Horse Racing Weather Watch and Going Reports

[Old Vic]

Ffos Las Friday and Towcester Sunday gone.

Exeter & Navan Inspecting

[Old Vic]

Haydock

Following Friday's card at the course, the going was officially described as soft, heavy in places, and clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright said: "The chase course will have recovered by this evening - we only had 11 chasers running today - and the hurdles will be moved. And the bends will be on fresh ground.

"The forecast is for no more rain before the end of racing tomorrow and the ground has ridden better today than some were expecting."

[Navanman]

Navan goes ahead

Kempton Monday : The going for tomorrow's meeting, which features a Listed hurdle for mares, is now soft (from good to soft, soft in places) following 9mm of rain yesterday. Today's forecast is mainly dry, but more rain is expected tomorrow.

[Old Vic]

NEWCASTLE'S card on Saturday, which features the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle, was on Friday morning rated as "fifty-fifty," by clerk of the course James Armstrong, following temperatures dropping well below freezing overnight

[Old Vic]

The much-anticipated clash between Sprinter Sacre and Sanctuaire on Saturday will need to defy overnight temperatures forecast to dip below zero on Friday night.

After studying the weather forecasts for the week, Cooper believes that temperatures will be at their coldest on Wednesday and Friday nights, meaning that the whole of the hurdle and chase courses will be covered as a precaution.

"In weather terms, it's an interesting week with quite a lot happening," he told sportinglife.com.

"After about 10mm of rain on Monday, I am giving the ground as soft, with good to soft places on the chase course and heavy places on the hurdle course.

"The coldest night of the week we are expecting to be Wednesday night, where it looks like it will get down to -2 to -3C, with some sleety rain forecast to arrive Thursday into Friday and clearing going into Friday morning.

"In view of the overall forecast between now and Saturday I feel we've got to put the covers down.

"The prospect of snow falling on top of the covers was obviously something we considered, but although it could turn a bit sleety at times, this far south I think it will be much more likely be rain than snow. The far greater risk would be to leave the place uncovered.

"The covers are permeable and although they will soak up some of the moisture, the rain will get through if it arrives and I can't see the ground drying up much between now and the weekend. Indeed, on the hurdles course, it could potentially be heavy."

[Hoof]

ASCOT clerk of the course Chris Stickels has said he is concerned for their headline Saturday fixture as rain continues to fall on the already heavy-ground racecourse.

RELATED LINKS
Saturday cards*
After heavy rain all week the track was extremely soft before rain began to fall early on Saturday morning. Since then there has been continuous rainfall, with more forecast throughout the day.
Stickels said: "It has been raining since about 2am in the morning - I'm afraid I'm out of the track and I haven't been near a rain gauge in an hour now. There is rain forecast all day.

"At the moment we are okay but I can't tell you much more than that. The ground is taking it quite well at the minute. I'm concerned, of course, as it's raining and it's heavy ground and the forecast is for it to continue to rain.

"I can't look at the whole track all the time so it's very hard to get a potential chance of racing going ahead. I would say to racegoers we're in the lap of the gods, it's going to continue raining all day and it's variable how much rain it can take."

Elsewhere, Haydock passed an early morning inspection but Navan's meeting was lost due to a waterlogged track.

[Old Vic]

cheltenham new years day gone

[Lester]

Course Sandown Park
Next Race Saturday 5th January
Report Date Tuesday 1st January; 14:30
Going Heavy (Soft in places), (Little in way of standing water but ground saturated and currently false in several places - unraceable)
GoingStick
Additional Information

[Hoof]

all dry next few days should be ok

[Old Vic]

Nothing above freezing between now and Ascot in latest forecast

[Lester]

Ascot, whose card features the Victor Chandler Chase in which Sprinter Sacre is due to run, reports below-zero temperatures at night, with daytime highs not getting above freezing and with snow in the forecast for Friday and Saturday.

"We were disappointed to see snow come into the equation again. We remain hopeful but we've got to consider that racing has got to be under a bit of a threat for that forecast," said the clerk of the course, Chris Stickels.

"We don't want to take the covers off too soon because temperatures will remain below freezing, about minus 3C on Thursday night and Friday night. They will remain on for the moment and we will review the situation.

"I think we will end up leaving them down in case the snow doesn't come. We are obviously thinking about an inspection but we were raceable today and will give an update on Thursday."

[Sprinter]

A COMBINATION of freezing temperatures and forecast snow means Ascot's meeting on Saturday, featuring the Victor Chandler Chase, is now subject to an inspection at 4.30pm on Friday.

RELATED LINKS
Ascot card*
Frost covers have been down at the course sine last Saturday, but a run of freezing nights is beginning to have an effect, as clerk of the course Chris Stickels said on Thursday morning: "It was -4C again last night and temperatures didn't get above freezing yesterday.

"Temperatures are set to stay low for the weekend and there is some evidence that the frost is beginning to get in under the covers, so things have deteriorated a bit since yesterday."

"Im pretty confident we could race today, but can't be sure unless I took the covers off which I don't intend to do and the temperatures and forecast snow are a bit of a worry. The snow is not forecast until lunchtime on Friday which is why we're looking in the afternoon."

[JohnC]

7/1 for Ascot to go ahead on Betfair.
1/33 not to be on

[Lester]

Cheltenham trials day in the balance

[Lester]

Growing concern about the possible abandonment of Saturday's star-studded card at Cheltenham has prompted officials to make plans to save some or all of its races and stage them on an alternative date. Details are in short supply but it is thought that one of the options being considered is simply holding the whole card over to Sunday.

"Over the last few days, we've been discussing the options for rescheduling Festival Trials day, should it not be able to take place on Saturday," said Andy Clifton, a spokesman for Cheltenham racecourse. "We're not in a position to go into details just now," he added but expressed the hope that more news might be available at some point , by which time more will be known about likely weather conditions this weekend.

Robin Mounsey, a spokesman for the British Horseracing Authority, echoed those comments. "Contingency plans are being considered but it is far too early to suggest what will happen," he said.

It remains the case that the turf itself is unfrozen and raceable, groundsmen having laid frost covers all around the course a week ago but the covers are under snow, cannot be moved and no thaw is yet evident. More snow is forecast for Tuesday.

Coral opened a market as to whether Cheltenham's card would go ahead as scheduled, offering 4-6 that it would and 11-10 that it would not. Within two hours, abandonment was backed down to 4-6 favourite.

Channel 4 are understood to have been involved in the discussions about alternative dates for Festival Trials day but a spokeswoman for the broadcaster would not be drawn about whether the card might be shown if held over to Sunday afternoon, for which the 1982 film Annie is scheduled. Without coverage by Channel 4, the card's sponsors are unlikely to be willing to make the same commitment to prize money as for Saturday.

But prize money may not be the main motivating force for connections of many of the 133 entrants for Festival Trials day, who are instead likely to be focused on a desire to test their horses at Cheltenham's final meeting before the March Festival. Bobs Worth, Grand Crus and Imperial Commander are among the big names entered for the Argento Chase, while Oscar Whisky and Peddlers Cross are in the Cleeve Hurdle. Tidal Bay is entered for both while the rest of the card features The New One, Bold Sir Brian and Katenko.

Imperial Commander was reported to be "great" and "lovely" for his first outing in almost two years by his trainer, Nigel Twiston-Davies, who said: "I'm really looking forward to running him. He hasn't had a lot of racing in his life and I don't see why he can't be as good as he was."

In support of that contention, Twiston-Davies pointed to his recently retired Hello Bud, who came close to a career best performance in his final race last month, winning Aintree's Becher Chase three weeks before his official 15th birthday. But the trainer, who is based about 12 miles east of Cheltenham, said he was not optimistic that the track would be able to race. "I think they're being a bit hopeful," he said . "I don't think it's going to melt in time."

Twiston-Davies queried why, if snow is the only problem, it could not simply be shovelled off to the side of the course. In response, Clifton said: "It's not quite as simple as that," but offered the assurance that if, by Thursday, it appeared the meeting could be saved by such a means, it would be done.