WEATHER SET TO HIT RACING AGAIN Cheltenham racecourse was today bracing itself in anticipation of gales and heavy rain in the run-up to the weekend. Western England and Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are likely to be hit by severe gales, heavy rain and flooding as a 'vigorous depression' moves in off the Atlantic, the Met Office has warned. Storm force winds of more than 80mph are expected in some areas as the depression moves north 'with some structural damage possible'. Cheltenham`s two-day Tripleprint Gold Cup meeting is due to start on Friday and clerk of the course Simon Claisse said: 'There`s only so much we can do in anticipation of the gales. 'We are putting some extra support in various parts of the course to hold things upright and we are having some extra people in on Friday morning to put right anything that needs sorting. 'Other than that we just have to take it as it comes. 'I think we just have to be hopeful but we are as ready as we can be.' The depression, forming off the coast of Portugal, is forecast to strike south-western England and Wales tomorrow evening. And meetings at Ludlow and Taunton tomorrow are subject to morning inspections in the light of the forecast. Taunton`s clerk of the course Michael Trickey said: 'At this stage racing would go ahead with the going soft, heavy in places. 'But in light of the current forecast for tomorrow there will be a precautionary inspection at 8am. 'The forecast for tomorrow is horrific but we think the wind and rain will hit us later in the day. 'However, there is no point mucking people around by having a late inspection so we will have a precautionary inspection and see what happens.' And Ludlow`s clerk of the course Bob Davies had much the same story. 'We have only had drizzle today and could have raced with no problems,' he said. 'But the forecast is for strong winds in the morning followed by heavy rain. 'The forecast is so bad that we have called a precautionaryinspection at 7.45am so we can assess where we are.' There are no problems reported for tomorrow`s other meeting at Huntingdon where the going is described as soft.
