Cheltenham festival 2025: snow falls before racing on day two – live

Live updates from day two of the Cheltenham festivalDay two tips | The view from Benidorm | And mail Tony

Did you know today was ‘Style Wednesday’? No neither did I. Anyway I have my blue John Smedley long-sleeved polo shirt on and a pair of vintage Levi’s so I hope that passes muster. I discovered that name for today in the details about the all-important going underfoot from the track which many were saying was bordering on good (ie faster ground than the general description) yesterday. The snow will have softened it up a bit and Jon Pullin, Cheltenham’s clerk of the course, said just now: “We had a covering of snow this morning but it turned to sleet as forecast and that should soon disappear. The going for today remains Good to Soft on the [main] Old Course and is Good to Soft, Good in places and Soft on the top loop on the Cross Country Course.”

Hello, and welcome to day two of the festival. And, as Cheltenham themselves point out, what a difference a day makes. When my son got in touch with me worried about whether the racing was going to be on I reminded him that I was there in 1987 when the delayed Gold Cup, won by The Thinker, took place after a sustained snowstorm in the middle of racing. The Sporting Life, where I worked in the 1990s, was still being sold back then and it was a pleasant surprise to see a printed edition of the paper, which closed in 1997, being handed out yesterday by Mike Tindall at Paddington station.

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