At the time, when you don’t know what caused the issue in the first place or how long said hole had been sitting there waiting to be discovered and you have a quick/rushed check in and around the area of the hole (in rapidly fading light because you are cognisant that sunset is fast approaching), then that is not doing your full due dilligence.
They got away with it and the rather glib comment about mountain out of a molehill is easy to say afterward when nothing has happened – this wasn’t simply a false patch of oversaturated ground that could be bypassed, it was a hole deep enough that a man was able to put his arm (up to his shoulder) into. They did not have enough pertinent information on what caused the issue to go ahead with racing and this following comment to me proves that it was ill advised to carry on:
Cheltenham’s clerk of the course Jon Pullin said further investigations would take place to determine the cause of the hole, which the stewards’ report cited as a potential “drainage issue”. A spokesperson for Cheltenham racecourse said further updates will be provided when more is known about the cause of the false ground.