Cheltenham not ruling out soft ground for day one as rain finally arrives

The going on Cheltenham's Old course, which stages the action on the first two days of next week's festival, was eased to good to soft on Thursday following some persistent sleet and rain over the previous 24 hours.

After 5mm on Wednesday into Thursday, clerk of the course Jon Pullin reported a further 6mm of rain during Thursday daytime, with the potential for more to follow before the end of the day.

"We've had 6mm so far," said Pullin at 4pm on Thursday. "It's eased off now and we'll wait and see what the rest of the evening brings. There could be more but we'll wait and see."

After a prolonged dry period, the New and cross-country courses remained good to soft, good in places on Thursday, but Pullin thought conditions on both tracks could well have eased further by Friday morning, while an unsettled forecast before the start of the festival could include some heavier rain overnight on Sunday.

"We'll assess the ground in the morning and go from there," said Pullin. "There're a few showers around tomorrow and Saturday. Nothing too significant in volume but certainly not dry days. Then Sunday it's dry through the day and then there's another band of rain moving through Sunday evening into Monday.

"Again, it just depends where we sit on that band but we'll certainly see something, likely somewhere between 5-10mm and then dry Monday afternoon."

Jon Pullin: said ground conditions were a "long way" from where he would like them to beCredit: Edward Whitaker

What the going description might look like for day one of the festival on Tuesday is likely to depend on the scale of rain later this week and on Sunday evening, but Pullin was not ruling out soft ground.

He added: "Where we'll be on Tuesday will really depend on what we get from these two main bands. If we're the lower end we might be as we are or soft in places. If we're at the top end we might be soft. It just depends on those two bands of rain coming through."

At present the rainfall for festival week is looking more like showers than anything heavier, according to Pullin, although that is subject to change.

He said: "At the moment there's an indication there might be some heavier showers later on on Wednesday but at this stage it doesn't look too severe."

Pullin admitted earlier this month that while perfectly safe, the cold weather and lack of rain meant ground conditions were a "long way" from where he would like them to be, with fleeces laid on parts of the turf to aid grass growth.

Those fleeces were removed on Thursday afternoon having "certainly helped" the turf according to the clerk of the course.

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