The going at Cheltenham at 10.00am ahead of the first day of the Festival, Champion Day, remains Good to Soft, Soft in places.
Simon Claisse, the Clerk of the Course at Cheltenham and Director of Racing at Jockey Club Racecourses South West, said this morning:
“Conditions have improved significantly since just six days ago, when we had over an inch of rain on the course and it was predominantly Soft, Heavy in places.
“It’s slowly dried out though and we’re now Good to Soft on the round course and Soft in the chute where the two and a half and four mile races start.
“The outlook is dry for the coming week though there may be splinters of rain, as they call them, but nothing significant over the next four days.
“Temperatures should be nine or 10 degrees over the first three days but the forecasters are talking about it getting up to a balmy 14 degrees on Gold Cup day.
“We manage the ground throughout the year in such a way that we don’t actually race on 90% of the ground that is used for the Festival and, as a result, we’ve got so much fresh ground all the way round the inside.
“Turf management is really important in a year like this as we’ve been soft or heavy for the majority of the season and I couldn’t be more delighted with it.”