Good conditions in store for opening day of Cheltenham's November meeting with no rain until Saturday night

Cheltenham's three-day November meeting will start on ground described as good, good to soft in places with no rain forecast until after racing on Saturday.

The going on the cross country course is good all over.

Clerk of the course Jon Pullin does not envision adding any more water to the racing surface artificially either, with two to four millimetres forecast over Saturday night and into Sunday morning.

He said: "The ground remains good, good to soft on the Old course and good on the Cross Country. We had half a millimetre of rain very early on Thursday morning and we've been dry since then. We're forecast to remain dry until after racing on Saturday.

"We're forecast some showers Saturday evening through to Sunday morning. We could see two to four millimetres in total through that period, but we've no rain forecast through Friday and Saturday. We'll see how it rides tomorrow and go from there, but I wouldn't anticipate needing to do any more watering."

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'They may as well be in different countries' - Aidan Coleman on the contrasts between Cheltenham's Old and New courses 

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