The "most impressive feats" at Cheltenham, the "home of jump racing," this winter "may not
take place on the track but next to it, where a team of 200
construction workers will proceed" with a £45M ($73M) project between fixtures
while "sweeping the site clean in time for 16 racedays between now and
April," according to Chris Cook of the London GUARDIAN. Ian Renton, who manages the track for its owners, the Jockey Club,
"acknowledged the scale of the challenge after a tour of the works this
week." Renton: "It feels like roughly half the site at the moment is a
construction site. Once we get down to racing itself, that
will be reduced to 10% or 15% of the site. So we've got to bring 30% of
the site back into play over the next three weeks." Renton "radiates no doubt whatever that, despite the upheaval, his course
will be in a condition to welcome the normal quantity of racegoers for
each fixture through the coming winter." While matters are "still at an early stage and the additional grandstand
is no more than a steel skeleton, Renton has also been impressed by the
reliability" of the construction firm which leads the project. It remains
on time and on budget and three fixtures "were held without disruption
in April, even though demolition work proceeded at a merry pace in the
intervening days" (GUARDIAN, 9/25).
