Newcastle on This afternoon's fixture at Newcastle goes ahead following an 8am precautionary inspection. The prospect of heavy overnight rain had put the meeting, featuring the totesport.com Eider Chase, in a shade of doubt. Clerk of the course James Armstrong was, however, buoyed by conditions following a morning assessment. "We've only had a couple of millimetres since 5am so I don't see a problem," he said. "If anything, the rain has probably helped freshen the ground up a bit. "It has stopped raining now, but it will be extremely testing ground."
