Cheltenham clerk of the course Simon Claisse will starting watering the track as early as Wednesday as he begins to prepare for next month's Festival.
There are only three weeks until the key meeting of the National Hunt calendar and Prestbury Park is currently quicker underfoot than ideal.
"As expected, warmer weather is on the way and I think it will be 15 or 16C by the end of the week," Claisse said.
"We were pretty much frozen from Festival Trials Day up to last Tuesday and we will start watering the course from Wednesday, primarily to active the fertiliser we put on the ground.
"We are currently good, good to firm in places and without between six and seven millimetres of water, we would be good to firm by Monday.
"We have had a very dry February and we are trying to maintain the ground at good."
When you are talking about mere lengths seperating the best then the ground is key. Best Mate may never have won a single gold cup on truly soft ground.
When you are talking about mere lengths seperating the best then the ground is key. Best Mate may never have won a single gold cup on truly soft ground.
"going on the ground" and "form" are two different concepts
one is with respect to an individual horse the other is relative between two or more
and changing the going changes the form
therefore if the going is genuinely good or quicker then "form" achieved on very soft or heavy going may not be relevant
"going on the ground" and "form" are two different conceptsone is with respect to an individual horse the other is relative between two or moreand changing the going changes the formtherefore if the going is genuinely good or quicker then "form" achi
AS far as I'm aware stront, the water is taken from a lake on the racecourse which covers a few acres grandstand side near the 2 mile start. Don't know if they would have restrictions in its use or not.
AS far as I'm aware stront, the water is taken from a lake on the racecourse which covers a few acres grandstand side near the 2 mile start. Don't know if they would have restrictions in its use or not.