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Cheltenham have announced some changes to the 2009 Festival following feedback from patrons.
The first race each day will now go off at 1:30, half an hour earlier, allowing for an earlier finish on two of the days.
There is to be a new race for conditional jockeys to be run on the Friday, giving six race cards on Tuesday and Thursday and seven race cards on Wednesday and Friday.
The feature race each day will now be the fourth race on the card, going off at 3:20, five minutes later than the current 3:15.
The earlier start time means Channel Four will now broadcast five live races each day.
though not sure why a conditional race is required.
Apparently to give an opportunity to see potential star jockeys of the future.
also it will be an extended 2 1/2 mile hurdle and they are hoping to attract horses that missed out on the Coral Cup.
To qoute Simon Claisse, said: "We have long held the view that a race for the potential champion jockeys of the future would be a great addition to The Festival and a handicap for Conditional Jockeys was one of the races that was under close consideration when we first extended the meeting to four days.
"This will also be an opportunity for some of the large number of horses which are eliminated from the Coral Cup each year to have a run at The Festival."
Is that going to be limited to first-season conditionals, Paul, or maybe those yet to win a certain number of races, perhaps (say, no more than 20)?
I very much like the idea in principle, but it would seem to defeat the point of the object a little if won by someone, for example, barely 18 months into his or her career who’s already two or three wins away from riding out the 3lb claim entirely.
Also, will there be any ruling on the most inexperienced stable conditionals being allowed to claim the full 10lb if riding for their own yards or not? It strikes me that in a tight Festival handicap, the difference between 10lb and 7lb off the horse’s back could mean the difference between winning and losing.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Also, will there be any ruling on the most inexperienced stable conditionals being allowed to claim the full 10lb if riding for their own yards or not? It strikes me that in a tight Festival handicap, the difference between 10lb and 7lb off the horse’s back could mean the difference between winning and losing.
Surely not though. The point of the claim is to nullify against the lack of experience, therefore theoretically, a 10lb claimer would be 3lb less competent than a 7lb claimer.
Haven’t seen the exact conditions for the race Jeremy – I will see if I can find out – will have to be tomorrow as I am just setting off for Nottingham.
As i’m not a RUK subscriber more televised races is a good thing for me and I think finishing earlier is a better idea also.
Non plussed about the conditionals race as I tend to avoid betting on those type of races.
Surely not though. The point of the claim is to nullify against the lack of experience, therefore theoretically, a 10lb claimer would be 3lb less competent than a 7lb claimer.
For better or for worse, I never apply such a linear way of thinking to claiming riders – it’s not necessarily the most helpful approach for as long as we continue to get instances of some very promising riders briefly able to claim 10lb (I made a few bob backing the likes of Gareth Horner, Byron Moorcroft, Ryan Mania and Campbell Gillies when they were claiming the full ten) when competing alongside longstanding and only moderately promising seven claimers.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
I certainly adopt a similar approach to you graysons from a punting angle. For example, Frederick Tylicki taking off 7lb is worth far more than Simon Pearce claiming the same allowance. But surely, even in a tight Festival handicap, if a trainer has discovered and nutured a promising rider, he should be able to use his full allowance if he could claim the same allowance in less prestigious races.
Even though I do not bet in such races, I do think a Conditional Jockeys race is a good idea. They deserve their own race at the "Championships". However, I do wonder whether amateurs have too many races. Couldn’t conditionals take over one of them instead?
Hope the quality is maintained too, I do not agree with downgrading of the Cheltenham Festival. It is where racing has been top quality and competitive. In other places you usually see one or the other not both.
Mark
Value Is EverythingIf this as it appears is going to happen then will Aintree,Ayr and Punchestown follow the same route with a Conditionals Race.
The good thing is that this now means that the Cross Country race will now be on telly.
Wish they’d stop adding races, they’re ruining the festival with the constant decrease in quality to purely satisfy turnover
Zip
The quality of racing will never decrease Zippy.
When Cheltenham was just a three-day (20 race) festival, many horses were not getting a run because the maximum field size had been reached.
Switching to a four-day festival gives horses that would previously miss out an alternative option, and a race to run in. This extra race will give the many horses that don’t get into the Coral Cup a chance to run at the festival. I imagine it will be a full field handicap hurdle, 8/1 the field etc
I know where you are coming from and understand your concerns, but take a look at the recent Galway festival. It was over six days/nights, had something like 40-45 races, and contained a few weakish races – but the enjoyment wasn’t decreased in the slightest, and the races that weren’t perhaps strong on paper were at least competitive.
Of course, we don’t want to see Cheltenham introduce a maiden hurdle, an extra bumper race or a veteran hunter chase (despite Jeremy lobbying for a full day of them
), but I’m not too worried about an extra handicap hurdle or a few more handicap chases or something. There are plenty of quality horses crying out for a run around festival time to ensure such races would be competitive.Mike
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