Cheltenham going

Cheltenham's clerk of the course Simon Claisse reported the ground to be on the soft side on Wednesday.

There are less than two weeks remaining before the start of the Festival and Claisse said: "The going is officially soft, good to soft in places and a bit quicker on the cross-country course.

"Over the next week or so the forecast is pretty much the same as it is now - frosts at night and relatively cold.

"The Festival ground has not been raced on since last spring and the position of the hurdles are the same as they were last year."

Any chance of the Festival being moved to include a Saturday will wait until the racecourse has completed a possible redevelopment.

Without revealing any figures, managing director Edward Gillespie hopes some restructuring can start to happen at the course over the next couple of years, and said any building work will not affect the big meeting of the year from taking place at its usual home.

"We will have an approved design team working on what could well be a future development here," said Gillespie.

"I am as close to confident as I dare to be that there is a clear appreciation by Jockey Club Racecourses to get the infrastructure right before we rearrange the race meeting."