Cheltenham plays down  forecast stormy weather

CHELTENHAM could be hit by high winds and heavy rain on Friday as the Met office forecast gusts of over 50mph accompanied by significant rainfall, although track officials played down any prospect of racing being in doubt.

The prospect of stormy conditions on the first leg of the Open meeting raised fears that a repeat of the 2008 Festival cancellation could be on the cards. On that occasion 50mph gales destroyed hospitality tents and forced the racecourse to close their doors on the second day of the Festival, leaving Cheltenham over a million pounds out of pocket.

A Met spokesman said on Thursday: "We expect to see 50mph gusts in Cheltenham, and there is a possibility that they could even exceed that level.

"The region is set to experience some of the heaviest rain in the country and 25-40mm is possible tomorrow," he added.

However, Cheltenham clerk of the course Simon Claisse insisted he was not concerned about the weather conditions, preferring to quote from a specially commissioned, localised weather report.

Speaking on Thursday evening, Claisse said: "Our forecast is for 7-9mm of rain today, of which we've had about half, with 9-10mm tomorrow.

"We expect the winds tomorrow to be between 12 and 20mph, getting stronger throughout the day."

The official going on Thursday was good to soft (good in places) on the Old Course and good (good to firm in places) on the Cross Country course, with the going stick recording 7.7 and 9.7 respectively.