TONY CALVIN: SATURDAY stats and info

Haydock weather

The current forecast for Haydock is for 29mm of rain from late Thursday into Friday morning, with the bulk of it landing between 8pm on Thursday and 4am on Friday, so please bear that in mind.

The amounts have been fluctuating wildly during the week, but a hefty band of rain now seems assured.

Nine in Group 1 and Seven in September Stakes

There are nine in the Group 1 Sprint Cup (no Comanche Brave, Double Rush, Mitbaahy and Division) and there are seven in Kempton’s September Stakes (Gethin, Constitution Hill, Pride Of Arras, Tornado Alert, Dubai Future, Almeric and Warrant Holder).

STATS/INFO SECTION

1. COURSE DETAILS

HAYDOCK (three day meeting)

GOING : Soft, good to soft in places

GOING STICK : 5.6, Thu 7.20am

Rails: All races will be run on the Inside course. All rail has been moved into fresh lines since August 8th racing and the home-straight returns to full width.

Stalls: 5f & 6f: Centre. 7f, 1m & 1m 6f: Inside.

THURSDAY COURSE UPDATE: 5mm last Wednesday. 10mm last Thursday. 5mm last Friday. 10mm Saturday. 4mm Sunday. 2mm Monday. Dry Tuesday. Largely missed the forecasted Wednesday rainfall 1.4mm. Dry on Raceday. Daily max temperature 21°C

Weather (9.33am Thursday):   15mm Thursday; 14mm Friday; Dry Saturday (has been fluctuating wildly through week)

KEMPTON (two day meeting)

GOING : Standard to slow

Stalls: Inside

WEDNESDAY COURSE UPDATE: Partly Cloudy

WATERING: 20mm of water will be applied before racing to help consolidate and reduce the surface temperature of the synthetic track.

ASCOT (two day meeting – watering a lot; see below)

Following track renovations since the last meeting recovery has been a little slow and there are some patches of young grass with a less dense sward.

GOING : Good, good to firm in places

GOING STICK – Straight: 7.1. Round: 6.6;  Soil Moisture: 40%. (Readings taken on Thursday 3rd September at 7.30am)

Rails: The rail on the Round Course is positioned between 4 and 5yds out from the 1m 4F start to the Home Straight.

Stalls: Straight Course: Centre. Round Course: Inside

THURSDAY COURSE UPDATE: 1mm rain recorded through the past 24 hours to 7.30am on Thursday. 6mm rain recorded through the past week. It is due to be generally dry through to Friday when an occasional shower is possible. Saturday now looks to be dry. For access to our live weather station and for the latest Going info please go to www.ascot.com/thegoing

WATERING:  Watering 5mm on Straight course on Wednesday. Watered 8mm on Straight Course on Monday and 5mm on Round Course on Monday night.

Weather (7.46am Thursday):  light showers, if anything

2.BALLOTED OUT RUNNERS (get your money back on these)

2.20pm Kempton: First Ambition, Final Night, Breakdancer, Lake Como, Zoffandia, Rogue Allegiance, Silca Bay, Sea Founder, Port Road

3.FIRST-TIME HEADGEAR STATS

4.FIVE-DAY PACE MAPS

1.25pm Haydock: Balmacara, Fondo Blanco (prom),  The Lost King (prom),  Hankelow

1.40pm Ascot: Northern Express, , Ghost Mode, Mubasimah, Glenfinnan (prom)

1.55pm Haydock: Rafe’s Da Man, Theheatison

2.10pm Ascot: Archers Bay, Guildmaster, Ancestor, Turty Tree, Cape Fear, Lord d’Or

2.20pm Kempton: Percy’s Lad, Dingle, I’m Workin On It

2.30pm Haydock:  Galilean Quality?, Mythical Bay, Asia Force

2.50pm Kempton: Arabian Crown, Gethin (prom), Pride Of Arras, Tornado Alert (prom)

3.05pm Haydock: Aegean Prince,  Finalise, Hermetic (prom)  , Kissmehoneyhoney

3.40pm Haydock: American Affair (prom), Big Mojo (prom),,James’s Delight (prom), Marvelman, Coppull (prom)

5.TRAINERFORM (manually assessed; form going into Thursday)

Good: Andrew Balding, John and Thady Gosden, Rod Millman (fair/good), Sir Mark Prescott, Saeed bin Suroor (very small sample), Charlie Appleby, Owen Burrows (small sample), Ralph Beckett, Richard Spencer, Roger Varian, Roger Teal,  James Fanshawe

Fair: Jonathan Portman, Ed Walker, Ian Williams, Michael Herrington, David Evans, Simon and Ed Crisford (1 from 5), John Butler (1 from 5), Keiran Burke (1 from 5 – yes, another one),  Eve Johnson Houghton, Richard Hughes, Simon Dow , Mohammed and Santos (yes, 1 from 5),  Michael Dods, Clive Cox, Jamie Osborne, William Haggas (fair-good), , Marco Botti, Karl Burke, Charlie Fellowes, Nick Scholfield, David O’Meara, Jim Goldie, Charlie Johnston, Mick Appleby, Ed Bethell, Tim Easterby, Jack Channon

Moderate: Richard Hannon (in very poor winnerless form from a big sample), Ruth Carr, Julie Camacho, Michael Keady, Harry Eustace, James Owen (haven’t been hi in this category for a long while), Emma Lavelle,  Jessie Harrington, David Menuisier

Don’t know: Daniel and Claire Kubler (0 from 6), Hayley Burton, Nicky Henderson, Shaun Lycett (1 from 3; 9/2 winner), Henrietta Knight