New course at Cheltenham battling against challenging weather conditions
Cheltenham racecourse before the 2020 Festival
Cheltenham officials have admitted they have had a "real challenge" with grass growth on the New course ahead of the Festival meeting in a fortnight's time.
Clerk of the course Jon Pullin said the dry, cold spell, which has seen just 10 millimetres of rain fall since the Trials day meeting at the end of January, has meant getting the ground ready for the four-day spectacular has been "a real challenge".
Officials have laid down fleece on the New course to encourage grass growth and have been irrigating the track with temperatures set to drop over the next few days.
Pullin said: "It's been a tricky period. It has been a real challenge. We haven't had any significant rain since January 15. We have had 10mm since the 15th. In the corresponding period last year we'd had 58mm.
"We commenced watering the week beginning February 13.
"We wanted to start irrigating for two reasons, firstly to help with grass growth and recovery and to get ahead of the game a little bit as far as going is concerned in case we came into a cold snap, which now looks as though it will materialise.
"We are heading into a cold spell over the next 24 to 48 hours. Indications are for wintry showers early next week and cold temperatures overnight. But most forecasts suggest we should be out of the cold spell by next weekend and hopefully warming up."
He added: "We have put fleece covers down on the New course, which we raced on (both) New Year's Day and Trials day, to encourage grass growth.
"It is not in as good a shape as we would like going into the Festival from a grass cover point of view.
"We have got the fleece down and have had it in other areas and the germination sheets as well.
"We just haven't had weather conditions conducive to recovery. It has just meant that the grass cover is not where we'd like it to be. It is a symptom of temperatures not being where they would ordinarily be.
"We have had more nights below zero than last year and it has just proved a challenge to get that recovery there.
"We have a combination of good, good to soft ground now. It is pretty consistent across both courses. We have managed to get the same irrigation onto the cross-country as well, so we are in good shape in the cross-country course as well."
Pullin came in for criticism for the decision to water ahead of the second day of the meeting last year, only for the Prestbury Park track to suffer a deluge of rain on Queen Mother Champion Chase day.
Heading into the meeting this time, Pullin is well aware that his decisions will be magnified.
"The criticism comes with the job," he added. "Clerks up and down the country are facing the same challenges, day in, day out.
"OK, there may be a few more eyeballs on this fixture, but there are decisions we have to make and we will always take a variety of forecasts into account and hopefully make the right decision at the right time.
"It is a difficult decision to make to water. We just felt rather than wait and get potentially get caught out by a cold snap, and with that being quite close to Festival week, we might struggle to get enough water on. We felt it was the best approach to get some water on now and I'm happy with where we are currently.
"If we need to irrigate we can, but we are not chasing it now, that's for sure."
