Cheltenham ready to soldier on

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Racegoers were left shocked after managing director Edward Gillespie announced at 8.30am that the six scheduled races had been cancelled - the first time the meeting had been affected by weather since 1978. But with the winds due to fall, officials are confident the last two days can go ahead.

Clerk of the course Simon Claisse said: "The winds should drop down and we are expecting between one and two millimetres of rain. We might get the odd shower but weather-wise we are not expecting any problems."

Gusts of over 50mph swept across Prestbury Park Tuesday night into Wednesday causing damage to some of the temporary structures and making the 'tented village' unsafe to occupy.

Over 50,000 people had been expected to witness the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase, but the feature event and the other five contests were moved to the remaining two days, resulting in 10 races on Thursday and nine on Friday.

Explaining the sequence of events, managing director Edward Gillespie said: "We were forecast winds of up to 50mph between 6am and 3pm, but we hoped they would be downgraded as they were on Monday. However, at 5am the forecast was the same and once the winds hit 50mph the tented village and the Best Mate Enclosure cannot be occupied.

"I am sorry for those who had planned a big day and I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused to those people who were travelling here when we abandoned."

By blending the lost races into the Thursday and Friday cards, the executive have tried to maintain Channel 4 coverage, minimise disruption to the Thursday and Friday cards, maintain the race values and as far as possible to maintain the race distances and number of obstacles jumped.

The possibility of moving each day's card back by 24 hours so the totesport Gold Cup was run on Saturday was discussed but the idea was rejected due to staffing and emergency service provision.

Claisse is not expecting any problems with stabling as Cheltenham have 298 boxes on site and are planning to utilise Warwick racecourse for Irish runners housed at the track ahead of Friday's action.