No more Cheltenham lawn but new surface approved after festival 'final straw'

The bulk of the lawned area in front of Cheltenham's main stand has been paved over in response to complaints of slipping by racegoers, the racecourse said on Friday.

A new hybrid artificial grass surface in the parade ring and winner's enclosure also had its first outing on Friday after damage from a deluge on the Wednesday of March's festival was deemed the "final straw".

The new surface is made of a green artificial carpet with 50mm of natural grass rooted in and built on a base layer of sand.

Cheltenham clerk of the course Jon Pullin said feedback on the changes was encouraging at the track's first meeting of the year.

He said: "For a number of years now the parade ring and winners' enclosure have suffered when we’ve had any volume of rain.

"They've become pretty muddy fairly quickly and there's been work done before to look at alternatives, which we did again this summer, and we now have a hybrid solution which is roughly 50:50.

"The artificial element will give it some stability and the sand base that it's on is fairly free-draining, so when we have raceday it goes through fairly quickly.

Members' lawn: part of it has been paved to prevent slippingCredit: Edward Whitaker

"The Wednesday at Cheltenham was pretty much the final straw but it's had a true test today and has held up pretty well.

"We've had 10mm of rain today and everyone is still walking about and it's a green surface. The feedback's been very good."

On the removal of part of the lawned area in front of the rail on the run-in to the winning post, Pullin said: "In wet conditions customers have been slipping, sliding and paddling around during the afternoon. So a decision was made to tarmac that area."

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