Cheltenham abandoned Friday’s card after heavy rain but are ‘hopeful’ of staging Saturday’s meeting
Racing is likely to take place at Cheltenham on Saturday, despite the abandonment of Friday’s card, because both the hallowed turf and the weather are drying up, a course official said on Thursday. Simon Claisse, who has been clerk of the course here for 20 years, was dismayed to lose a raceday in November for the first time since he came to work here but added: “We remain optimistic that things will dry out and we’ll be OK for Saturday.”
Around 40mm of rain on Wednesday night into Thursday morning meant there was no chance of Friday’s card going ahead, with areas of flooding on the chase and hurdles courses near the two-mile start. Gazing across his dreich domain, Claisse said conditions reminded him of July 2007 when Gloucestershire suffered severe flooding.