Ascot set for further watering Clerk of the course Chris Stickels says Ascot will water again on Wednesday ahead of the Royal meeting as he tries to get 'manageable ground'. After watering the track on Friday and again on Monday, Stickels will be turning the taps on once again before the start of the meeting with the short-range weather forecast set fair. He told At The Races: "We will water again on Wednesday and review the forecast again later in the week. Bits of rain are forecast, but not enough to sufficiently ease the ground. "It could lead to the ground getting desperately quick for the beginning of the week. "You wouldn't want to be firm ground at the start of the week, we would prefer to be at that situation at the end of the week. "If we had a dry week it would be firm very quickly, we need to water to get manageable ground. We don't want to be firm ground by the second day, leading to more non-runners and making things less competitive. "Last week we had 3mm of rain most days but very drying conditions with the wind. The track does take rain very well, but 4-5 mm of rain is not a lot of rain for this time of year. "We need to be in a position by the end of this week we are not too quick going into the Royal Ascot meeting."
