Heavy rain currently over The Channel Islands, and the whole English Channel - currently heading up the Channel, from South-West to North-East - and fringing onto Goodwood.
Any local report would be appreciated. ---------------
- and then there is this guy ...
Seamus Buckley feels the course at Goodwood could handle some rain without a significant change in the going description after a dry night prior to the second day of the Qatar Goodwood Festival.
Officials at the course are braced for rain at some stage on what is set to be the wettest day of the week but clerk of the course Buckley remains unable to say with confidence when it could come and how much could fall.
Buckley changed the official going description to good all over on Wednesday morning and said forecasts are now suggesting any rain could move through the area more quickly than first anticipated due to the blustery conditions.
While he acknowledged there is a chance the going description could change, Buckley added the course could take up to 6mm before a major change in the going may be required.
"The ground has dried out but I don't know how long we'll hang on to that because there's rain coming in around lunch time," said Buckley. "I'm unsure how much but 5-6mm would not do us any harm, we'd probably hang on to good, maybe go towards good to soft in places. The way it's drying out, we might need 4-5mm just to keep it sweet.
"As long as we don't have a really, really wet afternoon, we should be ok. The forecast at the moment is for rain during racing but it's moving quite quickly, it's quite breezy here now, so it's moving quicker than perhaps we were expecting. We might have a period of rain before lunch and then it brightens up, but that's in my dreams maybe.
"The first forecast I heard today was for rain until midnight and then moving away to be dry after that into tomorrow morning, with three dry days to come after that. Today is likely to be the worst day on our best day." -----------------
Buckley is retiring this year - after 23 years as Clerk of the Course at Goodwood.
He says ... "we might need 4-5mm just to keep it sweet.
For those 23 years he has been petrified of the word FIRM appearing ANYWHERE in his GOING reports.
Buckley is retiring this year - after 23 years as Clerk of the Course at Goodwood.
Best news for punters this year, just need Tellwrong to follow suit...
Buckley is retiring this year - after 23 years as Clerk of the Course at Goodwood.Best news for punters this year, just need Tellwrong to follow suit...
Fecking good riddance to this worthless old goat. Goodwood should have a beautiful surface like at Bath and Salisbury but for this idiot and his consistent over-watering. Summer racing should be good to firm or firm if no rain - end of imo.
Fecking good riddance to this worthless old goat. Goodwood should have a beautiful surface like at Bath and Salisbury but for this idiot and his consistent over-watering. Summer racing should be good to firm or firm if no rain - end of imo.
Clearly Goodwood CotC lives in cloud cuckoo land, times suggest it was soft yesterday and how good can still be in the going description today beggars belief.
Clearly Goodwood CotC lives in cloud cuckoo land, times suggest it was soft yesterday and how good can still be in the going description today beggars belief.
Officially "soft" now having been "good" 20 mins ago!! You couldn't make it up (although with these changes in the going every couple of minutes it sounds as if that's what somebody actually does!)
Officially "soft" now having been "good" 20 mins ago!! You couldn't make it up (although with these changes in the going every couple of minutes it sounds as if that's what somebody actually does!)
Goodwood By Mark Storey - 21 minutes ag oMark Storey LATEST Goodwood latest: going now soft Clerk of the course Seamus Buckley said: "We've had 15mm of rain and I'm changing the going to soft."
GoodwoodBy Mark Storey - 21 minutes agoMark StoreyLATESTGoodwood latest: going now softClerk of the course Seamus Buckley said: "We've had 15mm of rain and I'm changing the going to soft."
Goodwood By Mark Storey - 20 minutes ago Mark Storey LATEST Goodwood latest: jockey views After the first jockeys Graham Lee and Jame Elliott described the going as soft. David Egan said: "By the time we were coming up the straight it was getting chopped up."
GoodwoodBy Mark Storey - 20 minutes ago Mark StoreyLATESTGoodwood latest: jockey viewsAfter the first jockeys Graham Lee and Jame Elliott described the going as soft. David Egan said: "By the time we were coming up the straight it was getting chopped
Before the first circa 1.30pm he came on RUK and said their tweet that 10mm had fallen so far today wasn't accurate and wasn't that much. 40 minutes later it's 15mm
Before the first circa 1.30pm he came on RUK and said their tweet that 10mm had fallen so far today wasn't accurate and wasn't that much. 40 minutes later it's 15mm
Any chance that a clerk of a racecourse will state the ground to be much better than it actually is in order to try and deflect criticism of over watering?
Any chance that a clerk of a racecourse will state the ground to be much better than it actually is in order to try and deflect criticism of over watering?
^ It will need a Hurricane - to get it back to normal ...
- although 'normal' for belligerent Buckley means that the Going must have NO 'Firm' in it whatsoever.
^ It will need a Hurricane - to get it back to normal ... - although 'normal' for belligerent Buckley means that the Going must have NO 'Firm' in it whatsoever.