Cheltenham Festival to go ahead today despite threat of high winds
The second day of the Cheltenham Festival will go ahead as planned.
The Ladies Day card was under threat as high winds had been forecast for the Prestbury Park area, but those have subsided.
The course passed a preliminary inspection two hours earlier than expected.
"The wind's not as strong as expected. We have given the go-ahead for racing," said Simon Claisse, the clerk of the course.
"The ground is still soft on the chase and hurdle courses, soft/heavy in places on the cross-country and we're expecting a largely dry day.
"There may be the odd shower but with a few gusty winds.
Altior will attempt to make it back-to-back wins in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, today's feature.
Nicky Henderson's nine year old is aiming to win at the Festival for the fourth year running.
He will be renewing his rivalry with the Willie Mullins trained Min, who finished runner up to Altior in the same race 12 months ago and the Supreme in 2016.
The first race of the day is the Grade 1, Ballymore Novices' Hurdle, which goes to the post at the 1.30.
The Gordon Elliott-trained 'Delta Work' is set to go off favourite for the RSA Novices' Chase.
