Racing: Latest going for Cheltenham Festival

Simon Claisse, Cheltenham's Clerk of the Course, walked the course on Monday afternoon before giving an update on the going.

Strong winds have been sweeping the country and they may have contributed to the ground drying out ahead of the first race of the Festival, the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

"It's probably dried out a little bit today but it's still good to soft, good in places on the Chase and Hurdle courses for tomorrow," said Claisse.

"The Cross Country Course, which is in use on Wednesday, is much the same but it has dried out a bit more today so it's now good, good to soft in places.

"I've been round again this afternoon and while the ground remains the same, it is slowly drying out. The rain that we were forecast, although only light rain, as of yesterday hasn't materialised so we've not actually had any rainfall here for about nine days.

"Tomorrow is meant to be a lovely day; sunny and in low double figures in terms of temperature, so a very pleasant day. Things may break down a bit on Wednesday morning in terms of rainfall, it gets a bit more unsettled but it should be dry in the afternoon.

"There may be some rain on Thursday night but that's a few days away and things can change. With the rain that's in the air on Wednesday and Thursday, it looks highly unlikely that we will have to water but we'll just have to take it day by day.

"Historically, we've not had a problem with low sun in March because we're now pretty much three months since the shortest day but again we had issues in November and January when we've never had problems before. We had to move the chase races out of the vulnerable period which is about 2.40pm to 3.50pm in those months but we then had a problem at 2.25pm in November and about 4.00pm in January - why that happened, we just don't know. This should be a whole different ball game six weeks after Festival Trials day though.

"The course is in pretty good nick compared to previous years but we're not quite where we were last year as we didn't have a winter last year. We didn't suffer any frost at all but this year we've had frost covers deployed for December's meeting and they were also down in January. We had a very, very cold week 10 days or so after Festival Trials day and our temperatures haven't really warmed up much.

"I'm surprised how good it looks to be honest and I think the lads out there have done a great job that they've got it looking as good as it does considering how little growth there has been.

"The fences and hurdles are in the same place that they were last year. We've moved a couple of the starts to facilitate the starting process, particularly the three mile plus handicap chases that used to start between the second last and last.

"They now start before the second last so they have a nice straight run towards an extra fence which affects the handicap chase on Tuesday and the handicap chase on the Thursday. This means both races are now half a furlong longer. The Ultima Business Solutions Handicap Chase on Tuesday is now run over three miles, one furlong and the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup is now run over three miles, two furlongs but we've used those starting positions in October, November and January.

"They are better starts and the feedback from the jockeys has been positive since we made those changes."

The going on the Old (used on Tuesday and Wednesday) and New (used on Thursday and Friday) Courses as of 4.30pm on Monday was:

Chase and Hurdle Courses - Good to Soft, Good in places

Cross Country Course - Good, Good to Soft in places (from Good to Soft, Good in places)