Spring was in the air at Cheltenham on Monday and the 2022 Festival is due to get underway on ground officially described as good, good to soft in places.

With no rain forecast until Wednesday morning, clerk of the course Jon Pullin, in charge of his first Festival since taking over the reins from Simon Claisse, gave a going stick reading of 6.4 on both the chase and hurdles track on the Old course, which is in use for first two days.

Pullin confirmed that he would not be watering the Old course.

“We are good to soft, soft in places on the Old course, which we race on for the first two days, and it’s currently soft, good to soft in places on the New course, which is in use for the last two days,” said Pullin.

“We are dry today, with temperatures of around 13 or 14C, and it’s a similar forecast for the opening day tomorrow, but then on Wednesday there is some rain around, with the lower end of forecasts around three millimetres, but some forecasts indicating up to 8 or 9mm. It will be spread throughout the day, but if it becomes heavier it will be during the afternoon.

“The Old course hasn’t been watered at all, and I can say now that it won’t be.

“We irrigated the New course on Friday with 12mm, based on the forecast we were given and the warm temperatures that were expected. We’ll see where we are with forecasts for Wednesday and assess how much rain we actually get before making any decision on further watering of the New course.”