fingers crossed!

perfect, hopefully get natural g/s come the tuesday

can't remember the last time we had unwatered. Can you buddy?

no its a shame breeders must be spitting...yep looking forward to the tennis how did rafa look the other day?

Fack me.....Claisse is now saying that if the rainfall forecast for the week before Festival doesn't materialise, he might have to water! Ground will be good to soft all round by the weekend apparently and no material rainfall due next week.

Looks unlikely now that the ground will be very slow.

This time will be different I tell thee. It's the table. It's the table.

He will water to produce good to soft ground like he has been doing for the last how many years.

Reading between the lines budd, if the forecast proves correct he will need rain to maintain good to soft without watering. Forecasts can change of course but the chances of heavy ground now appear minimal and even soft slim.

I hope we see good to soft but without watering. It will steady them up a bit but bring class to the fore and frankly, there should be no excuses relating to the ground. As an enthusiast, I want to see the best horses given the best opportunity to strut their stuff.

what is the problem in producing good ground as long as it isn't fast??

cos claisse says he wants soft in the description,which means no rain he will water before the festival,trying to have safe jumping ground all week.

no rain in the Cheltenham forecast for the next 9 days

Yes the only thing SC is really worried about is casualties , especially after one of the wettest recent winters gives him few excuses , as stated here the implication is that he will err on the side of soft ground for day 1 , especially if the racedays forecast is for little or no rain .

I really wonder if there are more casualties on good ground or firmer.

I know the received wisdom is they go faster and speed kills but this is Cheltenham and on soft ground, (metaphorical) guns will still be put to horses heads, they won't be pulled up as readily, they will go for home from further out and whilst you may not have the green screens out as often, plenty more will be bottomed out forever.

....and is there a more unedifying sight than horses slogging their way through gloop in a series of slow-motion finishes?

I was at the course today for a funeral reception in the Psnoramic. Tractor our on the course doing its stuff, apparently spiking and rolling. No real rain for 2 weeks now come Sunday and little forecast for the next week.

they did the research and there is a correlation between how fast they go and how firm the ground is when they fall

on softer ground they go slower, hit the ground at lower speed and have more cushioning = less fatalities

and vice versa (firmer going, run faster, hit harder surface at higher speed when falling = more fatalities)

that was the basis for the BHA instruction that the meeting must start on g/s

All perfectly sound logic but which does leave one unanswered and unpalatable question. Are horses at other courses expendable?

bottoming is not apparently a welfare issue

Graeme - take some more water with it and come back on Monday

4/7 Drunk
9/4 Paranoid schizoprenic
4/1 Drugs

To get this back on track the Scandi high is looking likely to persist all this coming week at least.  Cold and dry to continue and it's all boiling down to the timing of the high weakening to let the milder, damper Atlantic air stream back in.  From my purely amatuer (albeit enthusiastic amatuer) eye I can't see for the world why Claisse has even uttered the word "watering" unless he has informed opinion that the high pressure currently blocking the rain is likely to persist right into festival week.  I reckon that is highly unlikely and therefore there will be rain in some form in the run up to the opening day which is bound to prevent any need for watering.  Genuine G/S in some way or form imo.