RACING at Warwick Racecourse on Saturday afternoon is expected to go ahead despite the frosty forecast for all of Friday and Saturday morning.
Clerk of the Course Jane Hedley, who has been in her current position for 12 months since switching from Market Rasen, told The Observer that covers have been laid in preparation for Saturday afternoon’s card.
Temperatures are expected to dip to -1C on Friday night, though this shouldn’t be a problem for covers the racecourse has deployed – which are designed to protect the turf should temperatures reach -3C.
Some of the best horses, trainers and jockeys from across the country will descend on the course – all aiming to win the prestigious Betfred Classic Chase, worth £34,000 to the winner.
With 16 years’ experience in the racing industry, Jane knows not to rely entirely on the weather forecast – though she’s confident racing will take place.
She said: “We’ve kept a close eye on the weather forecast for the past couple of weeks and at the end of last week it became clear we should expect temperatures to dip.
“Frost covers were put down yesterday over the whole track – these covers can protect racing should temperatures reach -2C or -3C.
“Based on the current forecast they should do a good job for us.
“The one complication we face right now is the rain we expect this afternoon, which could turn to sleet or snow – and having snow on top of the covers is not ideal.”
With thousands of punters expected from across the country, many race-goers will have their eye on the ground conditions ahead of the big race-day – which will be broadcast live on ITV4.
Fresh ground has been saved to ensure races will be run on the inner most line – producing optimum track conditions for horses.
Currently, the course rides soft, good to soft in places.
However this is expected to change should the 5mm forecast arrive this afternoon.
Jane said: “The 5mm of rain expected this afternoon could push the going to soft which will make conditions very testing and the course could ride a bit dead.
“Right now we’ve done everything we usually do – tomorrow morning declarations come through and from there we’ll issue further going reports.
“Come Saturday morning we’ll have a two hour window from 9am to remove the covers with around 25 men helping to get them off the track.”
For further information and advanced tickets, visit www.warwickracecourse.co.uk or call 01926 405560.
