Cheltenham race course officials are confident their New Year's Day meeting will go ahead on Thursday despite the icy conditions.

They are taking the usual precautions by covering the course and have also been helped by overcast conditions.

"Providing the weather forecast is correct, we should be fine," said Simon Claisse, Cheltenham's clerk of the course and director of racing.

"It is forecast to get down to minus three or four degrees for the next three nights, but the entire course has been covered.

"The crucial factor is cloud cover. Fortunately, we have had cloud cover for the past two nights which has helped us."