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High: Difficult to top the hour of Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle on Day 1 but Galopin Des Champs was brilliant in the Gold Cup and gets my vote.
Low: Thursday was a bloodbath for me from a punting point of view. But I have to nominate the hardy perennial of the false starts. I am not sure what the answer is and maybe the jockeys have to take more responsibility. But the BHA have to look at the process again. Under the rules the starter could not let them go in the Mares Chase – but all 9 runners were facing the right way and none was getting a flyer. One of the runners then planting herself at the standing start just seemed to sum up how unsatisfactory the starts have been.
High has the be C H , forget money it was just watching him , and obvs Bobby pulling huge prices out of the hat , Bobby how many accounts have u had closed , I bet the bookies have your photo on a dartboard
Low , so so so many 2nd , Ive done ok but if I’d turned some of them around , e.w punting has seen me through
Highs – Like so many CH & HS on Tuesday. A special mention also to Paul Nicholls. Good to see him have two winners and a live chance in the GC upsides at the last fence. I think this might be his first place since Denman/Kauto in 2011.
Lows – Obviously the death of Malinello.
Highs – My favourite NH racehorse of recent years Honeysuckle going out on a high when many had written her off. Constitutional Hill strutting his stuff. The Delta Work and Galvin finish. And Galopin Des Champs getting the job done.
Lows – Gerri Colombe close but no cigar. Shishkin not being able to run to his best.
Highs- Honeysuckle coming into the winner’s enclosure. The last couple of fences and the finish of the gold cup (in hindsight- see below). The Champion hurdle, not exciting as the outcome was more obvious more quickly than the gold cup, but still the horse is marvellous. El Fabiolo and Impaire et Passe looking like future stars. Bronn and The Real Whacker sharing the lead and jumping beautifully. Hearing that Hewick was up. Dysart Dynamo walking home (I thought he was winded at the time but was starting to worry). Envoi Allen getting another festival win and his trainer having a good week. Paul Nicholls back in buisness.
Lows- Malinello. Hewick’s fall, not enjoying Galopin’s win in the moment thinking Hewick was likely fatally injured. From a personal point of view- Princess Zoe meeting the last all wrong just when she needed a flyer.
High – Honeysuckle, Lossiemouth, Impervious – I just love a good mare :)
Low – All the fallers in general but especially Hewick, me picking every race wrong on Thursday
The obvious ones have already been mentioned, so I’ll go for something different.
High: the novice hurdlers, with Marine Nationale and Impaire Et Passe both looking future top-notchers and Stay Away Fay surely destined to join the long line of outstanding staying chasers from Ditcheat.
Low: the Champion Chase turning into a complete non-event for the second year running. Energumene is obviously a top-class performer, but it would be nice if his main rivals didn’t blow out in this race every year.
High – Going on the Tuesday, seeing all the beautiful horses, the atmosphere was superb. I said last year I wouldn’t go again after getting drowned by torrential rain all day, falsely getting accused of pick pocketing, Shishkin running no race after backing him for a year including at 33’s for the Arkle/Champion Chase double and feeling low with it being the first Cheltenham without my brother. I was in tears going back to car BUT this year everything was just perfect and I’m glad to have gone back.
Low – Mighty Potter hugely disappointing
Blackbeard to conquer the World
High – Constitution Hill.
Low – The Wednesday, the only day I didn’t win on – I mean, what is the actual use of having 16/1 a 15/8 shot and 33/1 a 13/2 shot if they run about as fast as Hughesey after he’s eaten an entire box of Pickled Onion Space Raiders?
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“Energumene is obviously a top-class performer, but it would be nice if his main rivals didn’t blow out in this race every year.”
Let’s hope El Fabiolo does better than Shishkin and Edwardstone. Mullins is not worried about running his best horses against each other and Energumene v El Fabiolo could produce a race to savour.
Highs; C Hill and GDC. Can’t recall a time when two such utterly dominant novices graduated. Hope they stay sound and yet are campaigned more than 4 times per season.
Lows; 5 novice chasesWon’t go obvious routes that many have mentioned.
Highs: Dysart Dynamo & Hewick getting up from (especially in Hewick case) horrific looking falls and TV’s Brian Gleeson for breeding both the horse and the 18 yr old jockey (on his first Cheltenham ride) to win the Champion Bumper on the aptly named A Dream To Share.
Lows: My abysmal betting week that was telling me even before Tuesday ended that it wasn’t going to end well and the Cross Country Chase still being (mares aside) a level weights races in which the first three home (two of which had run 4th and 5th in previous Gold Cups) were rated between 13lbs – 21lbs clear of the next highest horse in the race.
Where do they go with Dysart ? , there,s a very talented horse there if they can just settle him , he jumped so well to his fall
High:
So many. There were some terrific equine performances. Someone said Constitution Hill is jump racing’s Frankel; it’s possible that in time, we’ll say Frankel was the flat’s Constitution Hill.
Apart from CH, there are some seriously nice horses around and I look forward to seeing even more of El Fabiolo, Energumene and GDC. And Shishkin.Low:
We need an upgrade on the system to tell us what the going is. It is incredible that, in the third decade of the 21st century, we are still relying on someone shoving a stick in the turf.
The ground is one of the biggest factors when assessing a race for betting purposes, yet we’ve been guessing all week.
There must be a way, in this digital age, to take accurate soil moisture readings from several points across a racecourse and share the findings via a website or app.Highs:
The monday. Marine Nationale beating the Willie Mullins favourites. The superb display of Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle with a fairy tale ending. On the other days I liked the front running and jumping display of The Real Whacker and Gleeson/Kiely story in the bumper. And yesterday obviously the super performance by Galopin des Champs and a gallant second in Bravemansgame. Also for personal gain the County Hurdle was great.Lows:
The Champion Chase was a disappointing race. Other then that I really enjoyed this year.Highs: so many, it was a really good week with some excellent racing. The Gold Cup has to be right up there with two top class horses bringing their A games. The nostalgia in me loved seeing the old boy Sire Du Berlais in the stayers which was another close race.
Lows: more a personal thing which wouldn’t bother others but as someone who focuses on the handicaps, for the most part they have become too predictable considering there are 24 horses or whatever in most of them. Relatively short priced winners and frame fillers of most of them, particularly the chases. Fair enough an upset in the County which some on here found
but if Dinoblue hadn’t made a mess of the last couple it would have been the fav in the Grand Annual not the outsider. I don’t bet to make money silly as that sounds, its a bonus if I can, I love a good puzzle to solve.
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