Zara and Mike Tindall ignore royal drama to brave Cheltenham in pouring rain
Zara and Mike Tindall tried to make the best of it as they rocked up at Cheltenham racecourse today in the pouring rain.
The King's niece and the I'm Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! star, love the annual horse racing event, which sees the sport’s most prominent owners, trainers, jockeys and horses descend on Gloucestershire for the mother of all flutters. Zara looked typically regal, as she smiled for the cameras, sporting a jauntily angled grey hat, fitted navy coat, long black boots and an elegant leather handbag from Fairfax & Favor. Mike also looked dapper, wearing a felt cap to keep the rain off his head along with a smart overcoat.
Zara and Mike Tindall love the event at Cheltenham (Dave Shopland/REX/Shutterstock)
Ricky Hatton posed with a pint of Guinness as he battled the downpour (Tim Merry/Daily Mirror)The Royal family have had a tough time recently following Charles' cancer diagnosis and Kate Middleton's 'planned abdominal surgery' and subsequent 'photoshop fail', when she admitted to editing a Mother's Day photo she released to the public on Sunday. However, Zara and Mike put on a united front as they attended the annual racing event, which usually attracts a host of famous faces.
Also joining them, braving the downpour, was former boxer and Dancing On Ice star, Ricky Hatton. The Stockport-born star looked in good spirits as he posed for a snap, sporting a smart velvet blazer, holding a pint of Guinness, as he waited for the races to get underway.
However, after the wet weather today, it is not known if the Glenfarclas Chase will get underway tomorrow. Cheltenham's cross-country course will have to pass an 8am inspection on Wednesday if the race is to go ahead that afternoon. Clerk of the course Jon Pullin said: “We were initially forecast, going back two or three days, to be dry today. Then 48 hours ago that forecast updated to some light showers but only around a millimetre of rainfall. Then yesterday it was updated again to 2-4mm for this morning.
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“The forecast which we got last thing yesterday then increased further and gave us some cause for concern and by 6.30 this morning we had actually had 6mm, with a further 4-6mm forecast through the morning. A heavier band of rain is due to arrive around 11am but it should be all over by around lunchtime. We might get an odd shower later in the afternoon but that should not be anything too measurable – the worst of this rain should finish this morning.”
Racegoers made the most of the wet weather (PA)He added: "We have called the inspection as it is waterlogged in places at the moment but tomorrow is forecast to be dry and we will do all we can to get the Glenfarclas Chase on as scheduled. We are working with the British Horseracing Authority on a contingency plan regarding the possibility of restaging the Glenfarclas Chase on Friday as the first race of the day.”
The biggest week in the horse racing calendar, includes 28 races to look forward to over the next four days at the biggest jumps meeting of the year. Things kick off with Champion Day today and it promises to be an electric atmosphere, with seven races scheduled.
Willie Mullins is the trainer to beat, having taken the most wins in the last five years. The all-time most successful Cheltenham handler needs just six more winners to reach a landmark century and he is responsible for nine of the 15 horses confirmed for the opening race: the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.
The biggest race of the day is the Champion Hurdle, which will see last year's runner-up State Man try and make the most of Constitution Hill's absence. Then there's the Cheltenham Gold Cup's 100th birthday on Friday, which concludes a week in which millions of pounds will have been bet and more than 300,000 pints of Guinness and 14,000 bottles of bubbly will have been sunk.
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