The vital state of the going for the four-day Leopardstown Christmas festival is now predicted to be "yielding" after an inspection of the track yesterday.
Clerk of the course Joe Collins walked the Co Dublin track yesterday and officially described the ground as yielding with yielding to soft patches.
The Leopardstown authorities don't expect too much change even though the forecast is for dry weather well into next week.
"There is no great drying at this time of year and I wouldn't imagine it will get much better than yielding," said the Leopardstown racing manager Tom Burke.
"But Joe said the ground is as good as he has ever seen it and the going is certainly a lot better than it usually is at this time of year. The forecast is good although it will get colder going into next week," he added.
A crowd of up to 17,000 is expected at Leopardstown on St Stephen's Day and the overall attendance for the four-day festival could reach the 60,000 mark.
Meanwhile, conditions at Sandown have dried out ahead of the Stan James King George VI Chase meeting on St Stephen's Day with the going on the chase course now officially "good".
But with frost forecast for Christmas Day, clerk of the course Andrew Cooper is considering issuing a precautionary 7.30am inspection today for the big day.
"It's been generally dry bar one wet night since the Tingle Creek, so that's not a problem," he explained.
"There is some talk of a bit of frost on Christmas Day though, so we are leaning towards a possible inspection, which will do no harm whatsoever."
Tony McCoy is looking forward to the feature race: "The King George is going to be brilliant race with Kicking King, Kingscliff and Impek."
"It's going to be a very open race as horses like Royal Auclair have also got a chance, but it's something to look forward to."
Stan James King George VI Chase Paddy Power bet: 6-4 Kicking King, 9-4 Kingscliff, 13-2 Impek, 8-1 L'Ami, 10-1 Ollie Magern, 16-1 Royal Auclair, Cornish Rebel, 25-1 Monkerhostin, Irish Hussar, 100-1 Distant Thunder, Ballycassidy .
Ladbrokes bet: 11-8 Kicking King, 13-8, Kingscliff, 6-1 Impek, 7-1 L'Ami, 10-1 Ollie Magern, 12-1 Cornish Rebel, 16-1 Royal Auclair, 25-1 Irish Hussar, Monkerhostin, 100-1 Ballycassidy, Distant Thunder.
