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@apracing, not to mention the Powers Gold Cup for novices at Fairyhouse as another option.
Have proper fences that are a jumping test. The Irish jockeys at the the festival stated that the fences at Cheltenham are considerably softer than the ones produced in Ireland at the likes of Leopardstown.
No surprise again that this weeks Cheltenham meeting produced not one faller from 66 runners (plenty of moderate horses amongst them) and nearly 17 miles of chasing.One of John Francomes greatest attributes was presenting a horse at a fence, that would be redundant now here while AP’s method of getting from one side of the fence to the other as quickly as possible would positively thrive these days, even more so than when he was actually riding.
“Have proper fences that are a jumping test.”
We can’t have that. There might be fallers.
Yeats/CAS, while I, of course, agree with both of you, we all know that the 1970s’ Cheltenham fences are gone forever. Actually, the one change I thought might have been mentioned is to return the festival to three days. Mind you, that prospect has probably gone forever too!
Make the Cross Country and NH Chase limited handicaps.
Sending Gold Cup horses to farm the Cross Country year after year is so against the spirit of the Festival. I love the race and have no issue seeing previously classy horses take it up, but seeing runners who should be contesting Gold Cups line up against handicappers on level weights just sucks the life out of the race.
The NH Chase needs more than just being a limited handicap to fix it, but I thought I’d throw it in there as a starting point.
The demise of the 4 mile plus chase has been ongoing for a while now. Even the Grand National shortened in distance. Just how many 4 mile plus chases are there now? I’m sure Doncaster & Market Rasen used to have one?
If a 4 day Festival can’t find room for a 4 mile chase it doesn’t say much for NH racing and the direction it’s travelling. They run a 4 mile Hunter Chase at Cheltenham in May.
I would be happy for it to be a limited handicap but I would restrict it to 1st/2nd season chasers with one win or less. I wouldn’t want the Midlands National to lose too many potential runners.
The Summer Cup at Uttoxeter used to be 4 miles not too long ago. That’s been whittled down to 3m, 2f now.
You could probably count on two hands how many races are run over 4 miles in Britain now. It’s a shame, marathon chases were always my race of choice from a spectator and betting perspective.
Have to be brutal, the one change is simply less races which equals reducing the chances of horses dodging exciting clashes.
The novice hurdlers (mares included) should really only have two options where to run – either the Supreme or if you don’t think you are quick enough then go to the Gallagher (aka Neptune).
The novice chasers (mares included) should again really only have two options where to run – either the Arkle or if you don’t think you are quick enough then go to the Brown Advisory (aka RSA).
We have no Championship hurdle race over the 2m4f trip (which is as it should be as you have to chose between the Champion Hurdle and Stayers Hurdle or wait for Aintree) and quite frankly that should also apply to chasing, so bye bye Ryanair as it could be converted into a full on or limited handicap for horses that run in races like the Paddy Power Gold Cup (aka Mackeson Gold Cup) and December Gold Cup (aka Massey Ferguson Gold Cup) and maybe some of those graded horse will be enticed to run regardless of them having to give weight away if the keep the prize money the same as the Ryanair.
You could easily squeeze in some more handicaps hurdles/chases (consolation races???) for horse that couldn’t get into the compressed handicap races themselves and maybe have the first race off at 1pm instead of 1:30 and have an 8 race card each day (So 1pm, 1:30pm, 2pm then a build up to the big race at 3pm, then 3:30pm, 4pm, 4:30pm and the final race of the day at 5pm) which would be 24 races in total.
All that is to say that the 3 day format was what was best for competitive, no place to hide to find out who the best horse is racing – none of the above will ever happen because the revenue from 4 days will clearly be too good to go back to 3 days even if the racing would be more competitive in doing so.
Just making changes for Cheltenham is short sighted; the whole season needs looking at.
Take the open class intermediate distance races; put more money into the Aintree Hurdle, and move it back to the Saturday, and similarly the Melling Chase – more money so it becomes a proper target for those horses, after the similar race at Ascot in February.
I’ve said before, the Ryanair Festival chase can go, and be replaced by a 2m4f 2nd season chasers race……lets call it the, Cathcart.
I can’t read the full story but the Turners is to lose it’s Grade 1 status and become an open novice handicap.
The things I want most in life are the things that I can't win.
The Cross Country is also to become a handicap:
Good decision to turn the Turners into a handicap. Don’t have a strong opinion about the cross country, but it has been two a two horse race for de last years, so it can only be an imrpovement.
The full changes for 2025 revealed…
The Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Chase has been scrapped and replaced with a Grade 2 limited novice handicap chase.
The Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase becomes a limited handicap.
The National Hunt Chase, will be staged as a novice handicap and no longer confined to amateur jockeys.
The Grade 2 Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle will in future be held without penalties.
Prior race experience requirements in non-novice handicaps increase to four chase runs and five hurdle runs.
Any winner of a Pertemps series qualifier will be guaranteed a start in the final, providing they are within the handicap at declaration stage.
And yet again they elect to ignore the obvious changes that need to be made – too many options for the best horses to swerve each other.
It was all fairly simple back in the day, for the novices you had:
The Supreme (2m) & Sun Alliance (3m) for the hurdlers
The Arkle (2m) & RSA (3m) for the chasersIn open company you had:
The Champion Hurdle (2m) and Stayers (3m) for the hurdlers
The Queen Mother Champion Chase (2m) and Gold Cup (3m2f) for the chasersFor the handicaps you had:
The County Hurdle (2m) and Coral Golden Hurdle aka The Pertemps Final (3m) for hurdlers
The Grand Annual (2m) and the Mildmay of Flete (2m4f) and National Hunt aka the Ultima (3m1f) for the chasersAnd for the amateurs we had the Kim Muir Challenge Cup and National Hunt Challenge Cup for the chasers.
If you just happened to have a horse that excelled at an intermediary trip then you simply had to decide whether to drop down in trip for the shorter race or go up in trip for the longer race and if you had a good/great mare you had no option but to take on the boys and find out who really was the best.
Whilst the National Hunt Chase for amateurs wasn’t particularly a favourite of mine I do think it is a very sad day that it will no longer be confined to just amateurs. I guess the history/heritage that the BHA bang on about being a huge selling point for British Racing doesn’t apply here.
The extra day meant more Festivals races and whilst that was great for extra revenue ultimately it absolutely diluted the championship races and deprived us of some great clashes that had we still been a three day Festival, we would have all got to see.
To me the Cheltenham Festival has now become more of an Every Horse Catered For Festival…….well all except for them having a hurdle equivalent of the Ryanair Chase (which would likely be odds on to be created if they went to a 5 day Festival).
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