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I think that one of the two courses could have been unsafe and I assume it’s the New Course. It is the course they use on Trials’ Day and also in April.
Didn’t they have the money or the time to get it done before the Festival? Six weeks seems plenty, imo.
It does sound like quite a large area they are looking at and why the sudden urgency? What does a few weeks in April matter? Lee Mottershead does ask again on the Nick Luck Daily whether they should have run that last race on Trials Day knowing what they know now?
According to the podcast it was a 1950s clay drain that caused the issue at the Trials meeting. I thought Cheltenham had done a lot of work on its drainage system following the bogs they sometimes ran on during the 1970s? Why did they still have 1950s drains?
We also had the movement of that hurdle at the Festival which was a bit odd.
We also had the movement of that hurdle at the Festival which was a bit odd.
Wasn’t that on the unaffected Old Course? It was still very strange…..
Cheltenham’s then clerk of the course Simon Claisse relocated the hurdle to a position after the final fence in 2010, explaining that the move had been made in order to “minimise the chance of riders being found in breach of the whip rules” and to bring the action closer to racegoers.
Sixteen years later that policy has been reversed. The final flight now remains between the final two fences – as it has been through the winter – creating an extended run-in of well over a furlong.
The resiting of the hurdle is unconnected to the drain issue that arose at the end of Festival Trials Day, when a hole emerged in a different part of the home straight.
I wonder why Cheltenham only publicised the fact the hurdle wouldn’t be in its normal position just 48 hours before the start of the Festival?
Also if there was an area of wet ground where it was not drying, could that suggest the drain issue was still ongoing when the Festival started? There was certainly a reluctance to water much to Mullins annoyance.
“Throughout the very wet winter, we have experienced a number of issues on the track and working with drainage experts, we have identified an area that would benefit from being upgraded”
That seems more than a little worrying given that the issue on trials days I thought was the first time anything like that had happened, I don’t recall “a number of issues” ever being mentioned prior to that incident.
That leads me to believe that the issue may either have been more serious than they first let on at the time or there is a bigger more fundamental problem with the older parts of the drainage system that they have just now discovered or maybe has made itself known to them (i.e. another drainage collapse?) since the Festival.
I wonder why Cheltenham only publicised the fact the hurdle wouldn’t be in its normal position just 48 hours before the start of the Festival?
Also if there was an area of wet ground where it was not drying, could that suggest the drain issue was still ongoing when the Festival started? There was certainly a reluctance to water much to Mullins annoyance.
I get both of your points, AC. First of all the position change should have been mentioned with the entry deadline to ensure horses can entered in races that play to their strengths. Then the almost unbelievable reluctance to water surely exposes potential issues with the drainage system. There is no way they’ve changed their watering policy…..
Didn’t they have the money or the time to get “it done before the Festival? Six weeks seems plenty, imo.”
Grass doesn’t grow that fast
https://share.google/W26mgFYskMtlU6jBE
An extreme example obviously…but turf needs time and moisture to settle in nicely. I can’t find it now but I remember the bank peeling as somebody was coming down it once- the horse and the whole face of the bank came down together.
Had the Cheltenham Festival been run in April would they be cancelling the whole event for this work to be carried out? I think I know the answer to my own question!
The lack of consultation with trainers/owners is pretty poor too.
The clueless sports reporter on BBC R5 this morning insinuated that the 4 deaths at the Festival was due to this problem with the drainage.
I heard that also Yeats, typical BBC B/S.
Moving on to the abandoned meetings, specifically the fantastic Hunter Chase night. There will be some unhappy folks that have booked non refundable hotels for the Friday night. I see that the hotel I use when going to that nights racing is sold out (HIX Cheltenham) , it was always popular with race goers. Doubtful Cheltenham will see some of those in the future. Thankfully I was leaving my annual trip there this year to the last minute, bright spot is Warwick is closer to home.
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