Wetherby and Hereford inspect on Wednesday; Newcastle to continue watering to maintain good ground for Saturday

Officials at Wetherby are hopeful of Wednesday's meeting passing a 7.30am raceday inspection despite the track being unraceable during an initial check on Tuesday afternoon.

The track's drainage dykes burst on Sunday evening into Monday leaving areas of standing water and with minimal improvement in the following 24 hours an inspection was called for 3pm on Tuesday.

Conditions began to improve, with the water starting to drain in the back straight, and with another dry night forecast, clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson moved the inspection to the morning.

Sanderson said: "It's improving today, which is why we've moved the inspection to tomorrow morning to give it another 15 hours or so of drying. Wetherby can drain, not quite literally as taking a plug out of a sink, but once it starts to go it can go quite quickly.

"We'll have to bypass a couple of hurdles down the back straight I would think because it won't get rid of everything quickly, but what I hope we'll end up with is a path dry enough to accommodate the horses racing tomorrow.

"We're not going to see perfect conditions, we'll have water standing on the course off the racing line, but all being well, with this drying time overnight, we should have a dry line we can use for racing, although it's not a guarantee."

Hereford: faces a 7.30am raceday inspectionCredit: Dan Istitene

Officials at Hereford have also called a 7.30am inspection ahead of the track's meeting on Wednesday.

The course is currently raceable, with the going description reading good to soft, but rain is forecast this evening into the early hours of raceday.

The track was hit by 42mm of rain over the weekend and was one of many areas across Britain affected by Storm Bert.

Clerk of the course Libby O'Flaherty said: "The water has cleared off the track from yesterday and we're totally raceable today. We're just calling an inspection because we're forecast between 10-15mm but because of how the rain has been lately I don't want to get hit with 20mm. 

"I'm just being cautious. What's been difficult about Hereford is the roads near us have been flooded. We've sent a text to all of the trainers and officials, anyone coming tomorrow, just to tell them to allow more time to travel because there are a lot of road closures in and around Hereford."

Newcastle watering for Fighting Fifth card

The BetMGM Fighting Fifth is expected to be run on good ground at Newcastle on SaturdayCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Officials at Newcastle are set to continue watering in advance of Saturday's BetMGM Fighting Fifth Hurdle card.

The worst of the weather appears to have avoided the north-east venue despite blustery and wet conditions throughout the weekend with the ground described as good on Tuesday afternoon.

Clerk of the course Jane Hedley: "We've watered today and put on 6mm all round the track. We could get some light showers tomorrow, but not anything meaningful. Our outlook beyond that until the weekend is dry and we're planning to maintain good ground through watering.

"It's ironic because we've been crying out for the rain. We've had 12mm in the last month and we were looking for rain last weekend, but we only got 12mm while the rest of the country has got a soaking.

"The upside to the lack of rain is that it should be a nice day with temperatures looking mild."

Although star hurdler Constitution Hill misses the race after a minor setback, 11 horses including his Grade 1-winning stablemate Sir Gino and dual top-level scorer Mystical Power were confirmed for the £115,000 contest on Monday.

Hedley added: "It's looking like it'll be a competitive race. We're set for a strong day and it's a popular fixture in the north-east. It's important for the north-east, and for Newcastle racecourse, so we're anticipating being well supported."

Read these next:

Find out who remains in contention for the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and Coral Gold Cup on Saturday 

'We're all very happy and it's the way we're going to go' - Nicky Henderson confirms Sir Gino's Fighting Fifth bid 

What's on this week: huge jumps cards keep coming with Coral Gold Cup day at Newbury and Mystical Power and Sir Gino clashing at Newcastle 

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