Veterans' chase to replace cross-country at November meeting due to lack of rain

A 2m4f veterans' handicap chase will replace the cross-country handicap chase at Cheltenham's November meeting due to the lack of rain at the course.

The Glenfarclas-sponsored Cross Country Chase was due to take place on the Friday of the three-day fixture, November 11, with Delta Work, last year's Cheltenham Festival cross-country chase winner, slated to travel over from Gordon Elliott's base in Ireland.

The race will instead be run on January 28 as part of the track's Trials day.

Jon Pullin, clerk of the course at the home of jump racing, explained: "The low rainfall throughout the summer and so far this autumn has handed us some significant challenges in terms of producing the best possible racing surface, both for the October meeting and for the November meeting, which is now less than a fortnight away.

"The Old course, which was used for the Showcase [meeting] and will be in use for the November meeting, has required considerable irrigation which has put a strain on both our time and our resources in order to achieve safe ground.

"The safety and welfare of our participants is of paramount importance and, in light of this, we are not in a position to be able to irrigate the cross-country course sufficiently enough for the November meeting.

“Cheltenham’s cross-country course is unique and provides a great spectacle. We are keen that we can still offer three races over the course of the season, with two of these taking place before the festival."

Cheltenham's reservoir had depleted to 30 per cent of its capacity after its first meeting of the season in October.

The same switch occurred in 2016-17, when Astracad won the veterans' race in November and Urgent De Gregaine took the cross-country in January.

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