Day one of meeting abandoned due to rain
Cheltenham has lost only the second day’s racing to the wet in 20 years after today’s Countryside Day, the start of the three-day November meeting, was abandoned before a planned inspection yesterday afternoon because of waterlogging.
Two of the day’s principal races, the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle and the Glenfarclas Cross Country, have been switched to tomorrow and Sunday respectively but, while clerk of the course Simon Claisse is optimistic in light of the forecast, tomorrow’s meeting will have to pass an inspection at 3pm today.
“I can only remember losing one day because of the wet and, obviously, there have been odd days of frost and wind, but I haven’t seen water on the course like this since the great floods of 2007, and that was during the summer when we weren’t racing,” Claisse said.
“We’ve had 38mm since last night, which I’m told is 41,000 gallons per furlong. It is forecast to peter out at dusk. I can only thank our sponsors, the British Horseracing Authority, and ITV for getting together so quickly to rearrange the Ballymore and Glenfarclas races.”
In Ireland, where Douvan made a comfortable winning return in the Clonmel Oil Chase after being off the course for 569 days, Horse Racing Ireland announced that all registrations of horses which run under the Supreme Horse Racing Club would be voided.
It follows the failure of the club’s trustees to answer the authority’s requests for information about its membership and, essentially, who has shares in which horses.
Among the Supreme horses barred from running at the moment are the Willie Mullins-trained trio Kemboy, the highest-rated chaser in Ireland, Cadmium, the Topham winner, and Aramon, one of last year’s leading novice hurdlers.
However, there is a pathway back, with Jason Morris, HRI’S director of racing, saying the authority was working with a solicitor acting on behalf of some members and that it was open to reregistration of the horses “under accepted ownership structures”.
It seems unlikely, however, that will be an overnight fix.
Mimi and Patience Rhodes will not just be competing for the sizeable honour of winning the Justin Rose Telegraph Junior Golf Championship title here today, but also for the bragging rights in their sibling rivalry.
They will both be playing for their grandmother, Susan, whose dark days in her battle with cancer have been afforded so many rays of light by her pride and joy in seeing them become the first sisters to tee it up against each other in the 34-year history of the event. The Somerset duo now have the chance to take Susan’s pleasure to another level.
“We want to do this for her,” Mimi said. “She has terminal cancer and has really been going through it. But when we both made it here for these finals she was so happy. She loves golf and is a big reason why we play this sport. Imagine if we could finish first and second? My gran would be in tears for sure.”
That delicious possibility is eminently feasible in what promises to be an intriguing final round. After 36 holes, Mimi is sharing the lead on eight over alongside Aberdeenshire’s Carmen Griffiths, but on a crammed leaderboard there are five others within three of the lead.
South Glamorgan’s Darcey Harry is on nine over following a 73, the same mark as Royal Mid-surrey’s Rafiah Banday after a 78. Then come Patience and Jess Baker, joined by Evanna Hynd on 11 over.
Boys
There can be no doubt that Patience’s 70 stood out on a day when this wonderful Quinta do Lago North Course bared its teeth. The drizzle came down, the temperature dropped and the gusts were malevolent. Watching on, Justin Rose termed the conditions as “extremely challenging” and was impressed to see the valiant efforts of Patience, 15, two years younger than her sister, as she bettered her opening round by a barely credible 14 shots. She began the second round 13 off the pace but now has only a two-shot deficit.
“True to my name, I do believe that patience is a virtue, and after my first round I told myself just to keep pressing on and not allow myself to get down,” Patience said. “I found something on the range yesterday afternoon and my putting was much better. I had loads of three-putts on Wednesday, but
I got to grips with these greens today. I thought I was out of contention, but it should be fun in the next round, especially with Mimi up there.”
In contrast, the boys’ competition seems rather more straightforward. On seven under, Ben Schmidt is eight ahead of his nearest pursuer, Jacob Kelso, the Kent teenager who shot a 74, with both Edinburgh’s Cameron Adam and Devon’s Craig Passmore a stroke behind. While Schmidt’s opening 68 was impressive, in these testing environs, his 69 verged on the remarkable.
Rose was certainly dazzled. On the par-four 12th, the former world No1 looked on as Schmidt hit a soft fade with a five-iron over the water to set up an unlikely birdie. “Wow,” Rose said. Later, he expanded on his reaction. “I was told Ben was one to watch and he definitely is,” Rose said. “I can see why he is ranked in the top 10 in the amateur rankings. He is very, very good. This is obviously his to lose, but having a big lead brings its own pressures. He doesn’t seem like a character to be ruffled, however.”
For his part, Schmidt, 17, of Rotherham Golf Club, was delighted to have been able to turn it on when Rose was in attendance.
“He’s a pro that I respect immensely and, yes, as I’m positive we all were, I was nervous when I knew he was watching me,” Schmidt said. “On the 12th, I thought, ‘Just don’t mess this up’, and I was relieved when I hit a good one. I know I have a commanding advantage, but I won’t let myself think I’ve already won it. I will go out with the same game plan and same attitude to try to score the best number I can. It would be a huge thrill to win this, but I can’t get ahead of myself.”