CHELTENHAM IS A VIRTUAL CERTAINTY

Virtual reality is to come to the aid of racing enthusiasts who were heartbroken by the loss of next week's Cheltenham festival due to foot and mouth disease.

The Racing Post and bookmakers Paddy Power are joining forces with software specialists Sport4cast to produce a computerised ?virtual Cheltenham' determining the outcome of the three big races.

The ?races' will be ?run' as originally programmed next week and Paddy Power customers who had already placed bets on successful horses will be paid in full. Customers who have already backed ?losers' will get refunds on their stakes.

Alan Byrne, editor of the Racing Post said 'The postponement of Cheltenham is a huge blow for all rracing fans. We thought we would brighten the mood and have some fun by getting our experts and our computer systems to run the big races. We hope they will provide a talking point for our readers as well as enebling some of Paddy Power's customers to show a nice profit in whatshould have been Cheltenham week.'

Stewart Kenny, Chief Executive Paddy Power said 'I suppose this is one of those all-too-rare occasions where the customer can't lose... although at one level this initiative is a bit of fun to fill a void, there is a serious principle at play, in that we believe it is essential for our customers to feel they're getting value and service from Paddy Power.

A panel of Racing Post experts, backed up by the computer programme used to derive the paper's successful Postdata service, is interacting with the Sports4cast programme to produce the virtual running and result of the Smurfit Champion Hurdle, The Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Full details of the outcome will be published in the Racing Post next week, with the races themselves being run as graphic presentations on the paper's website. Until then, measures have been taken to ensure that the results are are to be kept a closely-guarded secret.