Cheltenham's track is making a slow recovery ahead of its inspection at 3pm to see if Saturday's BetVictor Gold Cup race day will go ahead after Friday's intended meeting was abandoned due to the course being waterlogged in places.
The big inspection could save the weekend for racing fans with the disappointment across social media on Thursday after it was announced Friday's card would be off was overwhelming.
Over 40mm of rain has fell at Prestbury Park across Wednesday and Thursday making the track unfit for racing with parts of the track under as much as three feet of water.
Clerk of the course Simon Claisse has given another update on the situation at Cheltenham stating that much of the standing water had drained away but still wants to see improvement in areas where some false ground had emerged.
(Credit Racing Post) He said: "The flooding has receded, although we still have some surface water on some parts of the course. The course is very saturated and there is some false ground coming down the old hill, which stretches across the chase and hurdles course about a third of the way down and at the bottom.
"We expect that to improve through the day but that would be our main area of concern at this point. There are other areas which we would be able to get around without a problem."
Claisse on Thursday was fairly optimistic pf racing being back on Saturday but it is still a waiting game to see if the forecast aligns with what the met office predicts from now until the start of the first race.
He added: "The forecasts are mostly aligned for tonight, which gives you confidence, and we should be able to cope with what’s forecast, which is around 5-8mm, overnight if the course is where we think it should be this afternoon."
The going was described as soft, heavy in places on Friday morning by Claisse.