It's on! Cheltenham gets go-ahead for the weekend after passing inspection

Jumps fans have been spared the misery of missing out on Cheltenham's biggest afternoon outside the festival after a Friday inspection of the track delivered the best possible news.

A deluge of midweek rain left the sport's flagship venue unraceable for day one of its three-day fixture on Friday but the drying powers of Prestbury Park left clerk of the course Simon Claisse able to give the green light to Saturday's eagerly anticipated BetVictor Gold Cup card.

The opening afternoon of Cheltenham's November meeting was lost to the weatherCredit: Edward Whitaker

The opening afternoon of Cheltenham's November meeting was lost to the weather, but day two will take place with only a minor amendment to the track.

Due to a patch of false ground before the Old course's third-last fence, that downhill jump will not be taken, having also been missed out on the Saturday of the October meeting.

Also being skipped is the third-last flight, as runners in chases will need to gallop across the part of the track where the hurdle is sited.

Cheltenham Saturday card

Cheltenham Sunday card

In addition, there will be a minor amendment to Sunday's rescheduled Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase in which the Canal Turn fence, normally taken twice, will not be jumped because of waterlogging on the landing side.

Last year nearly 33,000 racegoers attended BetVictor Gold Cup day, whose 2019 customers are likely to enjoy mainly dry weather. With only a small amount of rain forecast overnight, no inspection has been planned for Saturday, when racing is expected to take place on ground described as soft, heavy in places.

"There was significant improvement since we looked at it at 7am," said Claisse. "We're very confident the course is ready to go. We are forecast 3mm to 3.5mm of rain overnight. With that sort of quantity of rainfall, and given the track layout changes we are going to make, I'm confident there will not be any issues at all.

"We have had more testing conditions through the winter months but not necessarily at this particular fixture. None of us here can recall the intensity we've had in November."

Claisse added that problems might only materialise if the track received "any significant amount" of rain above the upper limit of that in the forecast.

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