Grand National 2008: Going Update
March 28th, 2008Grand National 2008
It was reported today by Clerk Of The Course, Andrew Tulloch, that going on both courses at Aintree was now ‘on the easy side of good’.
More rain is expected on Friday and Saturday but Tulloch was reportedly very happy with the state of the course.
Are we looking at the possibility of a soft ground Grand National? How would this affect your selections? Will you be praying for more rain or hoping the sun comes out?
Are there any budding Michael Fish’s out there who can give us an insight into what to expect in the next week or so?
Let’s us have all your Grand National ground and weather related comments on this page please.
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Lastsuspect Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
I am a bit of a saddo really but I follow the weather pretty closely because I go fishing as well as follow the horses - oh dear the sadness just got worse !
I watch a weather site in Germany that uses the same model as the met office to follow the weather and I would interpret the forecast as follows (it shows you pressure charts so you have to read them):
Saturday, Sunday - Strong south westerly winds mostly and a lot of rain - pretty high amounts for north west of the country so it will effect Aintree.
Monday, Tuesday - Slightly less wind on Monday, stronger again on Tuesday - rain on both days perhaps slightly less than Saturday, Sunday.
Wednesday, Thursday - lighter winds and warmer temperatures and quite sunny on Thursday - a nice day - will feel like spring has really arrived.
Friday, Saturday - Will get much colder again with strong northerly winds on Saturday particularly - will feel particularly cold with wind chill. Not much rain to speak of though so stronger wind after a couple of days sunny weather could dry course.
The model runs 9 days in advance with less confidence from Thursday onwards.
If I had to make a guess at the ground I would say Soft or Good To Soft by Saturday but betting on the weather is worse than betting on the horses !
Please dont treat me like Michael Fish and the hurricance debarcle if I’m wrong but I hope this helps.
I’ll let someone better qualified comment on how that effects your selections.
ANDY Says:
March 30th, 2008 at 10:48 am
CURRENT WEATHER HERE IN AINTREE IS CLEAR BLUE SKIES SUNNY WITH A LIGHT BREEZE LAST NIGHT WE HAD RAIN WITH FAIRLY STRONG WINDS SO I THINK IT WILL BE GOOD TO SOFT ON NATIONAL DAY HOPE THIS HELPS
Brody Says:
March 31st, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Clerk of the course now considering watering the course as no significant rainfall predicted between now and the off. Bad news for soft ground specialists like Dun Doire, D’Argent and Ossmoses:
“GROUND conditions at Aintree dried out slightly on Monday, and a forecast of similar weather for much of the week raised the prospect of watering before the Grand National meeting gets under way on Thursday.
The going on the National course was described officially as good to soft, no longer soft in places. The Mildmay and hurdles courses at Aintree remain good to soft, good in places.
Clerk of the course Andrew Tulloch said: “We had about 1mm of rain this morning but it has generally been a dry day and it has dried out a bit. We might have to do a bit of selective watering this week - we will play it by ear and see what happens.”
The best hope of rainfall before the National for connections of horses who prefer softer ground was Monday night, according to the Met Office.
A spokeswoman said: “They will have rain tonight but not a vast quantity, 5mm or perhaps 10mm - though that might be over the top.
“I would say thereis a very small chance of a shower in the afternoon tomorrow but it will mainly be dry with sunny spells and it could potentially get quite warm - it will be breezy and it could dry the course out quite a bit.
“Wednesday will be a cloudy day with somelight rain but only 2mm at most, while Thursday will be a damp-feeling day but with just the odd spot of rain in the wind.
“We are expecting a cold front to move across the country on Friday and there will be rain, probably around lunchtime, but thereprobably won’t be a great deal and it won’t last for long.
“National day itself will probably be sunny but there will be a northerly breeze so the temperatures will be down.”