Rescue plan launched for Cheltenham Festival Trials day However, a further one to two centimetres of snow is forecast to fall on Tuesday night and, in the event that the course is unraceable, Cheltenham has reached agreement with the British Horseracing Authority that, weather permitting, Festival Trials Day could instead be staged 24 hours later on Sunday, Jan 27. The Minehead trainer has been keeping a low-profile and only started putting a shoe on recently after weeks of nursing a broken ankle, but he is now ready to make his racecourse comeback. Although absent from racedays, Hobbs has been busily plotting Festival campaigns for his team. Captain Chris, who has not perhaps received the credit he deserved after being just touched off by Long Run in an epic running of the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day, will use the Betfair Ascot Chase [Feb 16] as his stepping stone to the Cheltenham Gold Cup. "The Gold Cup is his target at the Festival," said Hobbs. We didn't even enter him for the Ryanair Chase because we wanted to make up our minds early. There is no going back now. While Captain Chris is a perfectly feasible contender for the premier chasing prize, the £150,000 prize money pot on offer at Ascot is extremely attractive in its own right. The possibility that Cheltenham will postpone their card for 24 hours could have an unexpected impact on Newbury's meeting on Feb 9, according to Hobbs. If there is a postponement until Sunday, there may be a chance that Sprinter Sacre would not go to Newbury and would run at Cheltenham instead, which would be good for Wishfull Thinking's chance in the Game Spirit. He might have a chance of winning it under those circumstances," he said. At the moment Hobbs plans to run Chance Du Roy in the Murphy Group Chase at Cheltenham, Sadler's Risk in the Steel Plate and Sections Handicap Hurdle and Wishful Thinking in the Victor Chandler Chase, although the latter engagement is subject to change now in view of the Game Spirit Chase option at Newbury.