2m4f – championship distance?

[davidbrady]

Friggo – there is the Betfair Cahse and the King George for horses who don’t get 3m on a stiff track like Cheltenham. Those horses don’t "need" a Grade 1 at Cheltenham.

[Friggo]

No David, of course they don’t need one, and I have never said that they did. However with 25 or so races now at the festival, should a Grade 1 in between the extreme distances of the blue riband chases not feature amongst them? The Ryanair is over a C&D which lends itself to all sorts of profiles of horse coming together- whether they are pure 2 and a half-milers, 3-milers who lack the extra stamina needed for the GC, or even the odd 2-miler who finds the QM a bit too frantic. There is no other G1 that fits that bill IMO, the closest perhaps being the King George.
For those reasons I believe it’s a very interesting and worthwile race, and one that should be trying to entice the very best by offering level-weights.

(And for the record, I say all this with no bias at all as to when in the season the race is run).

[AndyRAC]

This is going to sound stupid, but Cheltenham being the be all and end all of the jumps season is both a strength, but also a weakness. First of all, everybody knows were all the top horses are going – The Festival, but, the races earlier on in the season, i;e prep races, trials, good races in their own right, are used by trainers as a ‘tune up’ ready for the ‘Big one’ in March. Is that fair for the Racecourses that put these races on.
Now I much prefer Jumps to Flat, but I don’t think this happens as often on the Flat, as there are top races throughout the season.
Anyway it’s not that long ago the Bishops Cleeve Hurdle was 2m4f and Grade1, remember Crystal Spirit, Muse winning it. This was the mis season Championship for 2m4f horses- with the end of season Championship being the Aintree Hurdle. As for the Chasers, there was the Newton Chase at Haydock remember Sabin Du Loir winning it, with the end of season Championship being the Melling Chase.

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