Lack of rain affecting grass growth ahead of Cheltenham Festival

Cheltenham officials are concerned about the 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 15 January. We have had 10mm since the 15th. In the corresponding period last year we'd had 58mm.

"We commenced watering the week beginning 13 February.

"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