Going updates Rain has arrived overnight at Down Royal, with the ground easing ahead of the St Stephen's Day fixture. Down Royal Clerk of the Course Tracey O'Meara reports “after 14mm of rain overnight the ground is currently good to yielding, yielding in places. Met Eireann has forecast 40mm of rain approximately between now and racing.” Limerick, which begins its racing festival on St Stephen's Day, is reported to be softer with Clerk of the Course Val O'Connell saying “we have had 5mm of rain since entry stage and the ground at the moment is soft to heavy. We are mainly dry today into tomorrow but we have rain then Friday into Saturday with a possibility of 15-20mm before racing on St Stephen's Day.” The ground at Leopardstown is now good to yielding on both the hurdle and chase tracks following 3mm of rain overnight. The chase course will be watered today and the situation will continue to be monitored. Clerk of the Course Lorcan Wyer said, "We feel there’s plenty of kindness in the ground, but we’re effectively just trying to keep the kindness in it.” He also outlined some slight changes to the layout of the chase track in the back straight adding, “The fence before the road crossing has gone back 30 yards and the fence beyond that has gone back 40 yards because we did a bit of levelling on take offs and landings so those fences are not in their normal positions. “In terms of the hurdles track, for days one and two they are out wide and days three or four they go back inside.” The forecast is unsettled with the possibility of 10-15mm of rain in advance of Sunday's meeting at Leopardstown.
