Cheltenham going: watering ruled out on Old course after another 4mm of rainfall

Officials at Cheltenham are expecting little change to the going before the festival gets under way on Tuesday after more rain than expected fell at the track on Saturday night, ruling out any prospect of watering on the Old course.

The going was eased to good to soft, soft in places on the Old course and remained soft, good to soft in places on the New course after 4mm of rain hit the track, which proved enough to convince clerk of the course Jon Pullin not to water the Old course, which stages action on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Speaking on Sunday morning, he said: "We were forecast 1-2mm initially, so it was a little bit more than was forecast. We haven't touched the Old course with water and we won't touch it now.

Cheltenham Festival day one final fields

"The forecast is mainly dry today, with the risk of a very light shower but nothing of any high volume, and then we're dry tomorrow and Tuesday. Temperatures on the first day should get up to 14C."

The key decision Pullin faces is whether to continue watering on the New course, which began with 12mm applied on Friday, but despite the prospect of some showers on Wednesday, he admits it is unlikely any more irrigation will take place.

"We're in a good place with the New course and we'll see over the next few days before we make any decisions, but at this stage there certainly isn't any plans to water more," he added.

"It looks like there's some rain around on Wednesday, at the moment it just looks like 2-3mm and Thursday and Friday are looking dry, bright and sunny with temperatures around 14C again."

With a largely dry forecast ahead, Pullin expects to start the Cheltenham Festival, which begins with the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle, on ground that will be mainly good to soft across the majority of the track.

He said: "With a dry couple of days ahead, I'd imagine we'll start on something very similar to where we are – good to soft, soft in places or maybe even just good to soft by itself."

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