Heavy rain from Storm Claudia threatening day two of Cheltenham meeting

Sign up to Independent Racing with Jonathan Doidge for expert tips, insider news and all the latest from the trackGet expert tips with Jonathan Doidge’s Racing newsletterGet expert tips with Jonathan Doidge’s Racing newsletterA precautionary inspection will be held at Cheltenham tomorrow morning, ahead of the scheduled seven-race Paddy Power Gold Cup card. The track has been battered by strong winds and rain from Storm Claudia throughout the two day meeting. Conditions will inevitably get worse after Friday’s racing.“We’ve had 12mm of rain through the day to add to the 7mm overnight and as we’ve been racing this afternoon we’ve opened up the track,” Jon Pullin, clerk of the course, told Racing TV.“We’ve still got further rain to come, possibly until midnight and we could see some heavy spells in the next couple of hours. Having opened it up it makes sense to have a look in the morning.“The forecast is saying it should be drying up from 1am and we do know that once this track gets a bit of a window without any rain it does start to drain and hopefully that will be the case.A racegoer struggles at Cheltenham Racecourse on Friday (Mike Egerton/PA)“This is precautionary, we’ve raced today and we do have that dry window. I’d be hopeful we’ll be OK for tomorrow. We’ll do everything we can to make a decision as early as we can.”Due to the Status Yellow rain warning issued by Met Eireann, Navan will be inspecting at the same time as it is due to host the Fortria Chase, and Marine National with it. Paddy Graffin the clerk of the course, stated: “Since our ground update at 7.30am this morning, there has been a further 6mm of rain at Navan.“The ground currently remains soft to heavy, however, due to the Status Yellow rain warning from Met Eireann in place for County Meath which runs through to the early hours of tomorrow morning, we will hold a precautionary inspection at 7.30am ahead of racing.“This is a precautionary measure due to the forecast but the track is currently fit for racing and the latest update from Met Eireann suggests we could get approximately a further 10-15mm of rain in the area.”
2025-11-14 20:46:59