Day two of the Cheltenham Festival will go ahead as planned thanks to a successful course inspection on Wednesday morning.
There was no need for the precautionary inspection at 8am today as Simon Claisse, Head of Racing, South West Region & Clerk of the Course Cheltenham Racecourse, found the Old Course in excellent shape at 5.30am so racing goes ahead today, Wednesday, March 13, Ladies Day, at Cheltenham.
Claisse has changed the going description to ‘Good to soft, soft in places’from ‘Soft, good to soft in places’ yesterday afternoon.
He said: “There were no problems under the covers this morning despite the temperature getting down to minus5C overnight. It is a sunny morning and we will start lifting the covers at 8.30am.”
Record crowd for first day since festival went to four days
Yesterday’s crowd of 56,284 on Champion Day was a new record for the first day since The Festival went to four days in 2005.
Ian Renton, Regional Director of Jockey Club Racecourses, commented yesterday afternoon: “To get in excess of 56,000 people and be almost 2,000 up is a tremendous testament to the appeal of The Festival and the hard work of all the team here in making today happen.”
Last year’s attendance came to 54,471, while there was a crowd of 53,318 in 2011.
Friday, Gold Cup Day, is a sell-out in all enclosures but tickets and badges can be bought at the gates today, Ladies Day, and tomorrow, St Patrick’s Thursday.
