Sandown ground perfect

Sandown clerk of the course Andrew Cooper reports the ground at the Esher track to be “perfect” ahead of Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse Stakes.

With rain forecast, watering of the course is unlikely to be necessary and the going is expected to be good on the big day.

“On Friday night Sandown had 10mm of rain, which was the first we’d seen for 10 days,” he said.

“That was just what we wanted, because you can’t beat natural rainfall for getting the track just right.

“I walked the course this morning and it really is perfect good Flat-racing ground.

“The track really is in very good shape at the moment.

“We have two prospective belts of rain forecast for the week, one later tonight and one on Friday, but other than that it should remain reasonably dry.

“That forecast rain really should mean we won’t need to do any watering. And if the rain comes, then I would think the track should be no quicker than ‘good’ on Saturday.”

Cooper added that ticket sales for the meeting have been “unprecedented”.

“Tickets for the Premier Enclosure on Saturday are all but sold out, and even though we have plenty of room in the Grandstand, there is even a possibility that aea could reach capacity,” he said.

“Our biggest meeting of the year is always Betfred Gold Cup day, where we get about 15,000, but we could be seeing a figure in that area on Saturday, which would be brilliant.

“The record we have had for the Coral-Eclipse is 11,500 and we should beat that figure by some way.

“Everyone at Sandown is pleased to see that Motivator and Shamardal haven’t scared off everything else from the race, and that there are 10 good horses declared today.

“Ever since people heard that Motivator, and then Shamardal, were going to be running, demand for tickets has been unprecedented.”

Harry Herbert, racing manager for Motivator’s owners, was delighted to hear of racegoers’ response to the contest.

“They’re coming to see a great race and I hope to God that’s what they get,” he said.

“If he wins, then he will join some of the greats, and people want to see history being made.

“If we don’t win, then I hope Shamardal does.”