Dry forecast could prompt Aintree into watering early for Grand National meeting

Watering could take place at Aintree this week to help achieve the desired good to soft ground conditions for the start of next week's Randox Grand National meeting.

The going on the Mildmay and National courses was described as good to soft, good in places on Monday after some welcome rain on Sunday.

Barring a brief cold snap at the start of next week when overnight temperatures are forecast to drop to 2C before rising to 10C in the day, the long-range forecast looks dry for the three-day meeting starting on Thursday, April 8.

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Clerk of the course Sulekha Varma said on Monday: "We had 8mm of rain yesterday, which was a huge help after a dry period, and that has put us back to good to soft, good in places.

"We've got a couple of warm days coming with plenty of sunshine and it's very breezy today, so that moisture is going to disappear fairly quickly.

Aintree clerk Sulekha Varma was relieved to see rainfall on Sunday to help ease the ground conditionsCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"We're of the view we'll probably be irrigating by the middle of this week just to keep things on the right side. We'll keep an eye on things with a view to next week when we have the usual aim of starting the meeting on good to soft."

Aintree's last fixture was in early December and Varma added: "We've had a dry spell after a very wet winter and the cold snap in February, which knocked everything back a bit, but the grass is coming on really nicely now with the sunshine. We're in a good place at the moment."

Varma was announced as Aintree's new clerk of the course in December 2019, but is preparing to oversee her first Grand National after last year's race was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

'Grateful and pleased to be running the race'

A year on, racing is still being staged behind closed doors and although no crowds will be in attendance, Aintree is hoping to be allowed to accommodate up to six owners per horse, which would be an increase on the standard two per runner.

"After last year's cancellation, everyone is grateful and pleased to be running the race," said Varma. "It's sad we're not going to have any crowds, but it looks like we'll be having owners on site, which is huge for us and the whole industry."

The meeting starts in style with four consecutive Grade 1 contests on day one, culminating with the Betway Aintree Hurdle, before the £750,000 Grand National takes place on April 10.

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Read more on the Grand National meeting:

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