'We're doing all we can' - Cheltenham to hold inspection ahead of weekend action

Cheltenham's two-day December meeting is under serious threat as sub-zero temperatures are forcing the course to call an inspection on Friday morning.

With temperatures predicted to dip as low as -5C overnight on Thursday, officials will check the course at 7.30am on Friday.

The course has also moved the cross-country chase to the first race of the day, a move that takes it away from the ITV cameras, in case the meeting survives but the race succumbs to the weather as the centre of the track cannot be protected by frost covers.

Clerk of the course Jon Pullin said: "We’ve now got the covers down and we’ll need to take a look at the forecast to see where we are on Friday morning and how we’re looking.

"We’re doing all we can to get the meeting on and hopefully putting the covers down now will help us do the job.

"They will stay down tonight because we’ve got a frost of -3C and tomorrow it will reach a high of 2C, so we need to make sure we do what we can."

On the decision to move the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase, originally scheduled for 3pm live on ITV4, to the beginning of the card at 12.05pm, Pullin said: "Unfortunately, it’s too vast an area to cover and it’ll be left to the elements.

"With the forecast and the risk that comes with that race and a possible abandonment, we’ve moved it to the start of the card, so we have no gap in the programme should we be in the unfortunate position of not being able to stage the race."

ITV have also had to rearrange their scheduling on Friday and as a result the 3m6f contest, which features last season’s Cheltenham Festival winner and Tiger Roll conqueror Delta Work, will no longer be broadcast live on their channel.

Frost covers have been deployed at Cheltenham with temperatures expected to plummetCredit: Cheltenham Racecourse

Pullin added: "Hopefully, we’ll get the race on and ITV has indicated they’d show part or all of the race replay if their scheduling allows."

Temperatures are expected to reach -5C, with chances of it dipping to -6C, in the early hours of Saturday morning, making Pullin’s job even more challenging ahead of their afternoon card which features the Grade 2 International Hurdle.

He said: "Clearly, that’s where the real challenge comes. We need to get the covers down after racing on Friday and ahead of Saturday given the temperatures we’ve got.

"The team will be ready to start that and we’re looking to cover the two-and-a-half-mile chute during racing because it’s not in use after the fourth race.

"It’ll be railed off and it gives the team the chance to start the covering before temperatures get worse on Friday night."

Bangor has called an 8am inspection on raceday for its meeting on Friday, the same day Cheltenham and Doncaster's two-day December meetings get under way.

A fixture at Wolverhampton has been added to the calendar on the same day, with another all-weather meeting brought in at Newcastle on Sunday.

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