Haydock's Clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright has described the ground as good to soft on Wednesday but does expect more rain to fall before now and the start of the three day Sprint Cup meeting.
This should mean the conditions for the Group One six furlong event will be soft before the off which will suit some runners but for others may cause huge problems.
Luckily for the horses it should not get worse than soft going by the current forecast for the next few days.
(Credit ATR) Tellwright said: “We are good to soft. It might rain later today and tomorrow. We might get six millimetres.
“I think the best scenario in terms of ground for Saturday is good to soft, worse case is soft.”
Class act - Hello Youmzain makes most and powers to Group 1 glory in the @Betfair Sprint Cup for @the_doyler and @kevinryanracing 👏 pic.twitter.com/OKw1HmopQ5
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) September 7, 2019
Hello Youmzain will be trying to land the race for a second time in consecutive years and the clerk of the course explains how hard that is to do with only special horses being able to do so.
“There have been several who have gone close to winning the race twice,” he said.
“Gordon Lord Byron went close and Tim Easterby’s horse that went on soft ground (Somnus) he went close to it as well. They won one and were placed in one or two.
“After Be Friendly, no-one has won more than one.“It’s slightly disappointing Oxted is out, but it still looks like being a nice race.
“We’ve got last year’s winner (Hello Youmzain) and the one from the year before (The Tin Man). There are a few old friends in it.”