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Cheltenham is braced for the impact of Storm Claudia, with Gloucestershire hit with an amber weather warning ahead of the three-day November meeting.

Prestbury Park could be set for more than 30mm of rain from Thursday evening through Friday, which could dampen both racegoers and spirits alike on an opening day to the course’s biggest meeting outside of the Festival.

Clerk of the course Jon Pullin is predicting the impact of the overnight rainfall could see the meeting begin on soft ground from its current good to soft, good in places description.

“I think given the forecast, and if that’s anything near correct and we get the significant volume we could get pre-racing, I would be fairly certain we will be starting on soft ground,” said Pullin.

“I’m out on the track in glorious sunshine and it’s a beautiful afternoon and the track is in great shape.

“We would be good to soft, good in places, but we are bracing ourselves for the storm that is going to move in from late tonight and through the early hours and all through tomorrow and tomorrow night as well.

“Gloucestershire now has an amber weather warning for rain, so we are anticipating significant rain both before racing and during racing tomorrow.”

The knock-on effect of Friday’s deluge could signal testing conditions for Saturday’s Paddy Power Gold Cup and Sunday’s Unibet Greatwood Hurdle cards, with Pullin set to take a continual view throughout Friday afternoon in anticipation of further deterioration to the ground.

He went on: “The rain blows through sort of after Friday night and we should be dry from the early hours of Saturday and then dry for pretty much the rest of the weekend but we are just waiting to see what we do get tomorrow.

“We would just have to see throughout the day where we go from there, but I see us starting on soft.

“At the moment we are perfectly raceable and we foresee no issues looking ahead at this stage but we’ll just have to monitor conditions on an almost hour-by-hour basis.

“It is an amber weather warning for rain, there are significant volumes forecast, so it’ll just be a case of watching and seeing how we go.”

Jonbon  will follow a familiar path to the Tingle Creek by lining up at Cheltenham on Friday, where he aims to become the first horse to win the Shloer Chase three times.

Nicky Henderson’s stalwart two-mile chaser has successfully used this race as a stepping stone to Sandown for the past two seasons, and although there are some younger rivals like Dan Skelton’s L’Eau du Sud and potentially soft conditions to contend with, the Seven Barrows handler is keen to get Jonbon’s campaign up and running at Prestbury Park.

Henderson said: “This is the start as it has been the last two years and it’s his road to the Tingle Creek.

“There’s a few friends there and some young ones as well, so it’s not going to be easy and he’s such a good mover you would worry about him in very, very soft ground, but he’s won plenty on soft ground before.

“We’ve only been starting in the last few weeks with the ground being so dry and this is the beginning of it. But they have all been running well so far this week, so hopefully they are in a good place.”

While the impending impact of Storm Claudia may give Henderson a few concerns, it is likely to delight Evan Williams who will be celebrating every drop of rain that falls ahead of Libberty Hunter’s outing in the Grade Two event.

A dual Cheltenham winner, he also finished runner-up in the Grand Annual at the Festival in 2024 before falling in the Champion Chase earlier this year when still in with a chance and is back in the Cotswolds to take on elite competition once again.

Williams said: “Fingers crossed they get some rain, we’re getting plenty down our way and hopefully it gets up to Cheltenham as it would be appreciated.

“As is always the case with these races, it’s always very competitive and you can’t take anything for granted. We’re just going to hope and pray for a drop of rain, hope for the best and we can’t do much more than that.”

Libberty Hunter may be a newer opponent for Jonbon to consider, but a regular foe is Alan King’s Edwardstone who was second in 2023 before finishing a place further back 12 months ago.

“He’s run well in this race the last two years and it’s a good starting point,” said King.

“He seems to be in very good shape, he’s done plenty of work and his enthusiasm is as good as it’s ever been.

“I’d have preferred it if they weren’t getting all this rain, but having moaned we haven’t got any we can’t start complaining there’s too much now, can we? It’s just a shame it seems to be one extreme to the other, but hopefully it’ll be sloppy enough and they’ll get through it.”

Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies’ Matata runs in this in preference to the Paddy Power Gold Cup while Haddex Des Obeaux returns from a 706-day absence on debut for Donald McCain.

Wade Out bids to continue his progression over fences in the Sun’s “Save Our Bets” Novices’ Chase.

Trainer Olly Murphy has never made any secret of the regard in which he holds this six-year-old, who last season carried the red and white colours and part-owner Sir Alex Ferguson to victories at Uttoxeter, Lingfield and Wetherby over hurdles.

He got the better of a thrilling duel with the high-class Wendigo when making a successful start to his chasing career at Worcester last month and now steps up in trip and class for Friday’s three-mile-one-furlong Listed event.

“I’m looking forward to tackling that trip with him,” said Murphy. “Obviously we’re going up half a mile in trip and I’d say we’re going to be running on very soft ground, but he’s in good form and relaxes well and I think he’ll stay no bother.

“We’re really looking forward to running him.”

Wade Out’s four rivals include the Anthony Honeyball-trained Leave Of Absence, who won over the course and distance last month.

Honeyball said: “He seems in good order since winning there last time and we’re very positive about his chances.

“I think he feels like a horse that will cope with whatever ground he needs to cope with. We don’t know this, but hopefully we’re going to find out that slow ground brings out his stamina – we’re hoping wet ground will be a positive rather than a problem.”

Isaac Des Obeaux represents Paul Nicholls and the field is completed by Neil Mulholland’s Double Powerful and James Owen’s One Big Bang, who is thrown in at the deep end on his chasing debut having competed at a good level over the smaller obstacles last term.

“He did very well for us over hurdles. It’s a tough ask for his debut over fences, but he’s got a bit of point-to-point experience and we always felt he’d be a better chaser than a hurdler,” said Owen.

“He’s run well at Cheltenham before and plenty of rain would suit him.”

There are plenty of decent names on show in the preceding Unibet Middle Distance Veterans’ Chase, which was a late addition to this meeting after the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase was cancelled due to unraceable ground.

Honeyball is set to turn Lord Baddesley out quickly following his emphatic victory at Newbury last week. The trainer added: “He should have a decent chance. It was a good while since he’d got his head in front, so it was lovely to see him win like that and he seems fine since.

“I suppose the unknown will be the ground because he hasn’t got a lot of form on soft. It’s possibly not ideal, but it’s the first chase on the first day so hopefully the ground will be reasonable at that point.”

The market principals also include Richard Hobson’s Fugitif and the Murphy-trained Gunsight Ridge, who has been off the track since finishing fourth in the Red Rum Handicap Chase at Aintree in the spring.

Murphy added: “He’s in very good form and he’ll handle the ground, I just hope he stays the trip on that type of ground.

“He’s done plenty, he’s had a racecourse gallop and he hasn’t got loads of miles on the clock for a veteran, so hopefully he’ll run very well.”

There would surely be no more popular winner of the £40,000 contest than Nicky Henderson’s grand old stager Mister Coffey, who bids to finally break his duck over fences at the 17th attempt.

“Along with Jonbon, they’ve been two good old soldiers and been around as long as Noah,” said the Seven Barrows handler.

“No one needs reminding that poor old Mister Coffey is still a maiden over fences, but it’s very hard to find the spot for him. You could run him in a beginners chase, but there are all the young boys in those.

“But he’s great and I think he’s in terrific form and there’s a method to this because it’s to get him ready for the cross-country, that’s his game now.”