No rain in sight as 'unusual' spell of dry weather leads to Cheltenham watering before November meeting

Two rounds of watering have taken place at Cheltenham ahead of next week’s November meeting, with racecourses in Britain still experiencing an “unusual period” of dry weather.

There has been no appreciable rain for much of Britain since the end of last month, with a high pressure system stuck over much of the country for the last couple of weeks. Unsettled weather is not forecast by the Met Office until at least the latter part of next week.

The stationary weather has at least allowed Cheltenham’s clerk of the course Jon Pullin to proceed with watering with confidence that a sudden downpour is unlikely to arrive.

He said: “Clearly it's an unusual period with the dry weather we've had. I suppose you can describe it as helpful that it's a consistent forecast, so at least we know we're going to be dry and it's not like we're trying to balance any irrigation against an uncertainty in whether we're going to get a) any rain and b) 2mm or 10mm. You're in more control from a watering perspective.

“At Cheltenham, we've given two rounds of watering over the whole course to point us in a good position going into next week. We did notice the course really started to turn this week. It's a balancing act. 

"One slight benefit for Cheltenham for this meeting is that it's the last meeting on the Old course until the festival, before we switch to the New course for December and January. There are obviously areas where the course crosses over the New, so we need to be careful we don't create a problem by watering too much.”

Pullin has also been overseeing course preparation at Aintree, which hosted its Grand Sefton fixture on Saturday and has racing again on December 7, when it stages the Becher Chase.

“At Aintree, we've got the commitment from a welfare point of view to ensure the National course is prepared as close to good to soft as possible. We'll keep monitoring that for the next meeting and if we need to irrigate again, we will,” he said. 

“I certainly don't feel there would be any detrimental effect to the National course given it's used just once at each meeting. We've irrigated this week on the Mildmay, but we're nice, safe, good ground on that and that wouldn't affect a future meeting.”

Bristol De Mai won the Betfair Chase on good ground in 2018Credit: Mark Robinson

The first Grade 1 of the British jumps season takes place at Haydock this month, with the Betfair Chase scheduled for November 23, and officials are considering watering.

The race, which last took place on good ground in 2018, will be overseen for the first time by the track’s new clerk of the course Daniel Cooper, who said: “Haydock and watering for the jumps season doesn't naturally come to mind. It's not quite what you'd expect and we're around the good mark with a two-week lead-up to the Betfair Chase.

“Taking a step back, I've found the whole summer on the Flat quite tricky with forecasting. The weather patterns are incredibly unpredictable. High and low pressures come in and stay there, so you have quite a lot of blocks and we've in the high block now. Inaccuracy is quite high as well, so this is my normality. It's an ongoing trickiness with the role. 

“With the Betfair Chase, the outlook looks dry and therefore I think we'll have to consider an irrigation strategy and that's potentially a detriment to the longer term. It's not an easy decision to make but we have to aim for good – that's what we're asked to do in the rules – and that's what we'll try to be.”

Trainers such as Dan Skelton and Nicky Henderson voiced their frustration at the lack of rain and its impact on field sizes this week, particularly in novice chases. At Exeter on Friday, the Paul Nicholls-trained Captain Teague benefitted from a walkover in a novice chase slated for ITV coverage.

Despite the challenges, George Hill, clerk of the course at Newbury, which stages the Coral Gold Cup on November 30, believes the ground will quickly soften once rain does arrive.

He said: "If it stays dry everyone is in the same boat, but I'm pretty pleased with where we're at. It wouldn't take a whole lot of ground for it to start turning on this type of ground. We haven't had a dry summer."

Read these next:

'It's a nightmare' - Dan Skelton and Nicky Henderson frustrated as dry spell sparks crisis in novice chase field sizes 

'We've got to make sure we don't overdo it' - tracks wary of winter conditions as battle against dry weather continues 

Racing Post Members' Club: 50% off your first three months 

Sign up to receive On The Nose, our essential daily newsletter, from the Racing Post. Your unmissable morning feed, direct to your email inbox every morning.