Going change expected at Ascot before start of royal meeting with ticket sales up from last year

Royal Ascot is expected to start on a mixture of good and good to firm ground, with no rain forecast through the week.

Speaking 48 hours before the meeting gets under way on Tuesday, clerk of the course Chris Stickels said: "It's good, good to firm in places, and I imagine I'll probably change it to good to firm, good in places tomorrow.

"We'll water the round course a little tonight and we'll put a bit on the straight course tomorrow. It's a phased approach. We're aiming to start on a mixture of good to firm and good, predominantly good to firm, and we'll let it dry back a little from where we are."

No rain is expected and Stickels said: "We've got a lovely week forecast. I can't see any rain at the moment and I have my fingers crossed there isn't any because once we get to this stage it's helpful to know what we're doing.

"Then we can just put a little on each evening to hold a bit of moisture in. It looks as though it'll be settled right through to Saturday, although things can change in this country."

Ticket sales are up on last year, according to director of racing and public affairs Nick Smith.

"We’ll be sold out on Thursday and Saturday across all the enclosures," he said. "You can still come on the Heath. The overall ticket sales would be about 15,000 up from last year, so that’s a very bright picture, we’re happy with that.

"One of the things from last year’s wash-up was that we really have to rebuild the entry-level opportunity. We don’t have a tremendous number of problems selling royal enclosure and top-end hospitality, but for people looking to go for a good-value day out, it was getting too expensive."

Speaking on Racing TV's Luck On Sunday show, he added: "If you had bought a ticket for the Windsor enclosure from the start, it would be as little as £25. It graduates up slightly from there, but we thought it was very important for people to get in for a very reasonable amount of money and it’s worked because we’ve seen the ticket sales."

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