3 minute read

Sandown’s Tingle Creek meeting on Saturday will be subject to passing a 7.30am inspection.

Sandown is set to stage three Grade 1 contests on the eight-race card – the Tingle Creek, the Henry VIII Novices' Chase and the rearranged Fighting Fifth Hurdle.

The going heading into Friday's card was Soft, Good to Soft (in places) on the chase course and Heavy, Soft (in places) on the hurdles course, but with further rainfall expected overnight, clerk of the course Andrew Cooper has called for an early morning inspection.

Cooper said: "We have just been waiting for the latest weather outlook for tomorrow, which does confirm that it looks like we are going to have a spell of potentially heavy rain from 4am until 9am.

"Most forecasts are giving around 10 millimetres in that time period with some forecasts suggesting we could get either side of that.

"We have changed the Hurdles Course before the first race today to Heavy, Soft in places, while the Chase Course has been left as Soft, Good to Soft in places.

"We are racing today on extremely soft ground and with the potential of a good volume of rain in the early hours I think it is sensible to take stock and see what happens tomorrow morning.

"It can be hard to be too dogmatic as to what the tipping point is, as sometimes you are surprised how much rain the course will take and sometimes you are disappointed how little the course will take.

"My gut feeling is that we will be okay. It is a marvellous day of racing, and we will do everything we can to race."