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Weather Watch 2026

Irish Rugby said:
I think there is light rain around but it needs to both land on the course and in big bundles on Sunday.

I still think we will see the word 'good' in Tuesday's going. That could be soft, good to soft in places.
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Was just watching a preview with willie twist Davies on, he was pretty adamant its going to be riding really soft ground, especially first 2 days, says even if dry and sunny next few days reckons it will be gluey ground then and genuine good ground horses will struggle
 
Odin said:
For tracking purposes if I remember to update:

Tue 5th March 1430: Old 3.6, New 4.0, XC 2.9
Thur 7th March 0900: Old 4.6, New 4.9
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As you say Irish Rugby, if they miss the rain (or most of it), there will be good in the description. Good to Soft ground is 6.5, if the ground continues to dry at 1 point on the going stick every 36 hours, that would be 7.6ish by Tuesday. I will retract my previous opinion that the ground could be heavy as that drainage is mentally good and it doesn't look like there would be enough rain to counteract it...
 
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Nwfb89 said:
Was just watching a preview with willie twist Davies on, he was pretty adamant its going to be riding really soft ground, especially first 2 days, says even if dry and sunny next few days reckons it will be gluey ground then and genuine good ground horses will struggle
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I thought gluey ground was only a factor when horses had got their hooves in. With the fresh ground they'll have saved for the festival and 2 months without racing, I've been working on the assumption that this wouldn't be a problem (at least on day 1). Have I got that wrong?
 
Odin said:
I thought gluey ground was only a factor when horses had got their hooves in. With the fresh ground they'll have saved for the festival and 2 months without racing, I've been working on the assumption that this wouldn't be a problem (at least on day 1). Have I got that wrong?
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Think that's the general perception what you say about fresh ground, but I'm just saying what Willie td said, he was quite adamant about it, worth a watch is on day 1 oddschecker preview up on YouTube now
 
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Willie went into great detail about he explained how soft ground will be almost inevitable come day 1, even with dry weather forecasting the run up.

The cross country course is still, as of this morning, cordoned off.
 
Soft -

2/5 with William Hill
11/8 with Unibet

Evens across the board generally.
 
Odin said:
For tracking purposes if I remember to update:

Tue 5th March 1430: Old 3.6, New 4.0, XC 2.9
Thur 7th March 0900: Old 4.6, New 4.9
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So pleased someone was clever enough to track this, much appreciated Odin
6.5 appears to be the midpoint of Good to Soft so needs to move 2 ish full points over 5 days which isn't impossible given the improvement of the last two days.
You then factor in a largely dry week and that ground could ride fairly quick last day or two, the Sat night/Sunday rainfall will dictate where we sit I think.
Good to soft not impossible day one....
 
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Does anyone know what the going track description was on the Tuesday of last year?

What i think will happen is 'officially' it will start as soft on Tuesday as we know they seem to like that these days. Maybe by race 2/3 they will change to Soft / Good to Soft in places, so will actually be quicker than they say. Throughout most of the rest of the week will be basically good to soft
 
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I think it’s been declared ‘soft’ for 3 out of last 4 festivals for opening race.
 
Unexposed said:
Does anyone know what the going track description was on the Tuesday of last year?

What i think will happen is 'officially' it will start as soft on Tuesday as we know they seem to like that these days. Maybe by race 2/3 they will change to Soft / Good to Soft in places, so will actually be quicker than they say. Throughout most of the rest of the week will be basically good to soft
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Can't disagree with any of that.
Not sure what the actual reading was but they obviously called it soft ground.
Cheltenham is so undulating there will be deeper patches and better patches on the circuit that carries one description.
I always look at the time, if they dip under 4 mins for the Supreme it's not that deep and Marine Nationale just crept under, so your soft call may well be right and changed after a few races...
 
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It's not the kind of bet that I do but I'd want the bet conditions to be odds for a range of going stick readings at a specific point on the track. Certain clerks would call 2.5 good to soft if it suited their purpose.
 
Istabraq said:
Can't disagree with any of that.
Not sure what the actual reading was but they obviously called it soft ground.
Cheltenham is so undulating there will be deeper patches and better patches on the circuit that carries one description.
I always look at the time, if they dip under 4 mins for the Supreme it's not that deep and Marine Nationale just crept under, so your soft call may well be right and changed after a few races...
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Exactly. There’ll be endless talk on the day in the build up, the winner will do 3m 56 and we’ll all get on with the rest of the festival. :biggrin-new:
 
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Evens on soft across the board at 8.30 this morning now into 1/2 an hour later.
 
Unexposed said:
Does anyone know what the going track description was on the Tuesday of last year?

What i think will happen is 'officially' it will start as soft on Tuesday as we know they seem to like that these days. Maybe by race 2/3 they will change to Soft / Good to Soft in places, so will actually be quicker than they say. Throughout most of the rest of the week will be basically good to soft
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You can get historical going sticks from here:
http://turftrax.co.uk/going_stick_archive.html

Opening days for reference:
2023: Soft, 5.1. Supreme winning time 3:59.63
2022: Good To Soft, 6.3. Supreme winning time 3:44.35
2021: Soft, Good To Soft in places, 5.9 (Changed to Good to Soft, Soft in places at 4pm). Supreme winning time 3:56.32
2020: Soft, Heavy in places, 5.5. Supreme winning time 4:08.20
2019: Soft, 6.0 Supreme winning time 3:59.56s

Make what you will out of these numbers...
 
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Odin said:
You can get historical going sticks from here:
http://turftrax.co.uk/going_stick_archive.html

Opening days for reference:
2023: Soft, 5.1. Supreme winning time 3:59.63
2022: Good To Soft, 6.3. Supreme winning time 3:44.35
2021: Soft, Good To Soft in places, 5.9 (Changed to Good to Soft, Soft in places at 4pm). Supreme winning time 3:56.32
2020: Soft, Heavy in places, 5.5. Supreme winning time 4:08.20
2019: Soft, 6.0 Supreme winning time 3:59.56s

Make what you will out of these numbers...
Click to expand...

Excellent information, thank you.
 
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Another beautiful drying day today.
 
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