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The second day of the Cheltenham Festival has been cancelled because of the stormy weather at the racecourse.
Strong winds had made the marquees in the tented hospitality area unsafe and organisers were forced to call off the day's racing on safety grounds.
About 55,000 people had been due to attend the prestigious meeting at Prestbury Park on Wednesday.
Cheltenham management say that Wednesday's card will now be run across Thursday and Friday's meeting.
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 0700 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."
Wednesday's feature race was due to be the Queen Mother Champion Chase which will now be run on Thursday along with nine other races, including the World Hurdle. The Gold Cup showdown between Kauto Star and Denman will still take place on Friday as part of a nine-race card.
Source
Strong winds had made the marquees in the tented hospitality area unsafe and organisers were forced to call off the day's racing on safety grounds.
About 55,000 people had been due to attend the prestigious meeting at Prestbury Park on Wednesday.
Cheltenham management say that Wednesday's card will now be run across Thursday and Friday's meeting.
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 0700 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."
Wednesday's feature race was due to be the Queen Mother Champion Chase which will now be run on Thursday along with nine other races, including the World Hurdle. The Gold Cup showdown between Kauto Star and Denman will still take place on Friday as part of a nine-race card.
Source
