AN INVESTIGATION into the unusually high number of fatalities at Cheltenham's National Hunt Festival is already underway, with the results expected at the end of next month. A total of 10 horses lost their lives during racing, including three from the Martin Pipe stable and John Edwards' Gold Cup hope Monsieur Le Cure.

Veterinary reports will be returned to the Jockey Club as a matter of routine and Cheltenham's managing director Edward Gillespie is keen to learn the lessons of the past week in order to avoid future casualties.

"We are as concerned as everyone else and if is very unfortunate, he said yesterday. "We will be looking at the veterinary reports and post mortems, as we always do. Because there have been 10 deaths it sounds like an inquiry but there is nothing abnormal in it. "In about six weeks we will be putting together a total review of the meeting."

The Cheltenham executive came in for criticism earlier in the week - most notably from trainer David Nicholson - over the state of the track. And Gillespie conceded that ground conditions had fallen short of expectations.

"It is extremely disappointing but we didn't get the covering of grass we expected," he added. "In terms of nature, the meeting came about a fortnight or three weeks too soon.

As regards a possible explanation for the high death rate, Gillespie proffered the breakneck gallop at which most races at the National Hunt Festival are run.

"A lot of the horses are Flat racers who have a lot of speed," he said. "Before, jumping horses couldn't go at the speeds they do now, even if they wanted to."

The safety limit for races at Cheltenham - currently between 24 and 35 - will also come under the microscope.

Bernard Donegan, spokesman for the RSPCA, said: "When you get that many horses bundling up at a hurdle, the poor devils can't see where they are going. Our views on it are no secret it's a recipe for disaster."