Cheltenham Keep Taps Turned Off

Cheltenham clerk of the course Simon Claisse has ruled out the possibility of watering the Prestbury Park course ahead of the Festival, which gets underway on March 14.

'We didn't need to water because we have now had the best part of an inch of rainfall and the going is good, good to soft in places,' he told the Racing Post.

'Last Wednesday into Thursday we had rain, sleet and snow that amounted to 8.8mm. At the moment my weather chart is showing a mixture of rain, sleet and snow for the next seven days, which could amount up to 20mm.

'In any event we are due to have overnight temperatures from Tuesday of minus three and minus four to the end of the week which would prohibit us from watering anyway. If it was good or good to soft I wouldn't want to be doing that.

'Next week is a milder outlook with rain.'

(C) PA Sport