Cheltenham on high alert for New Year's Day meeting with yellow weather warning in place

Officials at Chelten​ham are taking precautions for the track's New Year's Day meeting after a yellow weather warning for wind was issued in the area.

Strong winds are forecast for today and the morning of the day of racing on Wednesday, which features the Grade 2 Dornan Engineering Relkeel Hurdle (3.15) and £100,000 Betfair Exchange Handicap Chase (2.05).

Clerk of the course Jon Pullin said on Monday that the track would continue to monitor conditions in light of forecast wind gusts of 45-50mph.

But those gusts are now forecast to subside by around 10am on Wednesday morning, a couple of hours before the first race.

Pullin said on Monday: "It's very much a watching brief and we'll continue to monitor conditions and react accordingly. The grounds team have been out today putting extra support on the wings to ensure everything is as safe and secure as possible on track and the operations team are doing the same around the site, so we're doing all we can."

Langer Dan: a star name on show at Cheltenham on New Year's Day, if the card survives a yellow weather warningCredit: Edward Whitaker

Some heavy spells of rain are also forecast for Cheltenham, where the ground on Tuesday morning was changed to good to soft from soft, good to soft in places.

"We should see some lighter showers moving in later tomorrow afternoon, bringing 2-3mm, and continuing through the early hours of Wednesday," Pullin said on Monday.

"We could then see some quite heavy spells of rain through Wednesday afternoon, between 5-10mm."

The Relkeel features two festival winners from last season, Golden Ace and Langer Dan, among a seven-runner field, while Hitman heads the weights for the feature handicap chase.

High winds are forecast at Tuesday's jumps meetings at Warwick and Uttoxeter and officials there are adopting a similar approach.

Warwick's clerk of the course Nessie Chanter said: "It looks like we're going to get gusts of up to 45mph mid-afternoon, with an average wind speed of 20-22 mph.

"As the forecast stands, we don't feel there's any need for an inspection, but we'll continue to monitor it. We've got a sellout crowd and we've taken every precaution we can."

Uttoxeter's clerk of the course Richard Fothergill said: "The winds are expected to pick up after midday. We're forecast 20-25mph winds with 40-45mph gusts, but they're due right at the end of the card or after racing.

"At this stage we think we can handle what's forecast and probably a little bit more. We've put all the provisions in place that we can to ensure racing is safe to go ahead."

The strong winds from Storm Darragh at the start of the month caused the cancellation of some meetings, including the Becher Chase card at Aintree.

Read these next:

Meet the first mother and daughter training partnership in Britain 

Confirmed runners and riders for Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham as Brighterdaysahead conqueror bids to get back on track 

Looking for free bets? Racing Post have got the best offers, all in one place. Visit racingpost.com/freebets to find out more.