Going good to soft and little prospect of rain before Tuesday

Ground conditions remained on the soft side at Cheltenham three days before the festival but there was little sign of significant rainfall before the meeting begins on Tuesday.

It was dry but overcast on Saturday and clerk of the course Simon Claisse reported: "I am surprised that it has not dried out more. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked it after lunch how well it had retained its condition.

"It remains good to soft on the Old and New courses, good to soft and good in places on the cross-country course."

Claisse warned that there may be just a little light rain overnight and ITV Racing weather forecaster Lucy Verasamy does not expect a wet week.

"With a ridge of high pressure with us into next week there looks like a lot of dry weather Monday to Friday," she said. "And due to its shifted position in the latest run of charts it will be relatively mild as well.

"Temperatures will drop a few degrees by Friday behind a weak cold front, which isn't very active, bringing just a few millimetres of rain at most."