Rain clouds gather over Ascot

Ascot escaped any significant rainfall overnight as the build-up to tomorrow’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes gathers pace.

But it was raining at the Berkshire track this morning and clerk of the course Nick Cheyne said that conditions could well ease from the current description of good to firm, good in places.

“We stayed dry really overnight apart from we had under half a millimetre of rain in the early hours of this morning,” Cheyne told attheraces.

“It’s actually just started raining (at 7.30am) and I think it will be around for the next few hours, certainly through until later this afternoon.

“We’ll have to see how much we get but it’s certainly going to ease with the forecast, and the London weather men are fairly convinced that we will see steady rain for the next six or seven hours possibly.”

Of the leading contenders, Kris Kin and Sulamani would appreciate any rain, while the opposite is true of Alamshar and Falbrav.

“I would hope it’s not going to inconvenience any of the horses,” Cheyne added.

“It will probably end up being good ground on the slow side, but I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess what the ground is going to be tomorrow until we see exactly what we are going to get.”