A precautionary inspection will be held at Cheltenham tomorrow morning ahead of the scheduled seven-race Paddy Power Gold Cup card as racegoers braved the wet conditions today
An inspection is set to take place at Cheltenham tomorrow morning (November 15), ahead of the anticipated seven-race Paddy Power Gold Cup card.
The persistent rain and strong winds brought on by Storm Claudia have led to worsening conditions at the track, particularly after a day’s racing on the Prestbury Park turf.
With more rain predicted, officials plan to assess the track at 7.30am before the scheduled second afternoon of action.
Jon Pullin, clerk of the course, told Racing TV: “We’ve had 12mm of rain through the day to add to the 7mm overnight and as we’ve been racing this afternoon we’ve opened up the track.
He added: “We’ve still got further rain to come, possibly until midnight and we could see some heavy spells in the next couple of hours. Having opened it up it makes sense to have a look in the morning.”
Pullin remained hopeful, stating: “The forecast is saying it should be drying up from 1am and we do know that once this track gets a bit of a window without any rain it does start to drain and hopefully that will be the case.
“This is precautionary, we’ve raced today and we do have that dry window. I’d be hopeful we’ll be OK for tomorrow. We’ll do everything we can to make a decision as early as we can.”
Storm Claudia could bring up to a month’s worth of rain in a day as heavy downpours batter parts of England and Wales.
Amber warnings for “persistent and heavy” rain come into force from noon on Friday until midnight and cover parts of Wales, the Midlands, the South West, the South East, and East of England, and have been extended into parts of northern England.
Some places could have 80mm of rain in England, while part of Wales may be hit by 100-150mm on the higher ground, or 50-75mm generally across the region, the Met Office warning says.
All of this may be exacerbated by strong easterly winds, as well as thunderstorms later on Friday, the forecaster adds.
The British Red Cross said it has placed its emergency response teams on standby to help communities most at risk.
Meanwhile, Navan, which is due to host the Fortria Chase featuring the return of Marine National, will also conduct an inspection at the same time due to a Status Yellow rain warning from Met Eireann.
Paddy Graffin, Clerk of the course, stated: “Since our ground update at 7.30am this morning, there has been a further 6mm of rain at Navan.
“The ground currently remains soft to heavy, however, due to the Status Yellow rain warning from Met Eireann in place for County Meath which runs through to the early hours of tomorrow morning, we will hold a precautionary inspection at 7.30am ahead of racing.
“This is a precautionary measure due to the forecast but the track is currently fit for racing and the latest update from Met Eireann suggests we could get approximately a further 10-15mm of rain in the area.”
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