Snow has reached Cheltenham racecourse resulting in a major going change ahead of the upcoming Cheltenham Festival.
Conditions have eased to soft following a wet 24 hours with the track under a covering of snow. The ground had been described as good to soft on Thursday.
Clerk of the course Jon Pullin expects the snow to have moved on by mid morning but further bursts are predicted before the four-day fixture opens on Tuesday. The latest bulletin from the track on Friday read: “12mm of rain in the last 24hrs. Covering of snow (@07:30).
“Snow flurries should clear by 10:00 today and then remain mainly dry. Overnight frost followed by a dry day tomorrow until some spells of rain/sleet in the evening.
“Dry during the day on Sunday with a band of rain moving in during the evening and through the night into Monday morning (5-8mm). An unsettled outlook for Festival week with occasional showers.”
A change in the weather has disrupted parts of the racing programme this week and Saturday’s Imperial Cup meeting at Sandown will need to pass an 8am inspection if it is to go ahead as scheduled.
Racing took place at the track on Tuesday, but persistent wintry showers since have eased conditions significantly and clerk of the course Andrew Cooper admitted the track would have “struggled to race” on Thursday.
With further rain forecast and temperatures set to dip below freezing on Friday night, Cooper has called an inspection for raceday morning, with the track in a “difficult situation”.
He said: “It’s clearly a case of taking stock on Saturday morning, but the immediate issues and concerns here would be rainfall and the wetness of the conditions here after the week we’ve had.
“We raced on Tuesday and the rain started in this neck of the woods after a long break without rain on Tuesday morning. We’ve now had the best part of 30 millimetres, so over an inch of rain, and there could be a bit more rain later today.
“It’s a difficult situation with challenges potentially on two fronts as we’re also forecast a sudden, sharp frost here tonight.
“The general appraisal is we could get down to minus 2C. It could be less than that or it could be sharper than that, we’ll just have to see. It’s a combination of things really.”
Friday’s card at Leicester was called off due to snow but the meeting and while the meeting at Ayr goes ahead, the second day of the meeting will be subject to an 8.30am inspection.
Friday’s all-weather meeting at Wolverhampton must pass a second morning inspection at 10am, while Saturday’s jumps card at Hereford hinges on a 9.30am check on Friday.
There are also concerns in Ireland with Navan’s Saturday meeting, which is due to feature the Grade Two Webster Cup Chase, subject to a 7.30am inspection.
