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Cheltenham blown off course12th March 2008
Day 2 of the Cheltenham Festival has been abandoned in the interests of safety because of storms at the racecourse!
Strong winds had made the tented hospitality area unsafe and organisers were forced to call off the day's racing on safety grounds.
Officials made the startling announcement after another morning of high winds and intense gusts at Prestbury Park. All six races due to take place this afternoon, including the feature Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase, will instead be staged on Thursday and Friday.
There will be 10 races on Thursday, and nine on Friday, with racing starting at 1230 GMT each day, and a further 10,000 has been added to the capacity.
The weather forecast is improved for the final two days of the meeting, with much lighter winds expected.
Ticket holders for Wednesday will receive a 100% refund, but those tickets will not be valid on Thursday or Friday.
Managing director Edward Gillespie explained: "On Tuesday night we had a forecast indicating wind speeds with gusts of over 50mph up to and including Wednesday afternoon.
"That means that many of the temporary facilities might not be safe. It's a west wind, which would take any debris onto the racecourse.
"We have had one structure blow over this morning at 07.00 while at the moment the 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 this meeting.
"I hope when people look back at 2008 they don't remember it for the lost Wednesday but for the strengthened Friday and Thursday and the excellent racing on the Tuesday."
Trainer Willie Mullins said he was relieved that all of the races would be run over the remaining two days of the Festival but it creates problems for trainers:
"We have got to get Tuesday's runners out of the stables at the track and although provisions have been made to put them up at Warwick racecourse, we want to try to look for somewhere nearby so it will make it easier for our staff to look after them,"
"We were trying to get them on the ferries back to Ireland but they are cancelled because of the weather and in addition, horses don't travel well if it's windy and they can end up quite ill.
"I imagine there may be one or two people and horses who are yet to arrive at the course and they might not get here if the weather is like this but I think most people would have arrived by Tuesday night."
Jockey Robert Thornton, who rode two winners on Tuesday's opening day, including the Champion Hurdle victor Katchit, agreed with the postponement:
"It's really disappointing as the decision was not from a riding point of view, but at the end of it, safety reasons are paramount. I'm planning to go to the meeting at Huntingdon to keep my eye in for the seven or eight rides I will have each day on Thursday and Friday."
The Cheltenham Festival has been cancelled on only two previous occasions since its launch in 1911 - because of foot-and-mouth in 2001, and when 3ft of snow fell on the course in 1978.
Damage to the hospitality area is "substantial" and may mean customers have to be fitted in elsewhere if the damaged restaurant structure cannot be re-erected