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I’m sure it’s been hammered before but is it such a bad idea?
Record crowd today so clearly demand remains high. I also think seven races is too many and I left before bumper (ok it’s a long trip bAck to sw london) which means you need just two more for fifth day. Mares bumper and veterans maybe ? Not thrilling maybe but no less so that the novices mares or all those Mister races
Could be a concern about the ground in certain years but other than that, why not?
When you’re re-offering races at the festival you know a fifth day is the opposite of what the game needs.
There should be at least 7 races on every national hunt card.
There are 7 races at Cheltenham which are utter rubbish, we don’t need another 5/6/7 races.
The quality of the festival would be better without the following:
The mares hurdle, the mares novice hurdle, the JLT, the Ryanair, the Martin Pipe, and the two worst descriptions of races ever devised – the Close Brothers and the Fred Winter. Those 7 need to go. We don’t need more.The veterans have their series and final at Sandown. It works excellently. Not every aspect of National hunt racing has to revolve around Cheltenham. We don’t need a race for every type of horse.
If I was to get rid of races in order then the Close Brothers should be first to go, followed by the Fred Winter, followed by the Martin Pipe, then the Mares hurdle, then the Mares Novice, then the Ryanair and then the JLT.
In fact if I was designing the festival from scratch I would have no handicaps. Just 12 grade 1 races, the Foxhunters, Cross County. And hold it over 2 days, but there isn’t a hope of that happening
Can’t have that at all. Two days ?? Hardly a festival then
I go racing a lot and six is enough. I agree entirely there is too much emphasis on cheltenham and not overly keen on its dominance but commercially it will work easily as it does on the flat
Reason why Cheltenham is so brilliant is precisely because it’s top quality ultra competitive racing. We have exceptional horses taking each other on and that means by and large bigger prices (although not as good as it used to be with a three day festival). There’s not enough top class horses to go around for a 4th day, let alone a 5th. Why do you want shorter prices? Just dilutes the product and it’ll become just like any other festival – good but not great.
Why does Cheltenham have to have everything anyway?
Sandown’s Veteran’s chase is great, why reduce it’s significance?
Mare’s races are uncompetitive in the extreme! Odds-on fav vast majority of years.Wants less races, not more!
Get rid of the Albert Bartlett and the Ballymore becoemes more competitive. JLT lessens competitiveness of both Arkle and RSA. Martin Pipe is a poor quality race, Kim Muir ditto. Fred Winter is ok, but make it in to a longer race. Mares races have no place in a Cheltenham Festival.
I wouldn’t be opposed to getting rid of the Ryanair either – every one of tomorrow’s runners was talked about for another race. Un De Sceaux, Douvan, Min and Altior all in one race – Heaven.Value Is EverythingThe races to get rid of
*Brose Clothers
*Fred Winter
*The Artist Formerly Known As The Neptune
*The Kim Welling Fluke Mure
*The Cross Garden Centre
*Martin Pipe
*Coral CupBy doing so, we’ve got a handicap, a novices and a Championship race for all the relevant divisions, plus the Foxhunters for the amateurs and the two Mares races for the laydeez.
BlueSky @pghenn.bsky.social
So don't run, just like the others always do
The races to get rid of
*Brose Clothers
*Fred Winter
*The Artist Formerly Known As The Neptune
*The Kim Welling Fluke Mure
*The Cross Garden Centre
*Martin Pipe
*Coral CupThey could run these in the summer on a Thursday night but turn it into a team event F1 style so those that don’t understand racing will automatically be attracted to the sport and give much needed boost. I’m sure John Gosden will think it’s a great idea.
Give it a chance, we must move with times…….
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
I can’t see any reason why anyone thinks the Fred winter is a race worthy of Cheltenham. 4 year old hurdlers rarely train on and become of any significance, unless trained by Willie Mullins it seems. We definitely do not need two 4 year old only races. The FW encourages deceit in terms of trying to get a horse thrown in. If there has to be a race for top 4 year olds then the Triumph is more than enough. We don’t need to have a race for 125 rated failed flat horses who won’t be ever heard of again.
I wouldn’t be as opposed to getting rid of the JLT and Ryanair as some of the others I mentioned. If the Close Brothers didn’t exist you’d have trainers not trying to lower their horses marks to 145 or below you’d have a more competitive JLT field and Arkle and RSA too. I believe Any Second now, the Plotting Shed, rather be, Barney dwan, testify would have been more than capable of competing in one of the grade one novice chases.Less races isnt going to happen. the only argument for seven race cards is the traffic flow at the end of the day. huge numbers leave before the last simply because its a very long day with most travelling a fair distance and 40 minute gaps
im not in favour of five days but wouldnt be bothered if it happened. im a Sandown member so wouldnt really welcome the loss of the two races mentioned but not that concerned either. What will kick in is the commercial consideration and i reckon its odds on that five days will happen within the next five years
Purists obsess about change too much on forums. the champions day was seemingly violently opposed by 95% of posters that i saw on one forum with some suggesting that it would bring about the end of the sport as we know it, a world economic recession and famine. But its worked superbly as im pleased to say i knew it would
Christ there’s some shocking shouts in this thread. The festival being cut to two days is the second worst idea I’ve heard in horse racing. Beaten only by this F1 style team racing nonsense proposed a few weeks back.
I like all of the races other than the Coral cup. They go off far too fast in that and those first two hurdles down the back are ones I watch with fear. Thankfully, none fell yesterday over those two hurdles.
Getting rid of races is like cutting an Oak just to get to the topleafs. All the hard work with the workman like
horses going to Cheltenham alongside the Altiors and the owners of those less significant horses looking forward to THEIR slowstars at the same meeting will shorten their horsekeep, just because some people don’t want to see their horses at Cheltenham with the legends… If 7 races is too much for your stomach, look the other way or go home early or come late.Best Wishes
SilkGood posts. Was waiting to see if anyone would perhaps suggest that the festival could be for those other than certain obnoxious over wealthy owners. Of course without the dream for less rich connections then interest would fade
Cant agree about Coral cup though. usually won by a decent type and well up in the betting too and a few have gone on to better things from the race
Get rid of both Willie Mullins Charity Races aka the Mares Hurdles, the Close Brothers, the X-Country and the Thread Winter. Add a 2m4f Bumper for pointing recruits. That’s 24 races over 4 days. Why not?
The Triumph Hurdle as we knew it has gone. Was once a great spectacle, a big cavalry charge to the first, a real test as all of the hurdle races the field would have encountered would have been small to medium sized, many moderately run. The Fred Winter has taken an angle of interest from the race, where you would once spend a little time trying to unearth a live on at big odds.
I don’t see the point of the mares only events as they have the allowance if they want to compete in the open events, and Laurina is a clear example of the quality being diluted in either the Supreme Novices or the Ballymore – which has already been affected by the needless introduction of the 3m novices hurdle.
Not sure where all this will end. Willie Mullins was flirting with the introduction of a mares only chase when interviewed today.God forbid !
It is to Aintree’s credit that they’ve kept to three days and ( apart from ruining the Grand National In Name Only Chase) have consolidated the quality of their meeting. Hope it stays that way though I fear if Cheltenham moved to five, Aintree would add an extra day.
Yes, the Triumph Hurdle was a wonderful spectacle, use to be up there with my favourite races but it’s gone downhill rapidly as a spectacle.
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
We could end up with a greys only novice chase for horses that ran last time at Perth as the last race one day.
I love cheltenham, but it just isn’t the same anymore. Used to barely be able to sleep the night before but that is fading away by the year.
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