Benbatl taken out of Celebration Mile as weather wreaks havoc

Benbatl is a non-runner for this afternoon's Group 2 Ladbrokes Celebration Mile (3.35) at Goodwood as the bad weather across Britain continues to cause chaos.

Saeed bin Suroor, trainer of Benbatl, had warned on Friday that his three-time Group 1 winner may not run if the ground on the South Downs was too soft and that has come to fruition, with the going currently heavy, soft in places.

Weatherbys Super Sprint and Premier Yearling scorer Happy Romance will also not line up at Goodwood as the two-year-old has been pulled from the Group 3 Ladbrokes Prestige Stakes (1.50).

That leaves Pomelo as the 15-8 favourite, who was an impressive five-length winner on debut in the colours of Khalid Abdullah, but Isabella Giles is hot on that filly's tail at 2-1 after finishing only a length and a half behind Santosha in the Princess Margaret Stakes last time.

There have been a whole host of non-runners across all of the cards this morning, with the majority down to the testing conditions.

However, none of the meetings have been called off as Windsor passed an inspection.

The official going is soft, heavy in places (GoingStick 6.2) after 4.4mm of rain yesterday with a dry afternoon forecast.

Clerk of the course Sophie Candy said: "Between those showers yesterday we had sun and wind which has really helped the ground. It was very isolated showers and we were mostly getting the edge of them – I know other people got the really heavy stuff so we were lucky."

Highlighting where on the track the heavy ground was, Candy said: "Through the intersection is quite heavy as that's the place that gets the most wear through the season, and a couple of areas around the bend by the trees as they come past the four-furlong marker.

"It's better ground on the back straight, and as you go into the straight there's nicer ground on the far side until you get to the last half-a-furlong where it's a bit slower again."

The feature of Windsor's nine-race card is the Group 3 Gallagher Group Winter Hill Stakes (3.15), which will only see five line up after Sinjaari was ruled a non-runner this morning due to the going.

The William Haggas-trained four-year-old had been a general 6-1 shot before he was taken out. Fox Chairman is the 10-11 favourite to register his first victory of the season.

At Newmarket, Jash and Bungee Jump have been pulled out of the feature Listed Close Brothers Hopeful Stakes (2.05). Summerghand is top of the betting at 2-1 to follow up his Stewards' Cup success at Glorious Goodwood earlier this month.

Redcar's meeting goes ahead but has met the full force of the weather with 26 non-runners announced this morning, 24 of which are due to the going.

Going

Goodwood Soft, heavy in places
Newmarket Soft
Windsor Soft, heavy in places
Redcar Soft, heavy in places
Navan Soft
Wexford Soft, soft to heavy in places

Non-runners

Goodwood
1.15 Verre Dore
1.50 Happy Romance
2.25 Oh This Is Us
3.35 Benbatl
4.10 Mr Chua, Mouriyani, Busy Street, Dragons Voice
4.45 Kryptos, Escape The City, Kodiac Harbour, Lawn Ranger
5.15 Dubai Elegance, Gilt Edge, Eastern Star

Newmarket
12.20 Last Sunset
12.55 Royal Dynasty, Imperial Gloriana, One Small Step, I'm Available, Sepahi
1.30 Decisive Edge
2.05 Bungee Jump, Jash, Sunday Star
2.45 Double Or Bubble, Dancinginthewoods
4.30 Pitcher's Point, Balgair, Rosa Gold

Windsor
12.35 Imperium Blue, Ask The Wind, Touchwood
1.40 Lethal Angel, Kylla Looks, Shining
3.15 Sinjaari
3.50 Costello
4.25 Mister Dependable
5.00 Winter Snowdrop

Redcar
2.55 Havana Party, Oh So Quiet
3.30 Let's Be Honest, Tamaska, She's A Deva
4.05 Devil's Angel, James Watt, Rapid Russo
4.40 Somekindasuperstar, Slingshot, Hard Solution
5.10 Carribean Queen
5.45 Etikaal, Bay Of Naples, Hachert, Exchequer, Astrospeed
6.15 Irreverent, Northernpowerhouse, Gallipoli, Ghaly
6.45 Panzertank
7.15 Tombolo, Thomas Cranmer, John Jasper, My Vision, Arij

Read our previews for today's action here:

3.35 Goodwood: Find out what connections have to say to help find the Celebration Mile winner

1.50 Goodwood: Promising Pomelo out to fulfil uptapped potential in Prestige Stakes

3.00 Goodwood: Punters face talent-or-tactics choice in interesting March Stakes

2.05 Newmarket: Summerghand holds the key as he steps back up in class in Hopeful Stakes

2.50 Navan: Make A Challenge's unbeaten record in Listed class on line in Abergwaun Stakes

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