From Racing Post website:
CHELTENHAM clerk of the course Simon Claisse on Saturday issued a confident prediction that the 2013 Festival will both start and end on soft ground as he spoke from a track that has been protected by frost covers in advance of the sport's most prestigious meeting for the first time.
Following a further 2mm of rain through Friday night, Cheltenham on Saturday remained soft on all tracks, including the Old course, used for the festival's opening two days and which has been completely covered in porous blankets.
Covers will on Sunday be applied to Thursday and Friday's New course, but with further showers expected to fall until Tuesday and temperatures due to sink to -6C on Sunday and Monday nights, the prospect of any drying taking place is minimal.
As a result, the festival is poised to be staged on the most arduous conditions since 1995, when the fixture was held on soft ground from beginning to end and the Gold Cup finish had to be switched to the Old course home straight after parts of the inner New course were left waterlogged.
Claisse said: "Based on the current forecast, my expectation is that the meeting will start on soft ground and I think we will still be predominantly soft on Friday, when there might also be some good to soft places.
"The track we use on Tuesday and Wednesday is now covered, as are the vulnerable parts of the cross-country course. Tomorrow we will be covering the course used on Thursday and Friday, although that is purely as a precaution because the weather is expected to become milder as the week goes on.
"We have now used frost covers on eight occasions since the 2007-08 season and have raced on all occasions when they were deployed, including when we have experienced more prolonged and colder spells than the one-and-a-half-day snap that is due to run until Tuesday afternoon."
The laying of covers will prevent Nicky Henderson carrying out his traditional Sunday morning walking of the course, while anyone wanting to walk Huntingdon's track will also be frustrated as Cheltenham's sister venue has also been wrapped up in advance of its Wednesday card.
Sunday's Market Rasen meeting is the subject of a 7am inspection, while Monday's meeting at Stratford has been abandoned due to waterlogging and Taunton will only open its doors the same afternoon if passing an 8am inspection called due to the threat of snow.