Masters were Jack Rhind and Charles Vaucrosson, Jake Wakefield and Dick Hart and Vera Petty and Mike Cornes.