Newbury clerk of the course Mark Kershaw is philosophical about today's low turn-out of runners at the Berkshire venue. Only 26 horses have been declared for the six-race, card but Kershaw said: "We had three-quarters of an inch of rain on Friday, but the ground is still only good to firm, good in places. It is reasonable but it is fast.

"And with our major Hennessy meeting coming up in less than three weeks, you could end up with an awful problem if you watered at this stage of a season - I have never really liked early November meetings on the major courses."

Kershaw cites the overall race programme as a contributory factor to the small fields, and added: "There are so many other opportunities in the south at around this time, and if you have a horse which wants good ground then you can find it somewhere.

"But things will change next year and we will cut this meeting back to only one day and race only on the Wednesday.

"And it is something to think about looking further ahead to see if it would be a good idea to go straight to the Hennessy meeting as our first of the season."