Frost covers are in place at Cheltenham to protect the course ahead of the famous four-day jumps festival.

The operation on the old course where racing takes place for the first two days of the meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday was completed on Saturday afternoon along with vulnerable areas on the cross country course, used on Tuesday only.

The new course, used for racing on Thursday and Friday, was covered on Sunday.

In total, the area protected by the covers is 65 acres or the equivalent of 45 football pitches and has involved 630 individual covers.

"All the frost covers are now down," clerk of the course Simon Claisse said.

"The forecast remains for some wintry showers over the next couple of days - tonight, tomorrow and maybe a bit on Tuesday morning. There has been no rain since early Saturday morning.

"The ground, though, is unlikely to dry out much under the covers. It is soft everywhere.

"We are experiencing a wind chill of minus three degrees centigrade at the moment, with the temperature being plus two.

"This cold spell is forecast to last through to Thursday."

The old course will be uncovered on Tuesday morning. It will involve up to 60 people and take around 2-1/2 hours to complete.

The frost covers on the new course will remain in place until Thursday morning.