Sandown watering ahead of Eclipse
Officials at Sandown are aiming for ground "on the fast side of good" ahead of this weekend's high-profile meeting.
The Esher track has not seen any considerable rain in almost a month and clerk of the course Andrew Cooper is doing all he can to ensure conditions are not too quick for Saturday's Coral-Eclipse.
"It's hard work in this weather and there has been no real let-up for a couple of weeks. We last saw a decent drop of rain on June 12," Cooper told At The Races.
"Having said that, I think the ground is nice and we're describing it as good, good to firm in places.
"It's on the fast side but we had a little bit of unexpected rain on Tuesday morning.
"We plan to put about five millimetres on the whole circuit today and we'll take a view on Thursday whether we do that again.
"That will be governed by what the latest forecasts tell us but at the moment we're shaping up to go into Friday's racing on the fast side of good.
"I think trainers are philosophical and they know what the weather is doing at the moment.
"Anyone who is looking for good ground or slower is clearly wasting their time, but people understand that."
