More weather woe for Ayr as forecast forces Thursday inspection

Thursday's meeting at Ayr must pass an inspection at 8am on the morning of racing due to the threat of heavy rain.

On Wednesday the going at the track was described as heavy, with three millimetres of rain having fallen by 10am. A further ten millimetres of rain could hit the track by Wednesday afternoon, which has led to officials calling a check.

It has been a challenging few weeks for the Scottish course, with the season's highlight, the three-day Western meeting, lost due to a patch of waterlogged ground in the home straight.

As a consequence, the remaining two Flat meetings of the season, including Thursday's card, were moved to the hurdles track.

Ayr clerk of the course Graeme Anderson said on Wednesday: "We've had 3mm in the space of two hours this morning and I phoned our forecaster for an update they've told us there's possibly another 10mm to come by mid-afternoon.

"It's falling relentlessly and it just needs time. If it stops raining when they say it will and we get the time for the water to go, we'll be fine, but we're having an inspection just in case because more rain has fallen this morning than was forecast."

Asked if the meeting could be abandoned on Wednesday, Anderson added: "We'll let it go, but it needs time when it's not raining. As long as they're right and it stops raining when they're saying – 2pm/3pm this afternoon – then we'd almost have 24 hours before we race.

"It's mainly a dry forecast from then – the odd shower and nothing significant. There are no problem areas, but the rain is just falling far too quickly at the moment and it will become standing water very soon if this keeps up; it needs time to drain away."

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