Cheltenham festival car park chaos as rain turns fields into muddy nightmare

13 March 2024 , 09:02

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Cheltenham Festival punters were stuck in traffic for hours (Image: Twitter)

Cheltenham Festival attendees faced "absolute bedlam" as they tried to leave the racecourse after the opening day - with fears today's races maybe be postponed.

Torrential rain left the parking area like a bog on Tuesday, resulting in traffic chaos for thousands of punters trying to get home. Some vehicles got stuck in mud, with queues of up to two-hours seen.

One fan posted a video on social media of a long line of cars waiting to leave in the dark. He wrote: "Racing finished an hour and 10 mins ago. Absolute bedlam in the car park. No cars moving at all, stuck everywhere with no help. £30 per car. Come racing they say!!!!"

He later added: "Update lads… 2 hours after racing. Car still down the hill and no movement whatsoever." Another video showed two people trying to push their car out of the mud while passersby sung: "You're not going home!"

More than 60,000 fans attended the four-day festival yesterday, with the site's betting rings and Guinness Village packed. Jockey Rachael Blackmore stole the show after winning the Supreme Novice Hurdle on Slade Steel.

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Some tickets cost between £67 and £85, with punters fuming about how much they'd paid to get stuck in traffic for so long. Overnight 6mm fell and the same is forecast to be on the way. Much more than expected by organisers in the build up.

Course clerk Jon Pullin said organisers would be inspecting the course at 8am before making a decision on whether the race can go ahead. He told talkSPORT: "We were forecast some rain and the initial forecast, two or three days ago, was suggesting only a light shower and maybe a millimetre.

"That updated yesterday morning to slightly more rain and maybe 2-4mm. But the forecast I received late last night was very much saying we would receive significant rain. Unfortunately, that has materialised and we are at 9mm as we speak and there is another forecast of potentially 3-5mm in the morning.

"We have hopefully got a drier end to the day today and through tonight and dry tomorrow so we will give it every chance and if we are not able to stage it tomorrow, we are working with the BHA at the moment and looking at the possibility of restaging it on Friday."

Ryan Merrifield