Rowley swimming against the tide but Hazel Hill still on course for Cheltenham

Shropshire trainer Philip Rowley has taken a philosophical view of the decimation caused to his all-weather gallop by Storm Dennis.

"It's probably somewhere down in the Bristol Channel by now," says Rowley, with a sense of black humour. "On Sunday morning we found about three furlongs had been taken into the River Severn – but what have we got to complain about when other people have been hit by flooding above the height of their cookers? We've still got a house.

"The outdoor school was turned upside down, but we've put that back, and now we're working on the gallop. It will cost thousands to put back, but we've been able to keep the horses going on a carpet gallop."