Cheltenham’s Clerk of the Course, Simon Claisse, confirmed that racing will go ahead on Saturday, 16 November and Sunday, 17 November following an inspection on Friday afternoon.
He said: “The conditions have improved – we’ve had just a few millimetres of rain in the past 24 hours, and come first thing this morning most of the floodwater had gone. There was surface water in some places but at no depth.
Cheltenham on Thursday
“We had concerns about the Old Hill, which is in the area of the third-last hurdle and fence and the second-last hurdle – as expected the ground approaching the third-last fence is not what we’d consider raceable, so in order to get the chasers down the hill we are taking out the third-last hurdle, so that they will share the Hurdle track until the bottom of the hill.
“The forecast overnight is for a couple of millimetres of rain, and we are looking at a mostly dry day tomorrow – maybe a splash of rain – with a mixture of clouds and maybe a patch of sunshine.”
The going is currently Soft, Heavy in places.
Claisse continued: “We’ve also given the [rescheduled] Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase the go ahead for Sunday, with the exception of four fence four which is jumped twice; it is also fence 27, the Aintree fence – it’s like the Canal Turn. That will have to be omitted.”
Gates open on Saturday at 10.00am with the first race at 12.05pm. There will be eight races including the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle Race, which was originally scheduled for Friday.
Gates open on Sunday at 11.00am with the first race at 12.45pm. There will be seven races, and two pony races, including the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase, which was also originally scheduled for Friday.
Many areas of the car parks are still very wet; Cheltenham Racecourse recommends using public transport or car sharing, if possible.
