16:31 Well that is it from a somewhat eventful opening days racing in 2010.

With Fakenham and Exeter lost to frost the meeting here was very much in the balance.

The decision to race, announced at 11:30, was a surprise – even to the most seasoned observers.

It was no surprise when a second inspection was announced after the first race.

The bigger surprise came when the go-ahead was given to continue racing.

Luckily for Cheltenham the decision was vindicated, however it could so easily have gone wrong and questions must be asked.

I have long advocated the decision to race in such circumstances should be taken away from courses, jockeys and trainers all of whom have vested interests and placed in the hands of an independent inspectorate. By all means listen to the views of riders and trainers but make the decision making process more objective.

Imagine the PR disaster it would have been had the meeting been Cancelled after the first race. Conversely what would have happened had a horse been seriously injured, or worse, due to conditions.

We did lose a horse this afternoon, the well loved Hold Em. Whilst his loss is devastating it probably cannot be attributed to the conditions.

Racing has been very lucky today – let us hope it does not become complacent and pat itself on the back for the “great” decision making that took place today.

16:21 Well there was enough light to run the bumper and it was one of those contests where very little happened until the closing stages.

An interesting betting heat with Tetlami opening at 11/4 and drifting out to 4/1. The support was for My Brother Sylvest who was backed in from 33/1 to 12/1.

The springer My Brother Sylvest and Open Day set the pace, with Marleno, Robin de Creuse, Alpine Breeze and Tetlami tracking.

There was little change in the order as they progressed.

As they came down the hill Tetlami made progress to challenge the long time leaders. Very soon Open Day was in reverse and out of contention but My Brother Sylvest battled on.

Up front Tetlami was pulling clear of the field and never looked to be in any danger coming up the hill, the facile challenge eventually came from the running on duo of Romulus D’Artaix and Marleno who had a ding-dong battle for second spot with the former getting the call by a neck.

The big gamble only managed to finish fourth to the delight of layers and the chagrin of backers.     

16:01 Finally the bumper over 1¾ miles with 15 remaining in the contest – our largest field of the afternoon.

15:50 Sky Bet more impressed with Sentry Duty's win making him 14/1 for the world hurdle.

Some sad news from earlier on in the big race it seems I was premature in saying all the horses and riders were OK. Sadly Hold Em had to be put down after being bought down.

15:57 Two old adages proved correct in the Freedom Hurdle.

No 1 you don’t need a big field for an exciting race

No 2 in a three horse race back the outsider of three

This three runner affair turned into a tactical race as favourite Mr Thriller and Cheltenham specialist Katchit took each other on for the lead.

While they were duelling Barry Geraghty was happy to track the front pair on Sentry Duty.

First to send our danger signals was Mr Thriller who received a couple of reminders from McCoy.

By the time they reached the bottom of the hill Choc Thornton had eased Katchit into a clear lead, despite making a slight mistake at the second last.

Sentry Duty made a bigger mistake but lost no momentum and was in second by the time they came into the straight.

Approaching the last Mr Thriller was beaten and Sentry Duty jumped into the lead past Katchit and held on up the hill to claim a 2¾ length victory.

Paddy Power have added Sentry Duty to the World Hurdle betting at 20/1           

15:35 Finally a race with no non-runners – then again there were only three declared in the first place.

15:30 In a decimated contest the three mile hurdle was not a race to keep in the archive.

Made In Japan’s antics going to the start were not that impressive although he did consent to race – having said that he need not have bothered the way he ran for most of the contest.

Pancake who can be a right so and so set the early pace leading to the top of the hill on the final circuit before once again running flat and tailing off to last.

This allowed the favourite Lysander to take up the running, however Wayne Hutchinson (who thought racing should have been called off) on Wolf Moon was tracking his every move.

The jolly made a mistake two out allowing Wolf Moon to hit the front and approaching the last he had a comfortable lead.

However as they came up the long run-in the field compressed and Balthazar King, who had been in second before tiring coming down the hill, found his second wind to mount a challenge. Even Made In Japan made progress past beaten horses, even passing the tired Lysander.

15:01 Eight non-runners in the next, leaving seven to face the starter

14:59 It has taken four races but AP McCoy has his first winner of 2010 as Can’t Buy Time powers home in the feature race of the afternoon the Victorchandler.com Handicap Chase.

Hitting the front approaching the last he had a good lead on the run-in, which is just as well as Private Be was powering up the hill under Tom O’Brien.

Old timer Mr McGoldrick was rolling back the years as the 13 year old led down the back straight and coming down the hill and he was still in contention as the field closed up two out.

He did bravely hold on to come home third.

The favourite Chapoturgeon was another in the shake-up two out but faded in the closing stages.

14:35 This is serious – Festival size queues at all the food outlets – if I queue for chocolate I will miss the next race.

14:30 I need a chocolate fix - back soon

14:29 I think I am up to date with the non-runners, details on the left

14:24 No surprises Seven Is My Number is unchanged with the bookies for the RSA

14:22 Not much of a contest Timmy Murphy set off in front, at a very slow pace, on Seven Is My Number to lead all the way and beat Pigeon Island by eighteen lengths.

14:00 Well the race eventually took place 35 minutes late and what a thriller it was for patient racegoers.

Turpin Green and Leac An Scail set the pace and led for most of the contest.

The complexion of the race changed completely as they turned for home as Double Dizzy, who had been settled fourth for most of the contest swept through to take up the running.

Coming to the last he looked the winner with Gentle Ranger, who seemed to have found a second wind, fighting back.

Double Dizzy looked home and hosed pulling away from the final fence but Andrew Tinkler asked third placed Sherwoods Folly for a final effort and he flew up the run in surging past the front pair to record a five length victory.

Double Dizzy, in comparison, crawled up the hill to be denied second spot by Gentle Ranger.

13:38 Race 2 will go off ar 1:40

13:37 Punchestowns in a non-runner

13:27 Inspection complete - racing continues - what a farce?

12:47 Four out of the second so far

12:43 Well the jury is still out after the opener and it will be interesting to see how many more non-runners we have after the opener.

We had six pull out of this one.

The betting was the guide as the favourite Radium, from the in-form Henderson / Geraghty combo too the contest by five lengths. Settled towards the rear Geraghty made progress as they came down the hill to eventually pass long time leaders Empty Sky and King Ozzy.

Another making progress down the hill was Tony Mccoy on board Four Strong Winds.

As they turned for home it was a duel between these two.

McCoy looked to have every chance approaching the last but as they broached the run-in it was clear Radium had more to offer and he came home five clear.

McCoy had to begin 2010 in the same way he ended 2009, with a second place finish.

12:17 Six out of the opener

12:07 Non-runners coming through thick and fast - five out of the opener

11:57 Still cannot believe racing is going ahead but there you go - one non-runner so far.

11:31 Racing goes ahead

11:01 Have just arrived at the course and have to say I will be very surprised if racing goes ahead. It is still -2

08:34 The track is currently raceable, however there is a precautionary inspection at 10:00 as temperature is currently -5.5 and there are concerns about the track freezing when the covers are removed

Clerk of the course, Simon Claisse, said: "The temperature has dropped to -5.5c which is significantly lower than forecast, and will continue to drop here till around 8.30am, so we just want to make sure once we start removingthe covers that the track doesn't freeze.

"We will start stripping back the covers at 9.30am, it's forecast to be a sunny day and get up to +1c so all being well we should be fine."

The official going is Soft, Heavy in places

Our selections are:-

22:32 Thursday

Advance news:-

Going

Soft, Heavy in places (GoingStick: 5.8 on Wednesday at 15:00)

Dry day today, temperatures expected to dip to -4C tonight with a daytime maximum of 1C on Friday. Frost covers have been deployed over the entire racing surface today.

Return to race archive:

Non-Runners

The time in brackets is the time the horse was officially declared a non-runner.

SC - Self Certificate
VC - Vet's Certificate

Non-runners

12:30
6 Tiermore
11 Hellfire Club
12 Coeur de Fou
14 Rileyev
15 American Cricket
16 Lord Singer

13:05
1 Nenuphar Collongers
4 Hennessy
11 King Harald
12 Never So Blue

13:40
1 Knocara Beau
2 Punchestowns
4 Bensalem

14:10
2 Something Wells
8 Exmoor Ranger
9 Regal Heights
12 Il Duce
15 Magic Sky

14:45
1 Time For Rupert
2 Trenchant
3 Souffleur (going - 11:36)
4 Ainama
5 Over The Creek
6 Buena Vista
9 Pagan Starprincess
14 My Friend Sandy

15:50
7 Jupiter Warning

Results

12:30 Handicap Hurdle 2m 1f

1st 1 Radium 7/4 fav
2nd 7 Four Strong Winds 9/2
3rd 13 Alesandro Mantegna 28/1
10 Ran Nr's 6, 11, 12, 14, 15 & 16
Distances 5 & 9
Fav
Tote
Win £2.80
Places £1.40 £1.60 £6.50
Exacta £9.20
CSF £9.77
Tricast £156.38
Time 4' 12.7"

13:05 Handicap Chase 3m 2f 110yds

1st 14 Sherwoods Folly 11/2
2nd 9 Gentle Ranger 7/2
10 Ran Nr1, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11 & 12
Distances 5
Fav 5 Jass 3/1 (6th)
Tote
Win £8.40
Places £4.80 £2.20
Exacta £40.80
CSF £25.34
Tricast £186.38
Time 7' 06.4"

13:40 Novices' Chase 2m 5f

1st 3 Seven Is My Number 4/9 fav
Beat
2nd 5 Pigeon Island 15/8
2 Ran Nr's 1,2 & 4
Distances 18
Fav winner
Tote
Win £1.40
Time 5' 57.3"

14:10 Handicap Chase 2m 5f

1st 10 Can't Buy Time 8/1
2nd 16 Private Be 11/2
3rd 7 Mister McGoldrick 33/1
12 Ran Nr's2, 8, 9, 12 & 15
Distances 2¼ & 2½
Fav 1 Chapoturgeon 3/1 (upl)
Tote
Win £8.30
Places £2.00 £2.50 £7.90
Exacta £66.00
CSF £50.81
Tricast £1,383.16
Time 5' 28.3"

14:45 Handicap Hurdle 3m

1st 12 Wolf Moon 10/3
2nd 8 Balthazar King 7/2
7 Ran Nr's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 & 14
Distances 1¼
Fav 10 Lysander 3/1 (4th)
Tote
Win £3.90
Places £1.80 £2.70
Exacta £12.30
CSF £15.48
Tricast £46.70
Time 6' 11.4"

15:20 Freedom Hurdle 2m 4f 110yds

1st 2 Sentry Duty 9/2
2nd 3 Katchit 11/4
3 Ran
Distance 2¾
Fav 1 Mr Thriller 4/7 (3rd)
Tote
Win £5.20
Exacta £14.10
CSF £13.67
Time 5' 10.9"

15:50 Open NH Flat 2m

1st 3 Tetlami 4/1 fav
2nd 14 Romulus D'Artaix 6/1
3rd 9 Marleno 40/1
15 Ran Nr 7
Distances 4 & neck
Fav winner
Tote
Win £5.50
Places £2.50 £2.50 £10.10
Exacta £30.40
CSF £25.78
Time 3' 41.2"