No need for an inspection at wet Kempton

Kempton clerk of the course Barney Clifford saw no need to call an inspection ahead of the William Hill King George VI Chase meeting today.

Although conditions will be demanding, the Sunbury circuit was “perfectly raceable” on Christmas Day morning. Clifford said: “We’ve had two heavy showers yielding eight millimetres of rain. The ground is officially heavy. There are further showers around, but I think we’ve seen the worst of them. There is likely to be more rain just after midnight but Boxing Day is forecast to be bright and sunny until mid-afternoon. It’s perfectly raceable and we can look forward to a bumper day.”

The situation is more concerning at Fontwell, though, as clerk of the course Ed Arkell was forced to call an 8am 
inspection this morning. Officials must assess conditions following 17 millimetres of overnight rain.

Wetherby had already called a inspection at 8.30am but clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson is in high spirits. Indeed, the inspection was downgraded to “precautionary” yesterday morning.

He said: “The forecast is dry today and we could even race today. We had five millimetres of rain yesterday and all it’s done since then is improve.”

Ffos Las also appear in a good place ahead of their fixture on Boxing Day. Clerk of the course Tim Long said: 
“Unless we get absolute deluge, we will be absolutely fine.”

There are also no reported problems for Boxing Day’s other meetings at Market Rasen, Sedgefield, Wincanton, Towcester and Wolverhampton.