After ‘significant’ rain and snow at Cheltenham racecourse, the track is reportedly heavy and soft in places. The Cheltenham Festival starts today and runs until Friday 16 March.

"It started to rain on Friday night and, in total, we've had 45mm of rain and snow in the last couple of weeks,” said Simon Claisse, Cheltenham’s Clerk of the Course. “The track has come out of it very well and looks good. We are hoping that we are seeing the last of the rain for a while this afternoon. We are forecast a dry day on both Tuesday and Wednesday.”

The track received 14mm of rain on Friday night, with a further 14mm overnight on Sunday into Monday afternoon

"There could be quite a bit of rain on Wednesday night into Thursday, but we have got a lot of fresh ground on the New Course, so I think we'll be in good shape come the end of the week too.”

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