Cheltenham ground 'in pretty good shape'

Cheltenham clerk of the course Simon Claisse expects the ground to dry out slightly ahead of the start of the four-day Festival on Tuesday.

The going was described as soft on Thursday morning after rain on Wednesday, but the forecast for the next week is a dry one, with temperatures set to get into double figures by the weekend.

The horses will be racing on fresh ground and Claisse believes the going will be a blend of good to soft and soft by Tuesday.

"We had about half the amount of rainfall they experienced at Stratford on Wednesday," he told At The Races.

"We've come through that deluge in pretty good shape. We would have raced (on Wednesday) with a few fences being taken out.

"The ground has taken it well. Having got to good to soft, good in places we are now back to soft.

"I can't find a forecast here at the moment that has got any rain in it at all between now and Friday week.

"They say on Gold Cup we might get a couple of millimetres, but it's predominantly dry with the temperatures beginning to get up into double figures.

"The temperatures are creeping up, but they are only getting up slowly. We might get into double figures at the weekend.

"My hunch would be we'll commence the meeting on a mixture of good to soft and soft, but quite which one is the predominate going, I wouldn't like to hazard a guess at this stage. "