CHELTENHAM’S Saturday racing for their big Paddy Power Gold Cup is ‘at risk’ of being called off.
An inspection has been called for 7.30am Saturday morning with heavy rain forecast long into Friday night.
Clerk of the course Jon Pullen said: “We’ve had 12mm of rain during the day today, we had 7mm overnight.
“We have been racing this afternoon but we still have further rain to come until midnight, 1am, and we could see heavy spells.
“Having opened the turf up for racing it gives us opportunity to see in the morning where we are.
“We should be dry from around 1am and we do know once this track gets a window without any rain it does drain and hopefully that is the case.
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“There is the risk (we can’t go ahead) but it is a precautionary inspection.
“The next few hours could be pretty heavy rain but with that dry window I’m hopeful we’ll be OK for tomorrow.
“We’ll do everything we can to make a decision as early as we can.”
Storm Claudia hit England on Friday morning, bringing strong winds and heavy rain.
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The Met Office has warned that some areas could see up to a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours.
Some areas of England and Wales are currently on amber alert.
Met Office chief meteorologist Matthew Lehnert said: “Storm Claudia will bring very heavy rainfall to a large swathe of central and southern England and Wales on Friday into Saturday.
“This rain will become slow-moving, and some areas could see up to a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours.”
