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I see that we now have a countdown to the Cheltenham Festival at the top of the forum board.
Are we as National Hunt followers too obsessed by this wonderful Festival?
Does the rest of the season suffer because every race (just about) is seen as a trial for whatever race at Cheltenham?
Some horses’ whole season is aimed at their target race at Cheltenham.
There are a lot of races throughout the season that should be targets in themselves but, in the media especially, the importance of winning them seems secondary to what effect the result will have on the ante-post market at Cheltenham.
I realise that I am in a minority on this subject but I just wish the focus of the NH season was more evenly spread.
Colin
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Sorry i don’t agree.
I think it is honestly what makes the jump season so enthralling.
A target at the end of a season. A championship festival. The horse olympics. Like athletes, their season is planned around hitting the pinnacle for this event – but at the same time there is some mighty fine racing building up to the event.
All the intrigue surrounding the trials – I honestly think Cheltenham is a much loved event for this reason. Every one in racing knows how hard it is to get a winner at Cheltenham and this makes it a worthier competition.
It also to me explains everything that is wrong with the flat season. By Mid-Summer, July, the Guineas, the derby, Royal Ascot – the supposed hihlights of the year are gone.
This is why every year come mid-August everyone canno wait for the Arc to come around and for the flat to end and the jumps to begin. There seems to be no direction on the flat scene.
Just my view of course.
If the UK version of the Breeders cup was marketed better, Champions Day I guess, to somehow make the best horses want to run on route to the Arc then that would be a help. Maybe this should be brought forward as at the moment it is a little close to the Arc??<br>
Colin,<br>As with any sport there is (and quite rightly so imho) always going to be one event to aim at, with most English football teams it is winning the FA cup.<br>With golf it is winning the Open and the list goes on and on.<br>With NH racing it is no suprise therefore that every owner trainer and jockey will want to be able to at least compete at the Festival meeting let alone win a race there.<br>The only other meeting to come close is the Grand National meeting.
Definitely too obsessed with Cheltenham!
The big date is April 25th, start of the Perth Festival. Bring it on!
Rob
I’m with shotboy on this one, without a pinnacle to aim for how do you judge who the champions are? The order of merit provides an additional championship if you like as its provides a league table of sorts to assess a horses performance over a season. But as in any sport, you want champions, Cheltenham provides that…. Although I do enjoy the aintree festival almost as much these days..
I also agree that the flat season is almost over before is starts.. After the derby you find yourself waiting months for the Arc meeting then its over. Championship races over 6, 8, 10 & 12f on champions day would be a fitting end to the UK season. Not sure whether you’d want that to be all aged or not, probably the former.. I think the milers lack that end of year pinnacle.
Just a note to Aragorn.
Epsom. Royal Ascot. Newmarket July Meeting. York Magnet Cup. Glorious Goodwood. York Ebor. Doncaster. Ayr Western. Ascot Festival. Newmarket Cambridgeshire. Arc.
Pretty good filler and variation, I would say.<br>The Flat is more of a lifestyle thing; a midweek experience – a Cheltenham every fortnight. You can track the progress of your life by these meetings.
As I’ve found to my cost – and maybe it’s the weather – it’s just not the same in the winter. Saturdays are passable, but the racing is truly, truly, dire in the week and maybe this obsession with Cheltenham is an issue.
Why not a series of three day festivals at Haydock, Sandown, possibly Uttoxeter, punctuating the period from November-February? The Plumpton Wakes with a million added?:cool:
Interesting point – Seabird – I think the answer is probably yes. We are becoming too obsessed, but I tend to think this is an increasing trend in society nowdays – news for news sake, opinions for opinions sake etc – and not simply confined to Cheltenham.
While I agree with aaftershock it is what makes the jump season entralling, I do sometimes question what overall effect it has on the rest of the racing calander, for example, this season’s Boylesports.com International – £114,040 to the winner, with the fourth horse recieving £10,680 and only four runners.
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Shot boy? Why thank you my bearded LOTR star…!
I mentioned in my earlier post that come July after Royal Ascot the flat season is just a countdown to the Arc which proceeds the jumps and I look at the list you have provided and see nothing that changes my mind apart from Glorious goodwood which is a great event if maybe not the highest qualty of racing.
The Newmarket meeting which includes the Cambridshire is definitly a great meet but a lot of the best horses miss Champions day to go to the Arc etc. Nobody who has a good horse misses cheltenham. You may hear trainers say we will wait to Aintree but that means two thins: 1/ The horse is not good enough to win or B/ is not fully fit.
To be honest, I know the flat is very popular and wasn’t setting out to slate it. i just think they could take a leaf out of the jump racing calender and possibly try and make the end of season newmarket meeting a real closing Olympics of their own. If they brought it forward two weeks and hence moved it away from the Arc. Then as Aragorn said, have championship races that will entice the best to come and race.
Epsom. Royal Ascot. Newmarket July Meeting. York Magnet Cup. Glorious Goodwood. York Ebor. Doncaster. Ayr Western. Ascot Festival. Newmarket Cambridgeshire. Arc.
I hear there’s a couple of decent races in Ireland and France in between too ;)
Why just not accept the Arc as the true Champions day? 6 Group ones, often providing the middle distance champion, top 2 year old colt and filly, arguably top sprinter, top stayer (again, arguable) and perhaps the best 1m2f Filliy & Mare race.
Why does the pinnacle of the flat season have to be in the UK? It exists, and it’s a much better venue and occasion than if it were to be held in the UK.
Aftershock, couldn’t resist! :biggrin:
I’m not saying there isn’t any quality racing, I just think there are often a lot of unanswered questions at the end of the flat season. Particularly in the mile division.. GW, top miler in Europe?
I just feel the jumps season builds to a crescendo, whereas the flat season is much more up and down and peters out in the UK in October with a bit of whimper. The international nature of flat racing may have something to do with this.
Salselon, your post popped up while typing, I would tend to agree, perhaps the jumps being somewhat siloed in the UK gives it a different feel.. And don;t get me wrong Arc day is one of my favourite days racing of the year…
Oy who is slagging off the flat season?
Whilst I do really enjoy the Cheltenham festival, and I think everybody would accept it is the highlight of the jumps season, I would have to agree that it can be detrimental to the rest of the jumps season. Certain horses are prepared for Cheltenham, and so we don’t really get them competing in ideal conditions beforehand eg Newmill, War Of Attrition. Those two (and there are more) could compete in the major races across Britain and Ireland before the festival, but instead they run in an Irish bog where we don’t see their full potential. For instance, why couldn’t War Of Attrition have run in the King George? why couldn’t Newmill have run in the Game Spirit chase?
I don’t think it is like that on the flat, as horses are keen to take each other. Hurricane Run and Shirocco amlost know each other intimately they have raced against each other so often, while George Washington, Ouija Board, Pride, Alexandrova, Speciosa etc etc hardly avoided races and developed big yellow streaks did they? I think there is an over emphasis on Cheltenham, but I wouldn’t change it too much or you would lose the excitement.
BTW have you lot of heard of a certain American festival at the end of October? Apparently it claims to be a world championship, and it claims to attract the best horse!……… Seriously, if more trainers were prepared to fly their horses to America then that is flat racing’s response to Cheltenham.<br> <br>
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I actually agree that the Breeders Cup could be the answer but depending where it is in the US has a major bearing on how many horses are sent from Europe and while this problem persists it will not develop into a Worldwide championship (in my humble book).
As someone else pointed out – the fact that flat racing is International has a big effect on its ability to have a close of season championship in the UK.
Maybe the idea that Arc day is made into part of a European festival of racing is not a bad shout. Make it a big two day meeting. Again, I think it would help if Champions day was moved away from it.
As far as the best horses not always running against each other – I don’t know why the Irish do not send over their horses more often to win prizes?!? Moscow Flyer used to come over a lot but the hurdlers (Hardy Eustace apart) seem to come once a year and I could not understand why Newmill has not been sent over this year with the awful state of the Irish ground.
Agree completely that the Cheltenham Festival is detrimental to the remainder of the jumps season. Virtually every race during the season (Gr1 or otherwise) is seen as merely a stepping stone to March which makes a mockery of those races to a large extent. Any horse who hasn’t won at Cheltenham is never given the recognition it deserves which again makes no sense at all (I don’t want to turn this thread into another argument about the merits or otherwise or certain horses)
In older days, Cheltenham was the time when the best of Ireland/France came over to run against the best of Britain in a once a year Festival but the fact that Irish/French horses run more often in Britain nowadays, that element has largely been taken out of the Festival.
I would prefer to see more recognition given to all the other Gr1 races during the year, both in Ireland and Britain. Why should we have to wait til March to see War of Attrition vs Kauto Star or Detroit City vs Ireland;)
And if Cheltenham is seen as the Olympics of National Hunt racing, then why are there Nov Hcps run at the Festival.
I agree with FSL
The obsession with cheltenham seems to have got worse and i think 15 years ago WOA and Newmill would have attempted to win reachable targets ratehr tahn plodding round in unsuitable conditions followed by loads of "itll be all right on the day" stuff
Also, one race doesnt make a champion for me. Anything can happen
i love the jumps and Cheltenham but the ebbs and flows of the flat season are preferable in many ways
The Arc Festival as you called it, IS a 2 day meeting. There’s a mere 5 group two’s and another group one on the Saturday.
Those two days are superior in terms of race standard to any 2 days racing anywhere, jumps or flat. Even 2 consecutive days at Cheltenham don’t compare in quality. And to enter the beautiful surroundings of Longchamp? Around €8 …;)
(Edited by Salselon at 2:12 pm on Feb. 22, 2007)
Quote: from aaftershock on 1:46 pm on Feb. 22, 2007[br]Maybe the idea that Arc day is made into part of a European festival of racing is not a bad shout. Make it a big two day meeting.
There are 4 Gr2s, a Gr1, and a Hcp worth £50K to the winner at Longchamp the day before the Arc <br>
Quote: from aaftershock on 1:46 pm on Feb. 22, 2007[br]As far as the best horses not always running against each other – I don’t know why the Irish do not send over their horses more often to win prizes?!?Moscow Flyer used to come over a lot but the hurdlers (Hardy Eustace apart) seem to come once a year and I could not understand why Newmill has not been sent over this year with the awful state of the Irish ground.<br>
The arrogance of that statement is incredible. The Irish don’t need to come over to England. We’ve plenty of big races ourselves. Why don’t the English send their horses over to Ireland more often. Our small field, slow run affairs should be rich pickings for the … ahem … better horses!
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