Inner track may be used if heavy rain hits Ascot

Officials at Ascot have raised the possibility of the inner track being used on Qipco British Champions Day if the expected rainfall later in the week hits the track.

Conditions are currently described as soft at the Berkshire venue, but following a dry weekend the track is bracing itself with estimates of 15-20mm total rainfall forecast from Wednesday onwards.

“At the moment, we are soft and we’ve got a couple of fine days forecast today and tomorrow up until Wednesday afternoon and then we’re due to get rain/showers from Wednesday afternoon all the way through to racing,” explained clerk of the course Chris Stickles.

“Around 15-20mm is kind of the predicted amount in total from Wednesday through to Saturday but that could change.

Stickels went on: “So that is potentially on the cards and if we had that volume of rain then I would imagine we would be talking about some heavy ground on the round course and therefore those round course races could move to the inner track.

“Of course, we’re not there yet, we’re only soft ground and we haven’t had any rain since Friday. But if we did get that amount, there is the potential.”