Gerri Colombe will have to wait an extra week to start out on the Cheltenham Gold Cup trail after Down Royal’s two-day meeting on Friday and Saturday was postponed.

Gordon Elliott’s talented stayer is the second-favourite for Gold Cup glory following a fine novice chase campaign last term and was due to step into open company in the feature Ladbrokes Champion Chase, where rivals could have included established stars Conflated, Envoi Allen and Minella Indo.

However, with Down Royal currently unraceable, the decision has been made to shift the whole meeting back a week in the calendar with fresh entries for the meeting set to close on Monday and Tuesday ahead of racing on November 10 and 11.

Down Royal clerk Tracey O’Meara said: “We have just taken another look at the track and consulted with the River Agencies within the locality. The situation here is that we’ve been informed the River Lagan will continue to rise over the next 48 hours which will not enable the standing water on the course to subside.

“We were hoping for a more positive outcome when we started work on the track this morning to remove the water, but the situation with the River Lagan leaves us with no option but to make the difficult decision to cancel both Friday and Saturday as the track will simply not be ready in time.

“We were giving the meeting every chance but have made the decision at the earliest possible opportunity with the industry and public in mind.

“We are pleased to say that everyone is in a position to reschedule the fixtures for Friday 10 and Saturday 11 of November and the forecast into next week looks to be more favourable. Fresh entries will close on Monday for Friday and Tuesday for Saturday.”