We have just walked Whitfield and sadly will not be running any of the horses that were entered as although the track looks wonderful and there is a good cover of grass, in our opinion the ground is far too quick for our horses and we don't want to break any at the end of what has been a fantastic season. Apparently the 'senior steward' advised the Whitfield team on the 16th not to put any more water on as it would be 'too soft' even though there was a heat wave predicted.....(?!)
Doug's trusty stick that has never let us down before has put the ground at good to firm, firm in places and on some of the take offs and landings the ground is positively concrete. No doubt I will get nasty e-mails from those concerned after posting my thoughts but I would rather that than see horses break down or worse. Luckily we are close enough to the track to be able to walk it first but there are people that will  travel miles tomorrow with their soft/good ground horses and will see that the ground is not what has been given out. WHY NOT BE HONEST?  There are firm ground horse out there that would love to know the truth and would run at Whitfield tomorrow if only they knew exactly what the ground really was. Grrrr!