Cheltenham – Your one change and one change only

[Drone]

Whilst I’m sure Cheltenham could do more about the drugs issue…and you only need a gram or two to ‘get you through the day’ as it were so it is not difficult for people to smuggle it in

I don’t know about Cheltenham and other courses but every meeting at York has a significant number of police with ‘sniffer’ dogs mingling with and checking racegoers at the entrance turnstiles, as well as a drugs ‘honesty box’ nearby

No idea how effective the dogs are or how many arrests are made but their presence must be at least a worthwhile deterrent

It’s quite entertaining watching them poke their noses here, there and anywhere

[GM23]

They’ll never make it a 3 day meeting again as greed wins out but 6 races per day over the 4 days would be a huge improvement.

Remove :
Fred Winter
Kim Muir
Albert Bartlett
Martin Pipe

Those are the races I see absolutely no need for.

Triumph Hurdle > Fred Winter
Baring Bingham > Albert Bartlett
Ultima Handicap > Kim Muir
Coral Cup > Martin Pipe

[Richard88]

‘It’s quite entertaining watching them poke their noses here, there and anywhere 🙂’

Very good

There have been dogs at Cheltenham the last couple of years when I’ve been.

Plenty of small discarded plastic bags littering the toilets not long after midday so as for their effectiveness I’d say improvement needed.

[Helcatmudwrestler]

We truely have lost the war on drugs , FFS people cannot even have a day at races without chucking **** up their nose .
It is quite funny in a way how weak people are .

[greenasgrass]

“The Mares Only races are an issue and Dan Barber makes a good point in that Sporting Life article”

He doesn’t really. He says

“The clash with Punchestown’s equivalent Grade One can’t be ignored,”
then ignores it by saying
“but aim to tempt the best mares to take in a Supreme, Champion or Stayers’ Hurdle at the Festival first while still providing them the option of a Grade One against their own sex a month later by moving the David Nicholson and Dawn Run to the two-day Cheltenham April fixture”
That fixture is too close to Fairyhouse and Punchestown, and, with the races worth about the same, and the added carrot of the Fairyhouse novice being a G1 compared to the Dawn Run, the best mares will stay in Ireland. Also, without the cachet of the Cheltenham festival proper, nobody cares…look what happened to the Close Brothers’ handicap when it moved to Sandown. From a quality, maximum field handicap, it’s now a pathetic affair with <8 runners.

Look at the owners of the mares who have won the champion hurdle since the inception of the mares’ races at the festival- Ricci, JP, Kenny Alexander. They want winners at the festival, not be fobbed off with some midweek irrelevance a month later. Annie Power, Epatante and Honeysuckle all ran in mares’ races at festival prior to running in the CH, as did Apples’ Jade and Luccia. The mares’ programne has been a great success but if you want owners to continue to invest in good mares and keep them in training after they have got their black type- forgoing the production of several years’ worth of foals and risking no future foals at all, if she breaks her neck- they need to have their showpiece event at the “Olympics”.

[Author]

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