Aintree begin watering with dry day forecast

Taps are turned on for Grand National meeting.

Aintree will begin watering on Wednesday morning in anticipation of another drying day ahead of the three-day Grand National meeting which starts on Thursday.

Forecasts have varied in the build-up to the meeting and with a less-than-expected 0.6mm of rain falling overnight on Tuesday and 0.8mm in the previous 24 hours, clerk of the course Sulekha Varma has decided to selectively water parts of the course that have started to dry out.

With 4mm-5mm being applied to the Grand National course overnight on Tuesday, attention has now turned to the Mildmay and hurdles courses.

At 9am on Wednesday morning, she said: “We have decided to water parts of the Mildmay and Hurdle courses this morning, selective watering.

“We have got the prospect of another dry, breezy day today and the sun is currently shining and so we just need to ensure it doesn’t dry out to an unacceptable level.

“We are putting on 2mm-3mm. Our aim is always to start the meeting on good to soft ground.

“The Grand National course we don’t want any faster than good to soft. The Mildmay course we have to take day by day. There might be ‘good in places’ by Saturday, but we will water overnight if we need to.”

The latest GoingStick reading on the Mildmay Chase course is 6.0 and the Hurdle course is 5.3, while the National course is 6.0.

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