Cheltenham ground quickens to good to soft, good in places on Thursday with weekend weather set fair

Drying conditions at Cheltenham have resulted in the going changing to good to soft, good in places with further dry weather anticipated for the two-day meeting.

Racing kicks off on Friday with the hurdles and chase course quickening to good in places from good to soft all over on Thursday morning, while the cross-country course remains soft, good to soft in places. 

The calm weather has made things simple for clerk of the course Jon Pullin, who had to contend with a called-off meeting at Aintree last Saturday due to Storm Darragh.

"I've just had a walk of the track and updated the New course to good to soft, good in places," said Pullin on Thursday evening. "The cross-country course remains soft, good to soft in places and we've just been drying out since Tuesday.

"The forecast looks set to remain dry for both tomorrow and Saturday with temperatures staying as they have all week."

The track has had 24 millimetres of rain in December but is not expecting anything else significant for the remainder of the week, with only a slight risk of a light shower.

Temperatures will be steady at around six to seven degrees, but there may be a chance of low sun affecting races near the end of the card.

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