Soft ground expected for Brigadier Gerard fixture as weather causes more issues

Thursday's Brigadier Gerard meeting at Sandown is likely to be run on soft ground as the wet weather this month continues to take its toll on meetings in Britain and Ireland.

The fixture is traditionally the highest-profile evening card in Britain and features the Group 3 Henry II Stakes as well as the 1m2f feature, but conditions are expected to be unseasonably testing following the deluge of rainfall in May.

Conditions at the Esher track were described as soft on both the sprint and round courses following 2.4mm of rainfall on Monday afternoon, with further showers possible for the rest of the day and Tuesday before a dry period is forecast from Wednesday.

Sandown's Thursday card entries

Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper said: "Overall in May it's had less rain than nearby Epsom, but it's got a different soil base and nature of course. It didn't handle it quite as well as chalk-based Epsom does.

"It'll definitely be called soft in some description and I walked it again on Monday afternoon, we had 6mm there on Sunday night and we raced last Thursday on soft.

"We didn't have too much rain over the weekend until Sunday, but we're going to remain on the softer side of things, with a bit of good to soft potentially."

Windsor and Newton Abbot fall victim to the weather again

Windsor and Newton Abbot's weather woes continued as their fixtures this week were cancelled due to waterlogging.

Windsor's fixture on Monday evening was cancelled after the track had 9mm of rain on Sunday night and failed a morning inspection, while Newton Abbot called off Wednesday's fixture following 14mm the same night on an already waterlogged track.

Windsor: Monday's meeting was cancelled on raceday morningCredit: Edward Whitaker

Last Monday's meeting at Windsor was brought to a halt before the final race following heavy rain, while Newton Abbot's previously scheduled meeting on May 12 – which was due to be shown on ITV – was also cancelled.

Ballinrobe's jumps card survived a morning inspection after a dry Sunday night but Gowran Park's fixture on Wednesday is subject to a raceday inspection at 8am, with the course described as unfit for racing on Monday morning.

The course was waterlogged in places and a further 3mm of rain is forecast prior to the meeting.

Read more:

Windsor abandons before final race after 30-minute deliberation

No luck for Newton Abbot as torrential rain forces another costly cancellation

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