Thunderstorm at Newbury turns ground heavy and leads to spate of non-runners on Saturday's card

American Affair has been well supported to defy a 5lb penalty and follow up his Portland success in the Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup (3.35).

The four-year-old justified 4-1 favouritism to land a gamble at Doncaster last Saturday and has been similarly well backed to land another major handicap.

The son of Washington DC was available at 10-1 with Paddy Power at Thursday’s declaration stage and is now the 9-2 favourite for the £180,000 event.

Watch: Tom Segal, Graeme Rodway and Maddy Playle preview the weekend's action on The Morning Post

American Affair has form figures of 0223 at Ayr and bids to provide trainer Jim Goldie, who will not be in attendance as he recovers from a hip replacement, with his first win in the race.

Paddy Power spokesman Paul Binfield said: “As would be expected in one of the most competitive handicap sprints of the season, we’re laying a number of big race contenders.

“American Affair has been particularly popular at the front of the market having more than halved in price since Thursday’s declarations when he was a 10-1 shot and the admirable Portland winner always seems to give his backers a fine run for their money.”

Market movers

Ayr

2.25 15. Aramram 13-2 (from 12)
3.00 11. Sky Majesty 9-4 (from 9-2)
3.35 16. American Affair 9-2 (from 6)
3.35 17. Rohaan 15-2 (from 10)
3.35 9. Mostabshir 8-1 (from 12)

Newbury

2.05 5. Lieber Power 4-1 (from 5)
2.40 1. Bolster 3-1 (from 7-2)

Shadow Of Light out of Mill Reef

Shadow Of Light, who had led the market for the Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes (3.15), is one of four to be taken out of Newbury's feature Group 2 due to unsuitably testing ground.

Charlie Appleby's Gimcrack Stakes runner-up was the 2-1 favourite for the £100,000 event before being taken out of contention, following the unbeaten Defence Minister, Sirenia Stakes winner Symbol Of Strength and Andesite as non-runners. Course-and-distance winner Brian, who won a valuable sales race at Newmarket on his penultimate start is the new 2-1 favourite in the revised market for the reduced six-runner field.

Shadow Of Light (nearest, dark blue): will not run in the Mill ReefCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Newbury's Premier fixture has been decimated by non-runners after a thunderstorm in the early hours of Saturday morning turned the ground heavy.

The Berkshire venue's two-day meeting began on good ground on Friday, before the going description was changed to soft after the first race. A further 15mm of rain since 5am on raceday has led to conditions becoming even more testing and there are now 38 withdrawals across the eight-race card.

The going is officially heavy and the two pony races scheduled to precede the action have been cancelled.

Clerk of the course George Hill told ITV Racing: “We had a pretty bad thunderstorm which lasted about an hour and a half which brought 15mm of rain, which wasn't ideal. Unfortunately, the track’s gone heavy but with rail movement and the stuff as planned from racing yesterday, the track has taken it reasonably well.

“It’s our 16th meeting of the year but we’re not in too bad shape. It’ll be testing for them, it’s not ideal for Flat racing but it’s perfectly fine in terms of where we’re at. We prepped the track accordingly with aerating it on Thursday fearing the forecast might be correct and unfortunately the forecast has been pretty accurate with these thunderstorms predicted."

The rest of the day is forecast to be mainly dry with sunny spells.

There were originally four places on offer under standard each-way terms in the 7f handicap (5.00), which initially had a full field of 20 declared, but only two each-places will now be available with 13 non-runners leaving just seven runners.

By contrast, Abduction, Brooklyn Nine Nine, The Coffee Pod and Danzan are the only non-runners at Ayr for the third and final day of its Gold Cup meeting. The going is good, good to firm in places and clerk of the course Graeme Anderson said. “We’ve been dry overnight with no rain. Today’s looking overcast until around midday and then we’ll have sunny spells, with a maximum temperature of 18C.”

Non-runners

Newbury

1.30 5 Desperate Hero, 6 Equilateral, 8 Toca Madera
2.05 2 Lucander, 6 Youthful King, 7 Aqwaam
2.40 3 Flying Frontier, 5 Quietness, 14 Spaceport
3.15 1 Andesite, 4 Defence Minister, 8 Shadow Of Light, 10 Symbol Of Strength
3.50 3 Navid, 4 Oceans Five, 5 President Wilson, 6 Prince Of Joy
4.25 3 Dragonflame, 5 Le Pelerin, 8 Spirit Of Albion
5.00 1 Mcmanaman, 2 Persuasion, 3 Noodle Mission, 4 Accidental Agent, 7 Nibras Angel, 8 Woodstock, 9 Harvard Sound, 12 Great Max, 13 Zabriskie Point, 14 Jungle Mac, 16 Monkey Island, 17 Pedro Valentino, 18 North View
5.35 1 The Ice Phoenix, 4 Great Chieftain, 5 Mirador, 9 Flag Of Love, 11 Tribal Chief