CHELTENHAM is on course to resume racing later this month following a major upgrade to the drainage system in the home straight.

There was a long delay to Festival Trials day at the course in January after a hole appeared on the track which was later attributed to a collapsed drain.

Remedial action was taken allow the Cheltenham Festival to go ahead without incident, but the two-day fixture in April and the all-hunter-chase card in May were both abandoned to allow more extensive work to take place over the spring and summer. The planned upgrade of the 600-metre long main drain began in April and more than 1,000 metres of drainage have been replaced in total, with all work completed in August.

Cheltenham’s clerk of the course, Jon Pullin, said: “We’re very happy with how the drainage upgrade and recovery has gone. We worked closely with specialists in turf management and drainage throughout the project to make the right decisions for the long-term management of the track.

“Starting the work in April was critical because it gave us the time to investigate the drainage system properly and take the opportunity to replace other areas that would benefit from an upgrade. For the first five weeks, our in-house team worked with our agronomists to understand exactly what was happening within the system.”

On the subject of how the racecourse has dealt with the hot summer, Pullin added: “I appreciate the images of the track over the summer may have surprised some people but, as anyone with a garden will know, the last few months have been extremely hot and dry. However, it is normal practice for us to start watering in August, and we knew that once we started doing so the turf would come to life and the racecourse would look like its old self again.

“While there is more dry weather forecast over the next two weeks, we will continue watering to ensure we are able to provide safe ground for jump racing.”