Cheltenham report the ground to be currently a combination of good and good to soft with a dry, cold spell now in the offing.
Clerk of the Course, Jon Pullin, said: “It has been a tricky period and we have not had any significant rainfall since the 15th of January. To put that in context, with the little drop we’ve had this morning, we’ve had 10mm of rain since January 15 while in the corresponding period last year we had 58mm.
“It has certainly been very dry, and all the team have been working exceptionally hard. Given the dry forecast and the prospect of a cold snap, we have been irrigating for a couple of weeks now to get ahead of the game.
“It is a combination of Good and Good to Soft ground at the moment. It is the same across the Old and New courses and we have also been able to irrigate the Cross Country course.
“We have fleece covers down to promote grass growth. The New Course which was used on New Year’s Day and Trials Day is not as we would have liked going into The Festival from a grass cover point of view, so have got the fleece down with germination sheets to help with grass growth.”
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