Sandown going eases on Friday evening with showers expected overnight before Tingle Creek day

The going has eased at Sandown ahead of Saturday's Betfair Tingle Creek day but conditions could soften further due to overnight rain. 

The chase course was good to soft, soft in places after racing on Friday, with the more testing areas of the track shared by the hurdles course, which is officially soft, heavy in places. 

However, up to 7mm of rain overnight could result in a further easing in conditions. 

Speaking on Friday afternoon, clerk of the course Andrew Cooper said: "The rain is coming in at 4.30pm today and the bulk of it should go on for a few hours. We're in the 5-10mm territory but quite a lot of the forecasts suggest 7mm. 

"I'm leaving the hurdles course soft, heavy in places overnight but the chase course, which was good to soft, good in places, but soft in areas with shared ground, will now be good to soft, soft in places outright. The rain is inevitable and, while there may still be bits of good on the back straight, it's been opened up today.

"Anything beyond 3mm will have a degree of impact on this ground, so while I don't anticipate problems you could easily see the hurdles being switched to heavy, soft in places on Saturday.

"There's quite a lot of fresh ground on the hurdles track and we can find fresh ground on the bends of the chase track. I think the chase track will still be a mix of good to soft and soft. It'll just be a case of finding out what the balance of that will be when we walk the track in the morning."

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