'The track's taken it really well' - Cheltenham frost-free following -10C freeze with good forecast for Trials day

Cheltenham came through last week's freeze "really well" and Trials day is expected to be staged on ground no more testing than good to soft.

Seven days on from a blank Saturday for jump racing in Britain, the track's eight-race card will be the last it stages before the festival and features significant warm-up events for the Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle.

Assessing conditions, Jon Pullin, in his second season as clerk of the course, said on Sunday: "We were frozen for much of last week and had temperatures down as low as -10C – that's the lowest I've recorded in my time here. But we hovered just above 0C on Friday night and we've had positive temperatures for the last 48 hours and the track is frost-free.

"It's taken it really well. We're currently good to soft in the main with some good places."

Jon Pullin: "We had temperatures down as low as -10C – that's the lowest I've recorded in my time here"Credit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Looking ahead to Saturday's meeting, for which ticket sales are reportedly "on a par with last year", Pullin said: "We're forecast quite a breezy afternoon and evening which brings in a band of rain and we could see 5-8mm. Then for the rest of the week we're expecting lighter showers with temperatures up to 12C.

"It depends on what we get this evening, but if we get what's forecast and then just 1mm or 2mm on two or three days during the week, I'd imagine the ground will be fairly similar on Saturday. It will be very different to the earlier part of the season, when we were a lot softer."

Cheltenham has taken on the salvaged Clarence House Chase from Ascot, while the Rossington Main Novices' Hurdle (Haydock) and Warfield Mares' Hurdle (Ascot) have been added to the two-day Great Yorkshire Chase meeting at Doncaster where good ground could be on the cards.

"We went down to -6C a couple of nights last week and it really got into the ground, but I was pleased today how well it has come out of it," said Town Moor's clerk of the course Paul Barker on Sunday. "It has retained a reasonable amount of moisture.

"There is the odd little area of frost still in the ground, but we're 10C today, with the chance of a shower or two later, so I'd envisage that will be gone in the morning.

"The hurdle course is good to soft, good in places and the chase course good, good to soft in places."

Looking ahead to the weekend, Barker said: "Tuesday looks a pretty wet day, but we're set fair from then onwards, bar the odd passing shower.

"How much rain we get today and Tuesday will determine which side of good to soft and good we end up on, but I can't see it being really easy. We've had enough wet, heavy ground for everybody and let's hope we get the good ground we'd normally expect for Doncaster."

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