Cheltenham races off amid storms

Cheltenham races off amid storms The second day of the Cheltenham Festivalhas been cancelled because of the stormy weather at the racecourse.

Strong winds had made the marquees in the tented hospitality area unsafe andorganisers were forced to call off the day's racing on safety grounds.


About 55,000 people had been due to attend the prestigious meeting at PrestburyPark on Wednesday.


Cheltenham management say that Wednesday's card will now be run across Thursdayand Friday's meeting.

Managing director Edward Gillespie explained: "On Tuesday night we had aforecast indicating wind speeds with gusts of over 50mph up to and includingWednesday afternoon.

"That means that many of the temporary facilities might not be safe. It's awest wind, which would take any debris onto the racecourse.

"We have had one structure blow over this morning at 0700 while at the momentthe tented village is not a safe site.

"However, the good news is we can race all the races over the next two days.It's very sad. It's the last thing we expected in the build-up to thismeeting."

Wednesday's feature race was due to be the Queen Mother Champion Chase.


Source BBC Sport