Ascot 'very likely' to water both the straight and round courses on Monday after drying day

Watering is likely to take place at Ascot on Monday before the royal meeting starts the following day after further drying conditions on Sunday.

The going remained good to firm, good in places after 2mm of rain on Saturday and Ascot’s clerk of the course Chris Stickels was expected to make a final decision on whether to water on Monday morning.

He said on Sunday: “We’ve had no change here, so the going is good to firm, good in places and it’s been a drying day with breezy conditions. It’s very likely we’ll put a spot of water on tomorrow to maintain conditions as they are. 

“We’ll make a decision first thing in the morning, but I would say that we’ll look to put 5mm on the straight course and 3mm on the round course.”

The first day of Royal Ascot on Tuesday was said to be “shaping up to be an all-time great card” by Nick Smith, Ascot’s director of racing and public affairs, who said he was encouraged by ticket sales for the fixture. Last year, attendance for the opening day of the meeting was 41,848 with overall attendance for the week being 266,147.

Smith said: “Ticket sales are pretty good. We're broadly in line with last year; we're not quite there, but at this stage we're pretty happy with where we are. We're really excited. The site is looking great, the sun is finally shining, hopefully the weather's reasonably settled for the week, and it's going to be a tremendous week.

“Tuesday's shaping up to be an all-time great Royal Ascot card, everyone's acknowledged that. The St James's Palace Stakes is a vintage renewal with all three Guineas winners, the Queen Anne is hugely competitive, and we've the first edition of the King Charles III Stakes with a public horse like Big Evs, and the Coventry is always much anticipated.”

Around 30 anti-monarchy protesters booed and chanted against the royals at Saturday’s Trooping The Colour to mark the King’s birthday, but Smith said there was “no intelligence to suggest there's a particular issue” for Royal Ascot.

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