Last Updated: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:53
The second day of the Cheltenham Festival has been postponed due to the high winds causing havoc at Prestbury Park.
The intense weather, with winds of up to 60mph, has caused damage to the tented hospitality area making it unsafe for the competitors and spectators, and organisers were this morning forced to declare that racing could therefore not take place on safety grounds.
Around 55,000 people had been due to attend the second day of the prestigious meeting at Prestbury Park and officials have announced that the races due to take place today will now be run across the cards on Thursday and Friday.
Managing director at Prestbury Park, Edward Gillespie stated: "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."
The feature race that had been due to be run today was the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase.