Showers and strong winds forecast for Newmarket following wet Friday

More showers are forecast for Newmarket on Saturday morning but not to the levels the course experienced on Friday, when 8mm of rain fell during the afternoon’s racing.

Up to 9mm had been forecast for Newmarket on Friday in spells before and towards the end of the meeting. In the end, the rain started shortly before midday and was forecast to continue until 9pm before stopping.

The rain prompted officials to change the ground to good to soft from good to firm, but Michael Prosser, Newmarket’s clerk of the course and director of racing, said he felt the track had absorbed the rain that had fallen particularly well.

“The ground is good to soft and there is a little bit more to come,” he said. “We are forecast to get rain, on and off, up until about 9pm, then it's forecast to be dry overnight.

“The track was in a good position to take the rain and I think it has held up really well given it has rained all afternoon. The rain we will get tomorrow could be a couple of millimetres from showers.

Clerk of the course Michael Prosser: "We are in line for 40mph gusts of wind from lunchtime"Credit: Edward Whitaker

“There is a chance of showers in the morning. There is more of a chance of a shower in the morning than there is in the afternoon. The wind is due to pick up as the day goes on. We are in line for 40mph gusts of wind from lunchtime. It looks like the strongest winds are from 4pm onwards."

On Thursday, Prosser had anticipated any rain that fell on Saturday would be counteracted by strong winds. His expectation had been that the ground at the end of racing on Friday would be the predominant conditions for Saturday.

A yellow weather warning for wind has been issued for much of southern and eastern England on Saturday and gusts of around 50mph are forecast at Ascot and Salisbury.

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