Going could be tough at Cheltenham

Don't go banking on the ground for this year's Cheltenham Festival to maintain its modern trend of 'good' or faster. The advice from clerk of the course, Simon Claisse, is that it could go either way.

Just ten days before last year's Festival, many experts warned the public that heavy ground was a distinct possibility. But warm and windy weather immediately followed and Cheltenham - notoriously swift to drain - dried out to good ground on the first day. By Gold Cup day, 48 hours later, it was even faster - good-to-firm, good in places.

But in 2001, the wettest winter on record is reaching into February and still causing regular abandonments to the UK's race meetings. There has been little respite for racecourses nationwide, allowing no opportunity for the ground to dry out between cloudbursts.

"The ground at Cheltenham is currently soft and we've had 17mm of rain so far this week alone," said Claisse. "This track drains so well that it's impossible to predict what will happen between now and 13 March. But it doesn't take a great deal of rain to turn the ground soft because it is so constantly wet in the first place."

Cotswold trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies saddled Beau to finish a distant second to See More Business in the Pillar Chase at Cheltenham on 27 January and described the ground as "astonishingly soft for that course".

The track has since been re-trodden, resoiled, fed and rolled in preparation for next month's Festival. Official going reports were set to start on 26 February, but may begin a week earlier on the Cheltenham website in light of recent weather conditions.