Ground to continue to dry out at Newmarket ahead of second day of the July festival

The ground at Newmarket is expected to quicken for day two of the July festival with a mostly dry forecast set overnight.

The three-day meeting started on good to soft ground on Thursday after 46mm of rainfall in the last seven days. However, it remained dry through racing despite a threat of showers.

A light shower is forecast overnight, but it will only amount to less than 1.5mm of rain, while it should stay sunny for Friday's meeting which starts at 1.50pm.

Newmarket's clerk of the course Andrew Morris said on Thursday afternoon: "We’ve been really pleased with the ground conditions today, everyone seems to have been happy with how it’s been. 

"There’s the threat of a light shower tonight but nothing appreciable. Tomorrow the weather is due to be the same as today, overcast with the threat of a shower and not hugely warm. 

"Any shower would only amount to a millimetre, maybe a millimetre and a half. We think it’ll dry out overnight and if that’s the case it should be a mixture of good and good to soft places for racing."

Light showers are also a possibility for July Cup day at Newmarket on Saturday.  

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