By Graham Dench
The Festival™ is set to begin in glorious spring weather and on ground that is officially described as Good to Soft, Soft in places.
Clerk of the Course Jon Pullin, who will be officiating at his first Festival after taking over from Simon Claisse late last year, walked the course on Monday lunchtime and returned GoingStick readings of 6.4 on both the hurdles and chase courses, with no rain forecast until Wednesday.
Pullin confirmed: “We are Good to Soft, Soft in places on the Old Course, which we race on for the first two days, and it’s currently Soft, Good to Soft in places on the New Course, which is in use for the last two days.
“We are dry today, with temperatures of around 13 or 14 degrees, and it’s a similar forecast for the opening day tomorrow, but then on Wednesday there is some rain around, with the lower end of forecasts around 3mm, but some forecasts indicating up to 8 or 9mm. It will be spread throughout the day, but if it becomes heavier it will be during the afternoon.”
He added: “The Old Course hasn’t been watered at all, and I can say now that it won’t be.
“We irrigated the New Course on Friday with 12mm, based on the forecast we were given and the warm temperatures that were expected. We’ll see where we are with forecasts for Wednesday and assess how much rain we actually get before making any decision on further watering of the New Course.”
The mild winter has been a big positive and Pullin could not be more pleased with the condition of both the Old Course and the New Course for the sport’s biggest four days of the year.
He said: “Both courses are in great shape for the week, having benefited from the mild and favourable winter. When we raced on the Old Course in October and November, we were racing on Good and Good to Soft ground, so we didn’t do a lot of damage, and it’s had plenty of time to recover through the mild winter .
“It was also better ground than usual when we were on the New Course for the December and January meetings, so we’ve not done as much damage there as historically can be done. Again, the recovery of the New Course has been fantastic, so we are in great shape for the week.”
The forecast for Thursday and Friday is looking favourable, with dry weather and temperatures of around 13 and 14 degrees again.
