Rain at Cheltenham changes festival going - but how much is expected?

Light but continuous rainfall changed the going at Cheltenham twice before racing on Wednesday and forecasts for the area make conflicting predictions about whether the rain will now stop or continue through the afternoon.

Clerk of the course Jon Pullin told the Racing Post that just 1.5mm had been recorded in the rain gauge by 11.30am, less than would have been imagined by smartly dressed racegoers rushing for the nearest cover.

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That figure reached 4.5mm by 12.30pm, leading to the going description changing to good to soft before it changed again to soft just over ten minutes before the day two opener. Cheltenham's Old course had been mainly good at first light.

Pulin said late morning: "It's been opened up, so any rain will get in, obviously. We'll see what the rest of the day brings.

"We applied 5mm of irrigation to certain parts of the track last night, from the two-mile start up to the winning post and down the hill.

"The difficulty with today is that forecasts throughout the week have had rain in and then out of the forecast at various stages, in varying amounts. Some forecasts said we would only get 2mm to 3mm, some of the others had a greater amount.

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"So this could blow through and that'll be the end of it. Or it could hang around for a little while.

"The main band of rain that's moving through is to the east of us and we're on the edge of it. It's just whether we stay on the edge of it or it drifts over us a little bit more."

Wednesday's Cheltenham Festival previews:

1.30 Cheltenham: 'It is ours to lose' – can anything stop the might of Sir Gerhard in Ballymore?

2.10 Cheltenham: star novices Bravemansgame, L'Homme Presse and Ahoy Senor clash in thriller

2.50 Cheltenham: can The Shunter land the Coral Cup after switching back to hurdles?

3.30 Cheltenham: 'This is going to be the biggest test of Shishkin's life' says Nicky Henderson

4.10 Cheltenham: Tiger Roll bids to bow out on a high back where it all began

4.50 Cheltenham: can Andy Dufresne unlock sky-high potential for Gordon Elliott in Grand Annual?

5.30 Cheltenham: who will be crowned the bumper king? Facile Vega and American Mike face off

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