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My own preference is for NH – for most of the reasons already mentioned. I love the Cheltenham Festival – for me, it is simply a mouth-watering prospect. I’m sure it is for all racing fans. More importantly, I tend to win more money, and certainly win more often and more consistently when backing horses over the jumps. Maybe that’s the real reason.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
National hunt racing, keeps a certain amount of horses out of the dog/cat food tins. Cant hack it as real racehorses send them over jumps.
My Cat prefers fish
Jump racing – Aintree, Cheltenham, Cartmel, Kelso, Market Rasen, Auteuil, Enghien, Hamburg – all comes the same, much prefer the good races but there’s little as beautiful as a horse jumping (call me old and soppy now).
I do enjoy Cheltenham immensely… but I do feel that the NH game suffers because of the overwhelming importance of the meet
That it certainly does. Other meetings are also available!
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I enjoy all racing, but particularly NH.
Only tend to watch good flat racing, unless I have a specific interest, but could watch selling hurdles all day.I do enjoy Cheltenham immensely… but I do feel that the NH game suffers because of the overwhelming importance of the meet
That it certainly does. Other meetings are also available!
gc
I never buy into this argument.
Firstly, I disagree with the assumption that "the Cheltenham target" in and of iself is a bad thing. I think it makes perfects sense to have a ‘championship’ at the seasons end.
Secondly, I disagree with the statement that other meetings are over-shadowed by the always-looming spectre of the Festival. The Open meeting, the Tingle Creek meeting, the Tripleprint meeting, the Hennessey meeting, the King George meeting, the Charlie Hall meeting, the BetFair Chase meeting, the James Nicholson meeting, the Christmas meeting at Leopardstown………………..to name just a few off the top of my head; all of these meetings (and many more I haven’t mentioned) stand-up entirely by themselves, with Cheltenham only a consideration after-the-fact.
I agree that Cheltenham is the apex of the season, and is rightly antipated by all. But it is always viewed (speaking for myself) in the context of the wider season. The Festival itself relies heavily on these other ‘supporting’ meetings – without them, the it would become an irrelevance.
I find it odd that others would view it any differently, to be honest, and maintain my suspicion that it is nothing but Flattie propaganda.
But in response to that, the flat has the advantage of pretty evenly spread targets throughout the season. There is a lot less of a tendency for the rather depressing two or three (sometimes dubious) runs …then Cheltenham
I like both codes equally. Used to have a preference for the flat but finding winners on the jumps has always been easier for me ( my pompous sounding theory is that some crucial factors are underrated by markets), so thats levelled things out a little
Very much prefer NH nowadays, certainly as a betting medium and preferentially as a spectacle. The journey to the little tweedy world has been a long one though as I started out as Flat-only before developing a passing interest in the winter game, which over time became an adult passion at the expense of the puppy love Flat.
Still have a passing interest in Flat pattern races and infact enjoy them all the more since I gave up the unequal battle of punting them.
When I saw this thread emerge the heart sank as I thought ‘ere we go:
In the red corner the Flat
In the blue corner NHAnd let battle commence.
Members are to be congratulated on delivering civilised posts on a subject that in the past has frequently resulted in a deluge of bluster and buffoonery.
But in response to that, the flat has the advantage of pretty evenly spread targets throughout the season. There is a lot less of a tendency for the rather depressing two or three (sometimes dubious) runs …then Cheltenham
This is the kind of thing I’m talking about, clivex.
It is a complete and utter myth that there is no Jumps ‘pattern’.
I won’t comment on the Flat pattern, as I am not familiar with it, but if I was the trainer of a top-class 2m chaser, I’d probably be thinking of a campaign geared around the Haldon Gold Cup, the Tingle Creek, the Desert Orchid Chase, and the Chandler, before a run in the Champion Chase.
That, for my money, is a defined pattern of “pretty evenly spread targets throughout the season”, and it is a whopper of huge proportions to suggest that the Flat is in any way ‘advantaged’ in this regard.
There is a jumps ‘Pattern’. It is there, and not even all that difficult to find.
All entirely right and true, GH, but would you agree or disagree that there is more of a perception that Cheltenham is regarded as the be-all and end-all by many, even though the 2m championship route you outlined gives a strong example of why it ought not?
Given the number of times in recent seasons that Cheltenham has produced a sounder / quicker surface for the Festival utterly incongruous next to those raced on for the whole of the winter immediately preceding it, I would argue that events at Prestbury Park should be regarded as ever less significant in the context of the season as a whole, not more.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Members are to be congratulated on delivering civilised posts on a subject that in the past has frequently resulted in a deluge of bluster and buffoonery.
Seconded. Maybe it helped that Himself’s original posting was couched very simply as "which do you prefer?" rather than "isn’t code x better than code y!", or maybe we’re all just getting older and wiser.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Members are to be congratulated on delivering civilised posts on a subject that in the past has frequently resulted in a deluge of bluster and buffoonery.
I like that ‘bluster and buffoonery’ may I use it one day?
“Kingston Town”[quote=”Drone”:1xk3j97f wrote:
Members are to be congratulated on delivering civilised posts on a subject that in the past has frequently resulted in a deluge of bluster and buffoonery.I like that ‘bluster and buffoonery’ may I use it one day?
I’m sure it’s already been snapped up as the title of the follow-up to the series Balderdash and Piffle.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
All entirely right and true, GH, but would you agree or disagree that there is more of a perception that Cheltenham is regarded as the be-all and end-all by many………..
I don’t know, Jeremy.
To a certain extent, Cheltenham is the be-all-and-end-all.
It’s the perception that this is to the detriment of the rest of the Jumps season, that I disagree with.
That, and the suggestion that Jumps racing has any less of a ‘pattern’ than the Flat. The evidence would suggest that anyone holding this position is either mistaken, or wilfully ignoring the evidence (hence my suspisions about Flattie propaganda…….they’re everywhere you know
)I’m sure it’s already been snapped up as the title of the follow-up to the series Balderdash and Piffle.
This is the kind of thing I’m talking about, clivex.
It is a complete and utter myth that there is no Jumps ‘pattern’
No there isnt and Alan King and Paul Nichols have given a real shot in the arm to maintaining interest throughout the season (and in the cases of Kauto and Katchit been well rewarded).
But too many (and this will make Dandan go off on one now..) like Sublimity and Newmill last year have hopelessly one eyed campaigns
Ironic for a discipline that considers itself more "sporting" than the businesslike world of the flat
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