No ground concerns for Kempton with dry days forecast before King George card

Forget the two days of heavy going at Ascot when thinking about ground conditions at Kempton and the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase on Boxing Day.

Although the Sunbury track has been just as soaked as its neighbour 11 miles away as the crow flies, the going on Monday morning was officially no worse than soft with a GoingStick reading of 6.1 on the chase course and 5.5 on the hurdle course.

Last year's meeting on ground described as good to soft, good in places, had a GoingStick reading of 7.0 on the hurdles and 7.3 for the chase course.

There has been 82 millimetres of recorded rainfall at Kempton since December 14, including 14mm on Saturday, but there is a largely dry forecast for the track from Monday through to the end of racing on Thursday.

Clerk of the course Barney Clifford said on Sunday afternoon: "The lake bend is very soft but otherwise walking the course this morning I would say the soft ground was on the better side, although I'm sure jockeys would say it's soft.

"But Kempton is like a colander – the water runs right through it. We are forecast a couple of dry days before more rain on Boxing Day night, which with the ground opened up after racing it would deteriorate to softer for the second day."

Barney Clifford: 'Kempton is like a colander – the water runs right through it'Credit: Edward Whitaker

Wincanton’s clerk of the course Dan Cooper remains "fairly confident" that the Boxing Day meeting at the Somerset track will go ahead despite some standing water at the venue after the weekend deluge.

Cooper said: "I walked the course on Sunday morning and it has come out of Saturday’s rainfall pretty well. The standing water on certain parts of the course has not got any worse over the weekend and the forecast for the area is that the worst of the stormy weather has passed over.

"Our main priority is getting rid of the standing water but there does not appear to be any false ground where we have that problem at present, and the forecasters are predicting the weather to be dry periods with just a few showers."

He added: "We have rail movement contingencies in place if they are needed on any parts of the course if more rain happens to arrive, but unless there is a material change in the weather forecast over the next 48 hours and beyond, I remain fairly confident for our Boxing Day fixture."

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