Cheltenham Festival going eases to soft with more showers expected before opening day

The going at Cheltenham has eased to soft (from good to soft, soft in places) ahead of next week's big meeting with the worst of the rain expected to be over by Sunday evening.

Seven millimetres of rain hit the Gloucestershire track on Saturday night in line with the forecast and pushed conditions back to soft, which was anticipated as the likely going description for the opening day of the meeting earlier in the week by clerk of the course Jon Pullin. 

The Met Office forecast suggests there could be showers on Gold Cup day, with light rain also possible on Tuesday before the Champion Hurdle. 

"We were expecting between six and eight millimetres of rain overnight and had seven, so we were bang on the forecast," Pullin said on Sunday morning. "We've updated the going to soft ground on the Old and New course and we remain heavy, soft in places on the cross-country course. 

"We could get a few more showers this afternoon, maybe two or three millimetres, and after that it's largely dry tomorrow, although there might be a little bit of drizzle around in the morning. There might be a light shower or two on Tuesday but very little as far as volume is concerned, so once we're through this afternoon that should be the worst of the rain for the first part of the week." 

Soft has been the predominant going description for the opening day for four of the last five Cheltenham Festivals. 

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