The final day of The Festival™ supporting WellChild looks set to begin on Good to Soft ground after Cheltenham Racecourse’s Clerk of the Course and Head of Racing, Simon Claisse, had a look at conditions at the end of the day.
Claisse said: “We’ve had another look at the ground and decided to leave it as Good to Soft, although the GoingStick readings suggest it has dried out a fraction, from 6.2 this morning to 6.6 at the end of the day.
“The forecast remains dry, with temperatures of around 10 degrees again, and we have got fresh ground on the Chase course for the WellChild Cheltenham Gold Cup.”
Reflecting on another afternoon of terrific racing, highlighted by superb front-running performances from Allaho in the Grade One Ryanair Chase and Flooring Porter in the Grade One Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle, he said: “We are very much missing owners and racegoers, but the racing has been terrific once again. It’s been a cracking afternoon.”
He added: “It’s a great shame owners can’t be here, but we’ve done everything we can for them in terms of engagement. We’ve sent some things to them to help their enjoyment, including personalised racecards and various gifts with their colours on, and they also have the 360 degree camera in the parade ring which they can tune into to follow their own runner around in the preliminaries.”
Conditional rider Millie Wonnacott was taken for precautionary assessment after taking a knock when unseated from Kansas City Chief in the Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle, but there were no other significant injuries on day three.
