Grand National Weather Watch

It did rain today, but was not persistant nor heavy enough to do anything more than give the ole rose bed a nice watering. that was the first rain in more than 2 weeks, possibly 3

Agree it's not proper rain as my old mum would say. I'll be able to give a guestimation of what impact it may have had on top of the watering if any when I play golf later

Don't get your trainers wet.

The rain this week if you can call it that did absolutely nothing to the ground so watering will continue I imagine.

Rain Friday rain sat night none Sunday, plenty promised Monday, good all around at the moment

Turftrax have the course as good, with a tiny bit of good to soft

http://maps.turftrax.co.uk/latestgoingreport.asp?course=aintree

rain rain rain since early hours. ground changing at the moment, but Aintree drains so well, they wont be able to water now, so should be good to soft, with softer patches on national course near the canal turn - just what evryone wants and a green light for Syncronised gamble - although not mine.

Persistant light rain for most of the morning ...

showers forecast all week. It's certainly not going to be too warm for the hosses on Saturday and should be some cut in the ground as well.

Wouldn't mind a heavy national where you can rule out half the field :-)

Has not stopped raining since 4am, and still coming down, must be good to soft all over the course, possibly worse by tomorrow morning, however, no rain to talk about tomorrow or we'd, so may be good to soft for the start of the meeting.

http://www.turftrax.co.uk/going_maps.html

Finally stopped raining, an the sun is out. Possibley miss the showers from wednesday

this is exactly what i was expecting gilies cross price halved since i backed @ 50 RAIN RAIN RAIN

9-10 mm expected today then forecast dry til saturday

http://www.turftrax.co.uk/going_maps.html

BBC website totally contradicts this, stating organised rain or showers every day up to Friday with chance of snow in the area overnight tonight, including heavy bursts Wednesday afternoon .... makes betting harder than it already is, trying to second guess Saturday's going.

RP reports the going has changed to soft today. Been raining most of the day, quite hard this afternoon.

April showers to continue into the week. I would be amazed if the GN course was not soft come saturday.

Those burdened with high weights will find it hard to lumber it over these meaty fences. A dour stayer with less than 11st 2 will win.

So something like Chicago Grey won 4 miler at Cheltenham and carrying < 11 stone?

dont get caught out, aintree is a super drain course, just on the softer side of good at worst come saturday

yup, they have had all the rain, predicting 4 mm between now and the race, could be good to soft by thursday

9-10 mm expected today then forecast dry til saturday

http://www.turftrax.co.uk/going_maps.html

Web page not found

The tweets I'm reading from girls attending on Friday are making me chuckle. Any sign of rain is a total disaster for them it appears. There will be rivers of orange!

i'll say again, word heavy will not appear,,,,

saturday morning it will say...

good to soft, soft in places on the national course

good and good to soft in places on the mildmay and hurdle courses...

drizzle overnight - wind is up, but is cold. 
I have been caught out before backing mudlarks when the weather has been like this earlier in the week, as the previous poster says, Aintree drains super quick.  Might ride a little softer on Thursday, but by Sat, unless there is another day like Sunday, it will be G/Soft with Soft patches down near canal turn.  Anything reliant on Good ground neeeds swerved imo.

very breezy right now with some sunny patches. Ground will be drying up all the time, unless more rain later today, looks like could be in for some showers but nothing more.

Surely the bigger concern is the anticipated FROST - even light frosts with dew are like adding 000'000's of gallons of water to the track...

If frost does come although it'll soon burn-out it will make it dead yielding ground which would be music to the ears of horses like West End Rocker; Giles Cross.....and if it goes really dead the very much over-looked Le Beau Bai!

Looking at met office fcast the nearest it will get to a frost is Thur and Fri night when it will be 2 with poss of lower but also poss of being much warmer! Other than that it will be nearer to 6 at night so not sure where these frosts are coming from.

I've got the TurfTrax going map for the courses on a short cut on my desk top LOL

No chance of frost and about another 5mm of rain predicted. Half the track described as soft and I expect it will be good to soft, good in places come saturday

BBC's Honest Frank reports lunchtime going as soft all-round on GN course and soft, g/s places on Mildmay

so many different weather forecasts / predictions  . no one can be sure of the ground come saturday . all you can say for certain at moment is the ground on grand national course is soft  .  rain is certain wednesday then a chance of showers everyday till the grand national . the worst the ground will be is good to soft . perfect ground for all but the firm ground lovers

so many different weather forecasts / predictions  . no one can be sure of the ground come saturday . all you can say for certain at moment is the ground on grand national course is soft  .  rain is certain wednesday then a chance of showers everyday till the grand national . the worst the ground will be is good to soft . perfect ground for all but the firm ground lovers

so many different weather forecasts / predictions  . no one can be sure of the ground come saturday . all you can say for certain at moment is the ground on grand national course is soft  .  rain is certain wednesday then a chance of showers everyday till the grand national . the worst the ground will be is good to soft . perfect ground for all but the firm ground lovers

so many different weather forecasts / predictions  . no one can be sure of the ground come saturday . all you can say for certain at moment is the ground on grand national course is soft  .  rain is certain wednesday then a chance of showers everyday till the grand national . the worst the ground will be is good to soft . perfect ground for all but the firm ground lovers

2 years ago that's all that was heard, soft ground..soft ground..gonna be soft ground..good ground lovers stay home...yet come the meeting they won nearly everything. It took some till the end of the 2nd day to realise it. Here we go again.

Can you repeat that BARRY?

Barry has got the Met Office on speed dial

Thursday friday racing is sure to loosen the track up a fair bit im hoping for right muddy ground come sat come on the cross

Thursday friday racing is sure to loosen the track up a fair bit im hoping for right muddy ground come sat come on the cross

Thursday friday racing is sure to loosen the track up a fair bit im hoping for right muddy ground come sat come on the cross

20 mins shower this evening after a sunny blowey day,,good/soft  on saturday no worse

Any news on the price of the Hotdogs from the burger vans.

Good to soft with firm bits

Overcast start to the day. No rain as yet, but looking ripe for some showers later, wind dropped too and generally colder than yesterday.

Looks like the Midlmay Chase course will be riding more good to soft with the outer hurdles track a bit softer.

By Saturday the only soft bit on the National course will be the far side section from Canal Turn for about 4 fences.Rest will be good or good to soft.

What's it like there at the mo? I'm between Manchester and Liverpool - just had a major downpour here (including hail) for an hour or so, and looks like it might be heading that way.

course has definitely dried a fair bit according to the Turftrax map

http://www.turftrax.co.uk/going_maps.html

more than 50% good to soft now on the going stick

sunshine and showers forecast

Yes, been pissing it down in Warrington.

no rain as yet, sun is breaking out, possibly showers later if i was a beting man :-)

Richard Lee's daughter walked the National Course this morning and she reckons it's good to soft already. They are praying for rain!

It'll need to be heavy to get a run imo

that's coz their horse needs it hock deep, ain't happening as much as I like LBB (put it up as max bet on the Ante Post Big races thread) he won't be getting the mud he needs unless something unexpected happens

no showers materialised. The sun been out in patches - so in short, another drying day. Mudlarks need not apply imo.  Gambles on GC and WER seem a little premature.

yup they look short now don't they? with 70 hours of drying to come?

Latest reading around 6.2 on the BHA website, not updated on turftrax yet

Was around the 7.3 mark last year

Some showers forecast tomorow and Friday, but more drying conditions as well. Will be nice natural ground on the easy side of good. Only horses who want extremes will be inconvenienced.

This was weds 14.00 btw

going changed


A 48-HOUR absence of rain on Merseyside prompted a change in the ground at Aintree on Wednesday afternoon, although the weather forecast for the three-day meeting remains unsettled.

The going on the Grand National course is now good to soft, soft in places (from soft, good to soft in places), while both the chase and hurdle tracks on the Mildmay course are good to soft (from good to soft, soft in places).

Nice Fresh Sunny Morning at The Mo !!!

Real drying weather today in Liverpool. Good ground horses are in clover come Saturday imo.

http://maps.turftrax.co.uk/courseservices/AINTREE/maps/12-04-2012/751.jpg

similar to yesterday, white clouds around, about 10degress. Few showers expected later and tomorrow.

they are talking about watering the course because it is already good ground

massive over reaction by the mudlark backers

Looks proper summer ground

Guilty as charged, weather forecast at the weekend couldn't have been more wrong - I should know better. At least I've got the LBB money to come back.

They've had a fatality and four fallers in 2 hurdle races - odds on they will water

At least I've got the LBB money to come back.

I thought the trainer took it out, i.e not balloted out, in which case you don't get money back?

If you're on NRNB I think you get your money back regardless.

I s'pose if the bet was placed in the last day or 2 - not sure when all bookies went nrnb but don't think many were before tuesday. Anyway, groud has turned out as i thought as I backed good ground horses at bigger odds - i just hope there isn't much rain from now on!

looks very quick to me. Think they'll be watering before Saturday but isn't going to be any softer than it is today.

For clarification was placed NRNB with Lads

4yo Hurdle less than a second slower than last year

Selective watering on both courses taking place - seems a tad premature to me but heyho!

Walked around the National Course this morning, and the ground wasn't especially soft then, let alone with the sun on it all afternoon.

It didn't particularly feel like it with the wind, but it was pretty warm on course.

Looked to be dark clouds about before but no rain has yet materialised.

Never trust course conditions until the day. I backed some of the good ground horses earlier in the week when they said it'd be soft and the market altered too much in favour of the soft ground horses, but there has been a big overreaction today to the horses preferring softer conditions with fear of fast ground. Water now going on and it could still rain as well. There is no way the ground will be good. I'm now backing the likes of Giles Cross on the basis that tomorrow you can probably trade out much shorter when the market corrects back in line again following optimism over watering.

villaboy - each to their own, but thats a crazy strategy.  The course is bone dry - end of. We are in Spring and the ground just eat up any showers if they materialise, good ground horses all the way.

The day just got warmer today in Liverpool. Took the kids to the park between 5-6 and it was still lovely and warm, with a slight breeze. Proper drying weather. The missus said she did 5 loads of washing today!

Will be on the firm side of good by Saturday unless they water.

Proctor I'm not saying I'm favouring the soft ground horses. I'm firmly in the camp of the decent ground horses. I'm just saying I think there is a trading opportunity now because I think someone like Giles Cross will hit say 22/23 tomorrow at some stage.

mary there is no way they will allow the course to be on the firm side of good for the national. The race is too high profile. I got stung at dry as a bone Cheltenham when Cape Tribulation etc came in mud splattered!!!!

fairs do's villaboy.
Interesting they didnt water the National Course last night too, as it was a proper drying day yesterday.
Frosty morning, ice on the cars at the moment. Looks bright though and the threat of showers has gone. Hate it when they ruin the ground. Although I think we just have to accept thats the way it is now and we cant change it.

A drying day again today I dare say. Watering this morning I believe.

So what y'all think now, given the rain that was in evidence during the 2 races I watched today? Anybody got any interesting findings based on today's race times?

The showers we've had today wont have made the going any softer for Saturday as it was a drying day again on the whole. However, there are some serious 'orrible looking clouds and there's every chance of a thunder storm in the next hour or two.

Watering National course right now according to Claire Balding on twitter!

WHAT !!!!

Looking very dark and grey here I can't believe they're watering.

RAIN PLEASE OR LEAVE THE SPRINKLERS ON

aintree should just lay an all weather or move the race to france .

whats the weather down there looking now any sign of that thunder storm

Amazingly no rain has fell up to now. Thought for sure was gonna be a thunder storm.

Theyve stuck 3-5 mm on tonight

apparently there's showers all day tomorrow as well

how significant is 3-5mm of watering? weather is expected bright morning then rainy afternoon i think. chance of soft ground anyone?

Apr 13, 2012 -- 10:48PM, icantloose wrote:

apparently there's showers all day tomorrow as well

no chance, maybe light showers early doors and light showers at race time but mostly sunny again

were all watching different weather reports,but i still think there will be enough rain come 415 for the goig to be soft throughout

were all watching different weather reports,but i still think there will be enough rain come 415 for the goig to be soft throughout

my weather forecast is always right !  more cloudy than last few days but a dry sunny day, only chance of a shower late afternoon

Nice and bright early this morning :-) Doesn't look like it rained last night!

no chance of soft,its only good to soft in places,and they watered last night

lovely day today, sunny and warm with a slight breeze. Very little if any overnight rain despite the 'orrible looking clouds.

looking very dark and grey down there its gona chuck down for the next 2 hours

raining yet?