Cheltenham Festival
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21 Feb 13
20:20
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24 Mar 05
HELTENHAM clerk of the course Simon Claisse on Thursday refused to rule out watering the track before the Festival begins in little over two weeks' time.
Cold and dry weather is expected to dominate well into next week, with strong winds also likely to contribute to drying conditions.
Claisse said: "If the ground continues to dry out at its current rate I could see it being good to soft by the beginning of next week, with two weeks until the meeting starts. I can't rule out the possibility of watering."
A Met Office spokeswoman added: "Some areas are likely to stay a little colder than average over the next few days, with some more frosty nights to come.
"Generally, there are no strong signals regarding precipitation, but looking a little further ahead and taking the period March 8 to March 22 as a whole, some areas of the UK will probably end up a little drier than usual for the time of year."
A record 1,145 entries were revealed on Thursday for the 11 handicap races at the festival, eclipsing the previous high of 1,097 in 2009. With 302 entries Irish trainers were also better represented than ever before.
Cold and dry weather is expected to dominate well into next week, with strong winds also likely to contribute to drying conditions.
Claisse said: "If the ground continues to dry out at its current rate I could see it being good to soft by the beginning of next week, with two weeks until the meeting starts. I can't rule out the possibility of watering."
A Met Office spokeswoman added: "Some areas are likely to stay a little colder than average over the next few days, with some more frosty nights to come.
"Generally, there are no strong signals regarding precipitation, but looking a little further ahead and taking the period March 8 to March 22 as a whole, some areas of the UK will probably end up a little drier than usual for the time of year."
A record 1,145 entries were revealed on Thursday for the 11 handicap races at the festival, eclipsing the previous high of 1,097 in 2009. With 302 entries Irish trainers were also better represented than ever before.
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Just what I've been expecting. Perfect for my main fancies and gives us a chance to find value in the handicaps.
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Good stuff. A gold old tale about watering to keep the animal rights off their back.
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Fair point G. There is undoubtedly a political element to this. There really shouldn't be a problem racing on proper 'good' jumping ground but it just encourages them to go half a stride to fast, particularly with big fields and jumping errors can cause carnage.
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There is no more "carnage" at the Hunter chase meeting where it has been known to be good to firm, the pandering to the wan kers from animal rights is a joke
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sj
Any perceived similarity between what happens in the 2nd week in March and the beginning of May is illusory. Most of the horses that run on the evening meeting would be so slow they would be tailed off after half a mile. |