Heavy rain at Cheltenham forces organisers to CANCEL Cross Country Chase on Wednesday

Cheltenham Festival organizers were forced to cancel the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase on Wednesday due to a waterlogged course.

The race was scheduled for 4:10 pm on the second day of the festival, but was canceled following an inspection on Wednesday morning.

The BHA and the Jockey Club initially worked on a contingency plan that would see the Cross Country Chase run on Friday’s Gold Cup card in the event of a postponement.

But after heavy rain on Tuesday, they were forced to abandon the race.

“Following 11mm of rain yesterday, there has been no improvement in conditions on the Cross Country course and with areas of the track unrideable, the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase has sadly been abandoned,” the Jockey Club said in a statement. a statement on X. the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday morning.

‘The forecast for the rest of the week continues to look unsettled, with further rainfall likely on both Thursday and Friday.

“Therefore there will not be sufficient improvements to the Cross Country course before Friday 15 March and the decision has been made not to reschedule the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at the festival.”

As a result of the cancellation, the starting times for Wednesday’s races have been revised.

The Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle will now start at 1:45pm instead of 1:30pm as originally scheduled, and the Brown Advisory Novices’ Pursuit has been delayed from 2:10pm to 2:30pm.

The Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle has been moved from 2.50pm to 3.15pm, and the Chase for the Betway Queen Mother Champion, the main event on day two, will start 30 minutes later than scheduled at 4pm.

Meanwhile, the start times for the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Challenge Cup Handicap Chase and the Weatherbys Champion Bumper have not changed.

The races will begin at 4:50 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. respectively.