The National Hunt season has been all but stopped in its tracks since Saturday but at least one – and possibly all three – of Thursday’s jumps cards should go ahead as planned as a thaw arrives just in time for Cheltenham’s two-day meeting this weekend.
Only Taunton, about 80 miles south-west of Cheltenham, has not called an inspection before racing on Thursday morning, while officials at both Warwick and Newcastle will inspect their tracks at 8am. The New course at Cheltenham, though, would have been raceable on Wednesday, according to Simon Claisse, the clerk of the course, despite total precipitation – rain and snow combined – of 48mm since Saturday night.
“All the snow had pretty well gone by nine this morning, and you’d have been racing over it this afternoon,” Claisse said on Wednesday. “We’ve had another 3mm of rain since this morning, which makes 8mm in the last 24 hours, and the chase and hurdles are soft, and good-to-soft in places. The snow and rain has fallen on a course that is not irrigated through the autumn because we don’t need it in a fit state until December, and last week it was good ground.”
Racing at Cheltenham is a precious commodity, with only nine days scheduled at the track each season before the Festival in March, and Saturday’s card includes both the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup, worth nearly £70,000 to the winner, and the International Hurdle, a trial for the Champion Hurdle in March.
The entries for the latter race include My Tent Or Yours and The New One, stalwarts of the hurdling scene for several seasons, but it was the five‑year‑old Melon, the runner-up in the Supreme Novice Hurdle in March, that attracted the attention of punters on Wednesday.
Willie Mullins’s entry, already the third‑favourite for the Champion Hurdle behind Faugheen and Buveur D’Air, is now top‑priced at 9-4 to win on Saturday, and closing in on The New One, a 15-8 chance, at the head of the market.
Officials at both Warwick and Newcastle remain hopeful that Thursday’s card will get the go-ahead and Philip Kirby, who trains at Middleham in north Yorkshire, is likely to have his mare Lady Buttons loaded into the horsebox with the engine running as the clerks walk their tracks. The seven-year-old, who won a Listed race on her chasing debut at Bangor last month, has been declared for both a Grade Three event at Newcastle and the Listed Lady Godiva Novice Chase at Warwick, and will head for the midlands if Kirby’s first choice at Newcastle succumbs to the weather.
Individuals facing British Horseracing Authority disciplinary charges will in future be able to access expert legal advice for a nominal fee, the BHA said on Wednesday.
Jockeys and trainers already benefit from schemes set up by their trade associations to ensure that they can receive legal advice if they are facing a disciplinary inquiry. Non-licensed individuals will now be able to approach Sport Resolutions, an independent not-for-profit dispute resolution service, for similar advice on payment of a small administration fee.
“It is of vital importance that there is no perception of an inequality of arms when participations are subject to a disciplinary procedure,” Catherine Beloff, the BHA’s director of legal and governance, said. “This gives an option for participants to have access to independent, experienced legal professionals for a fraction of what the cost would be otherwise.”
Thursday’s tips, by Greg Wood
Taunton
12.00 Brahms De Clermont 12.30 Canelo 1.05 Cucklington (nb) 1.35 Our Merlin 2.10 Molineaux 2.45 Top Notch 3.15 Workbench 3.50 Sheelbewhatsheelbe
Newcastle – meeting abandoned
Warwick – meeting abandoned
Chelmsford City
5.45 Bezos 6.15 I’m Yer Man 6.45 Cookie Ring 7.15 Steel Train 7.45 You’re Cool 8.15 Bardd (nap) 8.45 Enigmatic
