IF you are interested in finding out what the weather is doing or is likely to do, you don’t need to check the forecast these days, you just need to check the betting for this afternoon’s Coral-Eclipse.

At the start of the week, when the rain was in the ground and in the sky, fast ground horse Time Test was a drifter, as the money came for The Gurkha and My Dream Boat and Hawkbill, who are all proven on soft ground. Then yesterday, as the sun shone and the wind blew at Sandown, the money came for Time Test, while My Dream Boat and Hawkbill both drifted.

Time Test is a really exciting colt. He has been exciting since he won the London Gold Cup at Newbury in May last year. He followed up that win by landing the Tercentenary Stakes at Royal Ascot, and he wasn’t disgraced in the Juddmonte International Stakes behind Arabian Queen and Golden Horn. But that’s how good he was, even last year.

He has raced just once this term, he won the Brigadier Gerard Stakes over today’s course and distance on the last Thursday in May. He beat Western Hymn by a neck that evening, but he had more in hand than that. He is a Group 1 horse in-waiting.

GROUND WORRIES

The ground is a worry though. Roger Charlton took him out of the Tattersalls Gold Cup at The Curragh on Guineas weekend because of soft ground, and he took him out of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot because of the prospect of soft ground.

It was interesting to listen to Roger Charlton’s interview on Racing UK yesterday, during which he explained the decision to withdraw from the Prince of Wales’s. One of the influencers in the decision was the fact that the Eclipse was an option, that it was still to come, just two weeks after Royal Ascot. And, by Eclipse time, looking ahead from Royal Ascot time, it was reasonable to expect that the ground might be fast on the first weekend in July.

But ground conditions today are unlikely to be any faster than ground conditions on the second day of Royal Ascot. The difference today is that there is no other 10-furlong Group 1 race for a while. Not until the Juddmonte International really.

There is the King George option, but the King George is obviously a 12-furlong race, and Time Test has never been beyond 10. Not yet anyway.

So it makes sense to have a go today, in spite of the ground.

He is short though, at no better than 100/30, with the worry about the ground. The times at Sandown yesterday suggest that the ground was on the easy side of good at best, probably a little softer than that, even on the round course, which is faster than the straight course.

GOOD VALUE

Hawkbill could be the value of the race at 8/1. He does have to step up significantly in class if he is to win the Eclipse, he has 12lb to find with the top-rated horses in the race on official ratings, but he is hugely progressive now, and there is a chance that he can find that level of improvement.

Winner of his last three races last year, he was really weak in the market before he made his debut in the Listed Newmarket Stakes at Newmarket on Guineas weekend, but he put up a nice performance to win that well.

Stepped up in grade for the Tercentenary Stakes at Royal Ascot last time, there was a lot to like about the performance that he put up in winning that. He was a little keener than ideal through the early stages of that race, as he and the other two Godolphin horses – Race Day and Prize Money – had it between them from early at a fast pace.

Even so, Hawkbill travelled well into the home straight and, as he and Prize Money went on from Race Day, it always looked like he was going to get the better of the better-fancied Godolphin horse. He went on to win by over a length, and he was probably value for more than that, with Prize Money nicely clear of the rest of the field.

That was the Kitten’s Joy colt’s fifth win in a row. He just continues to progress and he continues to surprise, to confound the market. He goes well on easy ground, 10 furlongs is his trip and his keen-going style of racing should be well suited to Sandown, a prominent racer’s track.

He may not have the class to beat The Gurkha and Time Test, but he may not be as far behind them as the market suggests. It is a pity that the 11-strong field was reduced to seven runners on Thursday, it is a poor each-way race now, but it may still be worth having Hawkbill on side at 8/1.

CORAL CHALLENGE

It may also be worth having White Lake on side in the Coral Challenge. He is a really interesting horse, and today could be his day.

Roger Varian’s horse hasn’t won since he won on his racecourse debut at York’s Ebor meeting two years ago, when he had Secret Brief behind him in second place, but he has shaped like a horse with lots of ability on several occasions since.

One of those occasions was in May last year in the Heron Stakes, a race run over today’s course and distance, when he travelled like the most likely winner up on the outside to the two-furlong pole, before he just didn’t see it out as well as it looked like he might, and he faded a little to finish third.

Another was on his debut this season when, racing on easy ground for the first time, he shaped promisingly in finishing sixth behind Home Of The Brave.

That was a hot listed race, and it has worked out really well, with beaten horses Here Comes When, Markaz, Emell, Mitchum Swagger and Convey all either winning or running well in defeat since.

That run should have brought White Lake forward with today’s race in mind. He has run well on his only try over the course and distance and, by Pivotal, he should appreciate being able to get back on easy ground.

He is lightly-raced and he has the potential to go higher than the handicap rating of 103 off which he races today. With 16 runners, as long as all 16 run, he is an each-way bet.

RECOMMENDED

HAWKBILL 1 point win, 8/1 (generally)

WHITE LAKE 1 point each-way, 7/1 (generally)