Racing: Gold Cup on Friday in Cheltenham four-day plan

Plans to extend the Cheltenham Festival by another day from 2005 have been approved by the British Horseracing Board's National Hunt Pattern Committee. The proposal, which will mean moving the Gold Cup from its traditional Thursday to Friday, will be considered by the BHB's Race Planning Committee on 25 February.

Simon Claisse, Cheltenham's clerk of the course, said last night: "We are grateful for the committee's positive response. This will enable us to move forward with a short-list of six races, with a view to introducing four of these into the 2005 Festival programme. We are keen to announce the plans for the 2005 Festival before the end of this season.

"The format will be initially four days of six races, starting with the Smurfit Champion Hurdle on the Tuesday, and climaxing with the Gold Cup on the Friday."

There are fears that quality is being sacrificed for commercial reasons, but the Cheltenham Festival now dominates jump racing to such an extent that its appeal is on a par with Royal Ascot. The case for a fourth day seems irresistible, especially when most people have to take the week off to attend the meeting in any case.

Thirteen-year-old See More Business, the 1999 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner and a gallant third last year, tunes up for his fifth crack at jumping's premier race, for which he is a 25-1 chance with Ladbrokes, in the Country Gentlemen's Association Chase at Wincanton on Saturday.

The enquiry into the performance of the Jonjo O'Neill-trained Top Of The Left at Exeter on 27 January will be held at Portman Square in London this morning. Top Of The Left, ridden by Tom Siddall, finished just over 32 lengths behind Vanormix after appearing to be tenderly handled in the home straight. The disciplinary panel will consider whether Siddall and O'Neill were in breach of the rules which deal with schooling in public. O'Neill was found guilty of two similar offences on one day in December.

The reappearance of Moon Ballad, Godolphin's Epsom Derby third and Dubai Champion Stakes runner-up, over nine furlongs on dirt at Nad Al Sheba today, is a sign that the start of the Flat turf season is only five weeks away.

Frankie Dettori rides Moon Ballad and the Godolphin racing manager, Simon Crisford, said: "He handled the sand very well last year and we are using this race as a launching pad for his 2003 campaign. We are hoping he could shape up into a Dubai World Cup horse."