Ascot confident about two-day meeting despite ground easing to heavy in places

Ascot clerk of the course Chris Stickels is not envisaging any problems for this weekend's two-day meeting despite the going changing to soft, heavy in places from soft on Tuesday.

The fixture, which begins on Friday and features star stayer Paisley Park in Saturday's Marsh Hurdle, could start on even softer ground with further rain forecast in the coming days.

Although Wednesday's outlook is dry, heavy rain is anticipated at the Berkshire course on Thursday and officials at the track are preparing for the possibility of the ground softening further.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, Stickels said: "We've had 45mm of rain in the last week and the going has changed to soft, heavy in places this morning. I don't envisage a problem at the weekend at the moment. We have further heavy rain forecast and the ground may get softer."

Stickels is monitoring the weather closely and added: "Wednesday is due to be a dry day, Thursday is due to be wet and it's only expected to be showers on Friday and Saturday. We expect it to be a mixture of soft and heavy, perhaps more soft by the time we get to the weekend, but it depends how much rain we have."

Harambe, ante-post favourite for Saturday's Betfair Exchange Trophy, is a doubt for the track's £150,000 handicap hurdle.

Trainer Alan King issued the warning after the six-year-old was found to be lame on Tuesday morning.

"Unfortunately, he pulled out lame and there has to be some doubt about his participation," said King.

"I'm not saying he will not run but I am not sure about the extent of it at the moment."

Harambe was made market leader for the Grade 3 race after landing the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham last month, when he edged Gumball by a neck under Tom Bellamy.

He shares favouritism at a best-priced 13-2 with the Nicky Henderson-trained French Crusader, who finished second to stablemate Epatante in a Listed hurdle at Newbury in November.

View the card and betting for the Betfair Exchange Trophy here

There were 18 left in the race at the confirmation stage on Monday, with other potential runners including Quoi De Neuf, trained by Evan Williams, and Tamaroc Du Mathan, who has run only twice and finished second to Master Debonair on his stable debut for Paul Nicholls at the Berkshire track last month.

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