Winning Post-1600m: A decent amount of give in the surface, lane one might be slightly softer but I doubt the jockeys will take any action over it. There's more colour in the track as we move towards Spring. Walked a '5' but nowhere near an upgrade.
1600m-1000m: Very even across most of the lanes here. I thought hard up on the fence was marginally softer but even half a horse off the rail was very similar to the wider lanes. Walked deep into the '5' range but with the wind blowing quite strongly I can't see it getting any worse.
1000m-800m: Not a lot of difference here as they turn out of the back-straight. Lane 1 holding slightly more moisture than the other lanes but it's very marginal. Also walks a '5' but well into that range.
1200m-800m (chute): Marginal wear in this straight-line section. Walked a '5' with a good pad of grass under foot and no difference between the lanes.
800m-400m: The inside couple of lanes has a little more fill than out wider and the going felt a touch loose compared to lanes 4 and beyond. Won't surprise me to see the course off the fence from where the chute joins the course proper.
400m-Winning Post: Similar to the last section, I felt this inside few lanes would be harder going for the horses and you'd see them stick to lanes 4 and beyond in the straight. There's genuine give in the ground and it felt well into the '5' range to me.
Verdict: As we touched on last meeting, when the rail is in the True position the standard pattern is to see them avoid the inside three lanes. This has been the case at the last six meetings in the True position. I expect this to continue on Saturday and I'd preference horses drawn wide in the chute. The wind is forecast to be quite light and in a direction that shouldn't have much of an impact on the racing pattern. There's genuine give in the top layer of the surface and I felt it would race in the '5' range on times but feel closer to a '6' for those walking it.
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