Newbury's Friday fixture passes morning inspection - and its Saturday card also looks set to beat the weather

Newbury's Friday meeting has passed its morning inspection and its classy Flat finale card on Saturday is also set to beat the weather.

The track had called an 8am raceday inspection due to the threat of rain, but the heavier rainfall they had feared did not materialise and the card got the green light at around 7.30am.

Speaking just after the inspection was passed, clerk of the course George Hill said: "All should be good. We've had no rain so far, which is good news, but we're still expecting some. At the top end we could be getting 4mm but that looks like it. If there's no change in the forecast, then all should be fine still."

The going is heavy, soft in places for Friday's meeting and is expected to be testing for Newbury's final Flat fixture of the year on Saturday too. It features two Group 3s in the Horris Hill (3.10) and St Simon Stakes (3.45).

Hill added: "We have a couple of nice Group races and the Listed Radley Stakes too and we're happy with where we're at for tomorrow. It's great to be raceable on the Flat at this time of year, especially after the amount of rain we've had.

"We lost these cards last year, but we've had a good Flat season so far in beating the weather and the team is very happy with where the course is at before we turn our focus to the jumps."

Newbury switches to jumps action on November 7, with its flagship two-day Coral Gold Cup meeting taking place on November 29 and 30.

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