WhatsApp? Nothing at all as Knavesmire ready to rumble

At 3pm on Ebor meeting eve, York supremo William Derby, assistant clerk of the course Anthea Morshead and head groundsman Adrian Kay finished their latest walk of the Knavesmire. The trio's first contact of the day had come much earlier.

"We're all on WhatsApp," explained Derby. "At 4.30am Adrian 'WhatsApp'ed' Anthea and I about last night's rain and the forecast."

The rain into Tuesday morning amounted to 1mm and failed to change the description of good to firm, good in places that was confirmed following some insertion of sticks, none of which were chased by Morshead's Jack Russell, Jack, or Kay's Labrador, Ollie.

"I wear out one stick a year," said Morshead, who felt most stick resistance up the home straight.

"This track is a living beast," said Derby. "We walk it independently and have an unwritten rule to never discuss things until we get back to the winning post.

"We're sure we have consistent good ground down the back straight and quick ground down the home straight. In terms of the description, we put slightly more emphasis on what's in the home straight compared to the back straight as that's where the most important stage of the race takes place."

Those races could yet be conducted on easier conditions than reported on Tuesday, with showers forecast in the hours leading up to the festival's curtain-raiser. Inevitably, that could trigger non-runners, a subject that exasperates racecourses, whose going descriptions are on occasions deemed to be inaccurate by trainers scratching horses.

York looked ready for action on Tuesday

"We have very competitive racing and we absolutely know some horses are coming out because of the strength of the opposition, not because of the ground," said Derby. "When there's a Stoute hotshot they're diving for cover, looking for an excuse not to run. It's a real frustration.

"You sometimes then see a horse who has been taken out because of the ground running down the road on the same conditions. We don't think that should be allowed."

Derby added: "We see a declaration as an intent to run. If the ground has changed dramatically, that's fair enough, but if the ground goes from good to soft, soft in places, to soft, good to soft in places, we don't feel that's too big a swing and we think the horse should compete if healthy enough to run."

Based on Tuesday's course walk, the Ebor festival horses will be competing on a cracking track.

Read The Briefing from 8.30am daily on racingpost.com with all the day's latest going, weather, market moves and non-runner news