THE decision taken by Leopardstown Racecourse to begin watering its chase track since mid-September looks to have been a wise one as the official going ahead of the Christmas Festival is good to yielding, yielding in places.

Clerk of the course Lorcan Wyer reported: “It’s getting milder from Christmas Eve and will be generally dry for racing. The chase course is good to yielding, yielding in places. The hurdle track is yielding, good to yielding in places. We will continue selective watering on the chase track to keep the moisture in it.”

Leopardstown will add a flight of hurdles to the back straight to offset the risk of low-lying sun forcing officials to bypass the final flight in the home straight.

The ground at Limerick was described by clerk Paul Moloney as yielding to soft, soft in places “and the weather forecast is basically dry for the rest of the week.”

It’s a similar story at Down Royal where clerk Brian Hamilton called the ground good to yielding, yielding in places “with a very small amount of rain to come.”

The going at Kempton was described as “good, good to soft in places” yesterday and while there is a “risk of showers” the forecast is “looking mild and dry with sunny periods.”

Five of the last 10 Welsh Grand Nationals have been run on heavy ground but Chepstow clerk of the course Dai Jones says this year’s edition on December 27th could take place on good to soft unless the rainfall in the next few days is at the top end of predictions.