Cheltenham Festival weather forecast is great news for punters… plus latest going update for day one

CHELTENHAM Festival looks like it’s set for a dry start – with the relentless rain hammering Britain finally easing this week.

Racecourses such as Huntingdon and Worcester have been totally submerged in recent days thanks to a seemingly neverending band of rain.

Splash NewsThe forecast for Cheltenham looks like being a bright one in welcome news for punters[/caption]

But it appears spring may finally have sprung – with only ‘light rain’ set to hit Prestbury Park between now and day one next Tuesday.

And in even better news, according to early forecasts it looks like punters could be soaked in sunshine for the first three days of the Festival at least.

Stayers’ Hurdle day on Thursday – when the Irish takeover Cheltenham – looks, according to the current BBC forecast, to be the best day of the week.

Temperatures are set to reach around 13C that day with a ‘sunny and gentle breeze’.

On Tuesday and Wednesday racegoers can expect highs of 12C with ‘sunny intervals and a gentle breeze’.

But it could take a turn for the worse on Gold Cup day, Friday, with a 70 per cent chance of rain forecast for the big race at 3.30pm.

Overall, though, the week looks fairly promising – and is a stark improvement from when snow was forecast for this week.

Hopefully most of the rain comes through this weekend with light rain forecast on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

There has been 21.4mm of rain at the racecourse over the past week.

The going was soft when clerk of the course Jon Pullin spoke at the handicap weights reveal last week.

He said a ‘very wet’ build-up had meant groundstaff hadn’t yet been out to cut the hallowed turf at the foot of Cleeve Hill.

The going was last updated on the BHA website on Saturday just before noon.

And it remained soft (heavy in places) then – conditions these five horses will relish.

But with a predominantly dry forecast it looks like good to soft is the more likely going for day one.

That’s what the Betfair Exchange says too, with good to soft the 4-5 favourite, ahead of soft at 7-4.

Proper mudlarks might not get their way with heavy going a distant 13-1 chance.

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