Huntingdon opener could be a walkover as just 29 are declared for Sunday's card

Chris Gordon will walk the course before deciding to run Aucunrisque in a match race (1.08) with Pentland Hills at Huntingdon on Sunday, a fixture that has attracted just 29 declarations for its six races.

Gordon said he needed to know if the ground was soft enough for the six-year-old to take on Pentland Hills in the opening novice chase.

Following a dearth of rainfall this week, the ground at Huntingdon was described as good on Friday, with officials watering to maintain.

The trainer said: "We put Aucunrisque in at the last minute and I'm going to walk the track as we need to ensure it's genuinely good ground.

"It's just the way things are at the moment. We haven't had the rain for quite a long time and the juice hasn't got into the ground.

"I've been sorting entries for Newbury next week and it's good to firm. That's the scary thing at the moment and my biggest worry is the 0-100 races have been supported for years, but I'm seeing far fewer entries for them this season when they usually attract big fields."

Pentland Hills: set for his first start over fences on Sunday if there is any oppositionCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

British racing has been plagued by small field sizes this year with the average between October 1-27 at 9.32 and just 7.51 over jumps, the lowest figure since an average of 7.12 in 1997.

The average field size between January 1 and October 27 was 8.35 – the lowest since BHA records began in 1995 – and 7.5 over jumps.

Huntingdon was forced to abandon its meeting on October 4 after two races after a horse slipped on the bend out of the back straight. The track watered on the day but the ground was deemed to be unsafe.

Of Sunday's field sizes, clerk of the course Roderick Duncan said: "It's disappointing. I'm assuming trainers at this time of the year aren't enthused about running on watered ground.

"We haven't had the rainfall tracks to the west and north of us have had. It's down to the weather. We had rain last week and if we'd raced last Sunday there would have been no problem."

If both Aucunrisque and Pentland Hills line up, it will be a first start over fences for the latter, who won the Triumph Hurdle back in 2019 and was ninth in the Champion Hurdle the following year.

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