Cheltenham watering with warm weekend on horizon

Cheltenham are continuing to water the track ahead of the Festival, with a warm weekend set to be followed by a cooler week and possible frosts overnight.

The track’s flagship meeting gets under way on Tuesday and runs until Friday, with conditions reported as good to soft on Thursday afternoon after a dry start to the month.

Ground staff have begun watering as the forecast rain on Friday has dwindled, with the weekend expected to be particularly warm as temperatures could reach 17C.

They will soon drop, however, and are significantly lower during the week, with some minus figures showing up on the overnight forecast in the latter part of race week.

“It’s currently good to soft and we’ve commenced watering today just to maintain that,” said Jon Pullin, clerk of the course at Cheltenham.

“It’s a dry, warm day today and there’s not a lot of rain around now in the forecast for tomorrow.

“We’ve got a very warm weekend with temperatures as high as 16C or 17C, and there doesn’t look to be a lot of rain around on Monday.

“Next week looks very dry as well but a lot cooler, with daytime temperatures at about eight or nine.

“There is the potential for some overnight frost as well, but it’s mainly a dry forecast from now on in, so we’ve got to water to maintain that good to soft ground.”