CHELTENHAM SET FOR APRIL 17TH

Officials at Cheltenham today ended the uncertainty surrounding the Festival by announcing new dates for the meeting.

The three-day fixture will start five weeks later than originally scheduled, kicking off on April 17th - the day after Easter Monday.

Cheltenham`s two day-meeting scheduled for April 18th-19th has been scrapped, although officials are looking at saving some of the races by running them at the evening meeting on May 2nd.

The Festival was postponed last Wednesday when it was discovered the course could not meet British Horseracing Board guidelines governing racing during the current foot and mouth crisis.

The new dates mean that the Festival would not clash with the meeting at Punchestown the following week, should it get the go-ahead.

However, it will coincide with the prestigious Craven meeting at Newmarket which features the first Classic trials of the season.

Should the foot and mouth crisis rule out the April meeting the Festival would be lost.

However, the 10 championship races at the meeting, including the Smurfit Champion Hurdle and Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup could still be run elsewhere.

Cheltenham managing director Edward Gillespie said: 'At the moment there are no new cases in Gloucestershire but we are very aware of the significant chance of a local case.

'In the event of the meeting being abandoned Cheltenham and the British Horseracing Board have the responsibility of giving the 10 championship races the best chance of being run.

'We are looking at possible locations for the races but there are fewer and fewer opportunities.'

A deadline for entries for the reopened races at the Festival has yet to be set.

'We`re discussing the details of entries with the BHB at the moment and hope to have news within the next two days at the very latest,' Gillespie added.

Tickets for the Festival will be valid for the same days of the week and Cheltenham will write to all ticket holders outlining arrangements, which include a full refund if they cannot attend.