Cheltenham Festival
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I remember the year Tiutchev won the Arkle. All the same comments we are seeing here. In about the last 10 days it began to dry up after raining all winter. Even on the day the clerk was saying that it should be beautiful cushioned ground. Then he bounced off the ground and ran 6 seconds faster than standard. That last week and into the week of the meeting is all that counts. It doesn't matter if Noah sails past in his Ark two weeks before.
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Blimey,good memory!!
Yes you are right,that if the last week is dry we should be ok for a normal ground festival.Any heavy rain that week though and levels are topped up again. Its been soft/heavy,even waterlogged at times,for a long time for a reason!! The drainage system has not prevented that. |
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Anyway,if we can get updates about the weather,likely going etc,it can only help.
Well,it would be useful to me anyway. |
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More snow forecast next weekend.
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oh dear change in the forecast all of february will be dry but march is looking much wetter
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To think the weather is going to suddenly change from the last 9-10 months was to my mind always a little optimistic. However believing a forecast now for March is pointless
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The big Scandi high pressure system building in over the UK this week will most probably be with us until the end of the month. While that will bring temp down to below average it will probably mean mostly dry weather. Usual pattern after a Scandi high is for wet Atlantic weather to eventualy push in but the Scandi high pressures are the most difficult ones to budge. All down to how long the high persists for.
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very little if any rain forecast right up to the 26th Feb, confidence beyond that is lower but then so is the accuracy of the forecast
I should think after a 9 or 10 dry days the surface layer at the track would ride no softer than good to soft, maybe good. All depends how much falls between 26 /2 and 12/3 fwiw I'm banking on good to soft to start the meeting as usual |
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I should think after a 9 or 10 dry days the surface layer at the track would ride no softer than good to soft, maybe good.
I agree judo. The difference this year however is that there is so much retained moisture below the level in the ground that you talk about. That means unlike recent years any rainfall will sit nearer the surface layer, and for longer, as it will have nowhere to go. |
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oh yes totally agree
just a question of how much rain falls on the track after 27th Feb which is the last date I have reliable rainfall forecast for so ante post betting is fraught, because as you say any significant rain will instantly turn it back to soft. only guessing but I think it will stay dry and we will get normal going for the festival |
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the thing is the drainage at cheltenham is second to none, and when i researched the drainage last week i found comments like the drainage works too good on numerous occasions, and also comments saying that some of it should be taken out so that the festival can start on natural ground rather than the watering we see today
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judo, I admire your optimism. We've just had about 10 months of solid rain and its going to stop for Cheltenham
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yes the drainage is controversial
it was put in to ensure meetings in December and January would almost never be lost to waterlogging which happened several times before it was installed the unforeseen problem was that we now get much drier springs than in previous years (there were water pipe bans last year remember) meaning that dry weather results in the need for watering which is far from ideal I remember the year Captain Cee Bee won the Supreme the weather had been dry the week before and they had been watering, not to maintain , but to achieve good to soft. Then on the morning of the first day it rained for about 3 hours and then stopped. This turned the going to mush which then dried for the rest of the day and became glue pot By the time the William Hill hcp chase was run as the 4th race the horses were finishing exhausted and the finishing time was 50 seconds above standard.Ruined the day anyway, hopefully we don't get any issues this year but it is a constant threat that we get horrible artificial going that horses don't act on |
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judo
My memory of that 2008 year was that it was a damp morning and then it stopped raining but started to get very windy. McCoy picked the wrong one in the first and I remember watching the reply of the C4 interview after the race when he was spitting feathers. Choc (he rode CB) was interviewed afterwards and said the ground rode good - the winners always say that. The RP have the Willie Hill at 32secs above, presumably you use your own standards. By the last race, it was almost impossible to stand up in the wind if you had no cover and Carberry was at his best on Crack Away Jack with poor old Ashkazar running into the wind for most of the way. |
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I would agree with the Judge regarding 2008. I was on course for the first day and although I remember the wind I remember it absolutely hacking down for several hours before the first race and on heavily watered ground the going turned to glue as Judo says. The times of the Supreme and Champion were the slowest I can remember for years and the horses finished exhausted in the chases later in the day
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No material rain forecast for the rest of February though of course in the UK, forecasters can only predict accurately up to 5 days in advance. Couple of anecdotal points that may be relevant/of interest. I have a pal who does a lot of walking up on the Cotswold scarp. Even on the the top, the ground is still very wet apparently. Another one has an allotment in Swindon Lane about a mile and a half from the course. The ground, despite being regularly turned and artificially lightened with horse dung and other fibre is too wet to dig. Both these observations were made to me over the weekend just past.
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yes but they don't have professional multi million pound drainage systems
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I just hope the weather is kind enough, i.e. mainly dry with a few showery days, that Claisse never has to resort to the hose pipe.
The long range forecasts are promising in this regard right now and good to soft looks highly likely, though the last 48 hours are always going to be critical. |
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well im 35 miles from the course, all my lads play competitive football, and the pitches have gone from muddy bogs last sunday, yesterday they played in firm ground football boots, the pitches i might add have no drainage
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So basically it's a Peat bog on Cleeve Hill, the Gobi Desert 35 miles from the course - they're probably building igloos in the parade ring and flying kites near the Centaur.
There's three weeks to go, we're living through weather events that make John McCrriric look like an exercise in normality and that's before you get to the 'Claisse Factor of Turf Husbandry'. |
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a desert is a tad too far RTB
 All im highlighting is the diference a week of dry weather can do |
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It's this kind of wrestling with the minutiae of all-things Cheltenham by us obsessives that I love and I wouldn't change for the world!
Take a step back and put yourself in the shoes of any other 'civilian' and where else would you get 63 posts (and counting) about the water table and micro-climate of the Cotswolds? |
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We could watch the test card on the TV instead.............
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i think that stoped around the time the hit man and her was on
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The ground, despite being regularly turned and artificially lightened with horse dung and other fibre is too wet to dig
Sounds just like my mrs. aris |
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i think that stoped around the time the hit man and her was on
Fack me alleged, you must nearly be as old as me and I've been dead for 3 years! |
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dry weather set to continue until 1st March at least
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strong winds blowing right across the south west for the next few days.
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Don't worry. Claisse has arranged with Betfair to bus down all those posters desperately predicting heavy ground and their salty tears will do the job if it doesn't start raining again.
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Do you mean all the ones who say that it doesn't matter what happens, it's been raining for months and months, and the water table is full to bursting....them?
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eeternal, who is predicting soft ground?
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They're the ones. It's the table. It's the table.
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Have not read one post that says anyone is desperately predicting heavy ground.
Seen plenty that have said theres a fair CHANCE of soft,maybe heavy ground though. Ive posted a few of those,thats cos their is a fair chance. If it dont rain,then normal ground,if theres more rain,well obviously depends when it comes,but if its significant the ground WILL suffer. Tables are high still. |
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the biggest worry is claisse and his garden hose
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budd
I'm just pulling a few legs.  |
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this is a BRILLIANT thread
love it feel sorry for people who don't get the anticipation of waiting for Cheltenham! I could do with at least two of: Sprinter Sacre Cue Card Sir Des Champs At Fishers Cross going in - then all the work and nerves and risk will have been worth it. All of them would be nicer |
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feel sorry for people who don't get the anticipation of waiting for Cheltenham!
its like a fever that won,t go away pretty sure were gonna be on unwatered ground that will be natural good to soft ground, no excuses. its going to be the best festival for years |