York set to water after track misses out on local thunderstorms

York was set to water the course overnight on the eve of the Ebor meeting after the track missed out on the thunderstorms that hit much of the surrounding area to ensure the ground remains good to firm for the beginning of the four-day festival.

Clerk of the course Anthea Leigh said: “We’ll keep reviewing the weather forecast right up until midnight but if it is still dry with no prospect of getting any rain then we will have to start irrigating.

“There is still a yellow weather warning in place for thunderstorms but they are saying there is only a 20 per cent chance of it affecting us.

"If the rain does not come we will put down about 2mm of irrigation during the night up to about 6am. This is about the amount necessary to make up for the rain that didn’t come and should be enough to keep the going at good to firm.

“Ground conditions should be similar to what they were at the last meeting in July and I would describe it as on the kind side of good to firm.”

Leigh added that cooler, cloudy weather is expected for the remainder of the week and that there was unlikely to be any significant rainfall.

“It looks as if we are set for mostly dry conditions for the rest of the week as well,” she said. “They're saying there is a slight chance of rain on Thursday and Friday but as happened with the current spell there is a possibility we will just miss all the wet weather again.

“It’s going to be cloudy again tomorrow with temperatures around 19C and then it rises to 23C on Thursday.”

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