Aintree going latest: Grand National course good to soft after watering

Officials at Aintree watered the course on Wednesday evening with 5mm to maintain good-to-soft conditions on the Grand National course.

After another dry day at Aintree, ground staff will apply an additional couple of millimetres to keep it good to soft.

There is a chance of showers on Thursday morning before the start of the three-day meeting, with strong gusts of wind up to 55mph forecast in the early morning. Wind speeds are expected to lower significantly before racing.

The ground on the Mildmay course was changed from good, good to soft in places to good to soft, good in places after about 2-3mm were applied to the home straight and bends on Wednesday.

Clerk of the course Sulekha Varma said on Wednesday evening: "We're just going to put a couple of millimetres on the Grand National course to replace the moisture we lost today.

"We have also selectively watered the Mildmay course, just the home straight and bends where the quicker ground is. We've had a mostly dry day, and it's been breezy and sunny. We just want to keep it on that slow side of good.

"Tomorrow morning there are showers around, but nobody is really committing to anything of great volume. There is a bit of disparity between the forecasts, but nobody is expecting lots of rain."

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for Thursday due to high winds, but it's not thought racing will be affected as forecast gusts of up to 54mph at 5am will have dropped to 37mph by 11am.

Varma added: "We're keeping an eye on it and I've spoken to our operations team. It starts dropping from 10am in the morning; it'll be breezy but there's nothing too concerning as it stands. We'll just have to batten down the hatches overnight."

Showers are forecast for Ladies Day at Aintree on Friday but it should remain dry on Saturday for the Randox Grand National.

Racing at Aintree starts at 1.45 on Thursday and the National course will be used in one of the seven races, with 24 runners contesting the Randox Foxhunters' Open Hunters' Chase (4.05).

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