Cheltenham Festival
|
By:
Nobody seems to be pricing it up this year.
|
|
By:
Simon Claisse will describe the official going as Good to Soft (possibly good or soft in places) irrespective of what it actually is. I've lost count of the number of times the official going description prior to the start of the first race is inaccurate and requires subsequent amendment.
|
|
By:
Going currently soft but the forecast is now almost totally dry but getting very cold for the next 2 weeks so won't dry out to quickly.
Claisse says he'd like some warm sunshine to help with grass growth. |
|
By:
good/good to soft in places.....NAP.
|
|
By:
Claisse says he'd like some warm sunshine to help with grass growth
Little chance of that for the forseeable, we've got the "beast from the east" to contend with next week...apparently   |
|
By:
market now on exchange:
That's right, it's up under specials. "Cheltenham Official Going". https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/horse-racing/market/1.140724874 |
|
By:
http://www.turftrax.co.uk/going_maps.html Lots of good-to-soft and good on the far side
|
|
By:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=139&v=HsVF4OETbVE
|
|
By:
The problem is that its going to be pissing down on the 10th,11th,12th - track wont have any time to dry out from the snow to the days of rain - I predict slow tacky ground on teh first day.
Soft , Good to Soft in Places is my prediction. |
|
By:
You think they can be exact about rainfall in 12 days time?!
|
|
By:
|
|
By:
Fair play Rk. Best get backing the 5/1 on soft with Lads then
|
|
By:
I never saw any 5/1 with Laddies - 9/2 was the price. It's now 13/8.
|
|
By:
Catch Me , It is 13/8 not 5/1
|
|
By:
Ah right, apologies.
|
|
By:
The going description for the Cheltenham Festival, set to get under way in ten days’ time, could feature the word ‘heavy’ in the run-up to the meeting.
That was the message yesterday from clerk of the course Simon Claisse, who also estimated there may be more than 200 tons of snow to remove manually from the course. Speaking just before 1pm, Claisse provided an update on the ground, which had been left covered by snow after the storms that have battered Britain in recent days. He said: “The sun tried to poke through this morning, but it’s become very grey and murky now. The thaw is just beginning to start and the temperatures are just a couple of degrees above freezing. “It could possibly get a bit milder this weekend and then into next week. I think the ground will be soft when the snow melts, but it’s hard to tell at the moment while it’s still thawing. We think the snow will have amounted to about 12mm and the forecast is showing it could be 15mm of rain by next Sunday.” Asked if that meant ‘heavy’ would enter the official going description before the meeting, Claisse – whose groundstaff will be swelled by around 40 to 50 extra workers to help move the snow next to the fences and hurdles – replied: “It’s possible, yes.” Even with that strength in numbers the shovel-wielders may have their work cut out, with Claisse saying: “We think there could be 200-plus tons plus of snow to shift manually, where it has drifted up against the fences.” Where those fences are on the cross-country course those drifts are between four and six feet deep in places, with Claisse observing: “Not only is that slower to thaw, but you’re depositing a lot of the precipitation in one place.” |
|
By:
From Kim Bailey's blog this morning:
Snow gone off the roads and the colour green was back in the description of my surroundings.. Relief. Relief too for Simon Claisse (Clerk of the course at Cheltenham) who was over for supper last night. Simon and his team had just dug the last fence clear of snow. Every fence on the course, including the cross country fences, had their snow covering removed by shovel and barrow. That stops false ground around the fences from melting snow, and you might well ask why no tractor help.. tractor tyre marks on the grass. Simon was happy that the course had taken the weather well and was even amazed to see some grass growth.. The ground is currently described as soft and good to soft in places and with not a huge amount of rain forecasted the likely hood is that the ground on the first day will be good to soft and after 4 days, good… So be warned don’t go mad backing heavy ground horses. |