Grand Sefton given go-ahead for Saturday's Aintree card with Grand National course going described as heavy, soft in places

The BoyleSports Grand Sefton Handicap Chase (2.45) has been given the go-ahead for Saturday's fixture at Aintree after the Grand National course passed an inspection on Friday morning.

The £100,000 handicap is the first race of the season to be run over the iconic National fences and there are no signs of waterlogging at the course despite approximately 15mm of rain on Thursday night.

It is heavy, soft in places on the Grand National course and soft, heavy in places on the Mildmay course, which stages the six other races on Saturday's card including a Pertemps qualifier and a £50,000 Class 2 hurdle race.

Officials will have a look at the 11th fence on the National course on Saturday morning to decide if it will be jumped or bypassed in the 2m5f event.

Clerk of the course Sulekha Varma said on Friday morning: "The course has taken the overnight rain really well and all credit must go to our groundstaff who have done a great job.

"On Monday morning, after heavy rain over the weekend and the previous week, I really wasn't very happy with the ground on the National course and our prospects weren't looking great, but the team have pulled it out the bag for us.

"We'll have a look at fence 11 on Saturday morning, we have a largely dry day today and when given the opportunity Aintree does drain well. We'll see how much improvement we get for that fence and make a decision tomorrow."

Aintree: stages a race over the National fences for the first time this season on SaturdayCredit: Alan Crowhurst

The GoingStick reading for the National course is likely to be the lowest since Becher Chase day on soft ground in 2021 when the reading was 3.8, while it was 3.5 on soft, heavy in places at the same meeting in 2020. The latest GoingStick reading for the National course was 2.7 on Thursday morning but it is expected to improve by Saturday.

Varma said: "It's unusual for Aintree to get this soft because it's such a free-draining course but I imagine the GoingStick reading will be around the figure in December 2021 if it dries over the next day. The last reading was taken during a rainstorm, and when there is recent rain sat in the profile, you get much lower readings."

Low sun affected the Old Roan Chase fixture last month and that will again be monitored on raceday.

Varma said: "If we get bright sunshine, it can occur that the jockeys aren't happy to jump the fences or hurdles and we take our steer following the BHA's low sun protocol. The low sun situation doesn't really change for us through the autumn and winter, and if we're asked by the stewards to move obstacles, then we do it.

"You can't move the sun and can't realign the racecourse, and unfortunately there's not a time of day when it's better or worse. We've tried moving races around but ended up having the same problem, and there's not many hours to play with at this time of year."

Fontwell cancels Friday fixture due to waterlogging - and Southern National card under threat

Fontwell was forced to cancel Friday's fixture on Wednesday due to waterlogging and will need the rain to stop in order to avoid further disruption to its Southern National card next Sunday.

The track has been hit by more than 300mm of rain in the space of 30 days as Storm Babet and Storm Ciaran have battered Britain and, with further wet weather in next week's forecast, clerk of the course Philip Hide is hoping for some dry days before next week's meeting. It includes the Southern National, one of Fontwell's biggest races of the season.

"We had little option – the rain has been unrelenting since 3am on Wednesday morning," Hide said. "There's no let-up, which brought the decision forward. There was no hope in the forecast for the next few days.

"The forecast I'm seeing for next week gives me grounds for optimism but the forecasters have been struggling and I'm not blind to that. It's tricky at the moment but it's not looking too bad. We'll see what happens."

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