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There was a tweet to this effect yesterday which generated almost unanimous agreement I was a little surprised admittedly
This had been touched on on here already and of course we will hear the accusations about “moaners”
There is also the tendency to look back and think things were always better in the past too
But with some dull races recently imposed, far too much concentration of power in certain stables with the handicaps are tiresome with so many Irish runners exclusively targeted with head scratching form behind them
Also its a familiar moan that the top races are short of quality but the champion hurdle is desperate and the gold cup hardly inspiring.
Winning Owners are now rarely of the calibre of Paisley Parks and the great bunch who owned Sire de grucy. Its Ricci, Micheal **** o Leary or the anonymous cheveley park. Enough said
And then there’s the hype, which most race followers who don’t nod away with their tongues hanging out at Ed chamberlain, find irritating
Im not stating an opinion here, just throwing it out there
Making it four days was when I lost interest.
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysim ok with four but not seven races a day. Though will admit im pretty well bored with it by Friday and only watch the graded races
Not so much losing its lustre as slowly resuming its rightful role as the Premier UK Jumps Championship fixture but NOT the be all and all of an entire season/sport.
“Road to Cheltenham….” – just F off.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Personally I still love the festival as much as I ever did,
The slight worry has been the reducing field sizes in the novice championship races, a 15/20 runner supreme novice to kick things off was always such a spectacle and provided so many handicap winners in behind for the following season.
Its still some of my favourite days racing in the calendar.
I still enjoy Cheltenham and also still like to back a few winners there. However, it is not the be all and end all and I do believe the fourth day has diluted it. I know it will not revert to three days but it was better.
I was watching RTV last night which showed some past renewals of the Stayers Hurdle. Iris’s Gift was second in 2003 and went one better the following year.
Steve Mellish noted that Iris’s Gift was a novice in 2003. What he did not mention was the Albert Bartlett did not exist in that year. If it had, he would almost certainly have run in it.
As for this year, I am looking forward to a lot of the races but not the Champion Hurdle. I struggle to get excited by Honeysuckle. She is beating second raters and receiving 7lbs. The others would have a difficult task off levels. They face an impossible task giving weight away. But no doubt the media will go crazy when she hacks up.
The two mile hurdle division is in a terrible state, mainly because Flat horses do not need to go hurdling now.
Honeysuckle is a likeable decent mare, but in their cringefest tribute to her the other day the Racing Post made sure they didn’t canvass the views of anyone who can actually read a form book.
She has an OR of 165 and was receiving 7lb when she beat Sharjah (hardly an all-time great).
She’s nowhere near Night Nurse, the other outstanding hurdlers of that golden era, or Istabraq.
The state of UK hurdling at the so-called top end is utterly desperate and has been for years – they make her look better than she is.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"And this is why Cheltenham is arguably killing racing iain
An owner with a nice stayer
Jonjo or Henderson. We will give him a spin later this year but it’s all about one day! Maybe 2026 he’ll run again
Flat trainer. Reckon 15 runs over next year. Perhaps a listed or group three. He will take it. Good money on all weather now too
Owner. First option? **** that
I can only see the two mile hurdle division getting worse. I do not believe it is cyclical.
Flat horses do not need to go hurdling now, thanks to a better all weather programme and more international racing.
The top novices are from the point to point field and bred for chasing. Most are going to go over fences after their novice season. If they spend another season over hurdles, it would mean they would not run in a Champion Chase or Gold Cup until three years after their novice hurdle victory. How many owners are going to do that now?
This year’s crop of juveniles look potentially the best for a while but it is very difficult for a five year old to win the Champion.
It seems to be very in voque and hipsterish to slag off Cheltenham now.
Yes, it’s not perfect and never should have been extended from 3 days but it is still the best 4 days of the year for me (5 if you count Plumpton on the Monday!).
If I hear people moaning about the Ryanair one more time I might actually die of boredom. I think it’s a good race that has been won by some class horses that wouldn’t have won a CC or GC (Albertas Run, Riverside Theatre, Vatour, Frodon, Min, Allaho) so to me it’s been a good addition.
Something does need to be done about the abundance of crap mares races though, I think we would all agree with that
The flat is mind numbingly dull at the moment as well with probably the worst crop of talent in my lifetime.
I’ll be in the members bar at 11am on 15th and will be absolutely buzzing for the week ahead
The 4 days is overkill; the handicaps are fine, always competitive, but the extra championship races have really diluted the intensity (Vautour might well have won the Gold Cup).
As for the Champion Hurdle, 2-mile hurdling is still more lucrative and prestigious than 2-mile chasing. If Honeysuckle intimidates the opposition into going over fences, that’s not her problem.Not too fussed about the lustre
I’m happy to see great races yet if my main rival to a big bet is taken out or doesn’t turn up I much prefer that
Cheltenham is for making money not for having squeaky bum time
Non betting wise the opposite appliesGaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
I think it can be argued that the festival is losing it’s soul with the constant rebranding of races, in pursuit of more money, on top of the ever increasing race programme and increased days. However, I don’t believe it is any less of a spectacle and certainly no less of a draw for trainers, owners and spectators. You just have to look at the paltry field size for Saturday’s Betfair Hurdle to see that. There will be horses balloted out of the County, a far less valuable race, left, right and centre.
The state of the 2 mile hurdle division, if not hurdling as a whole, is a concern and the reasons why have been touched on above. I’d add the obsession with Irish point to pointers and breeding horses to run over 4 miles rather than 2 is becoming a detriment to the sport as well.
The Cheltenham Festival is still the pinnacle of the National Hunt game and rightly so. However, it is not the be all and end all and never has been.
4 days while financially understandable did take something away from the Festival in that it gave more chances for potential clashes to be avoided by giving alternative opportunities – I mean how great would a say Quevega v Big Bucks match up have been in potentially several Stayers Hurdle considering they both came back year in year out.
The Champion Hurdle quality comes and goes with some years being packed with several genuine contenders and other years you get an average bunch or one good one that stands out above the rest and the thing about good flat horses now not going jumping is a little overstated as you look at the Supreme & Neptune/Ballymore winners and they are in recent years a very high class bunch of NH type horses but what is very notable is that the Supreme winners like Vautour (2014), Douvan (2015), Altior (2015) & Shishkin (2020) and Neptune/Ballymore winners Yorkhill (2016), Samcro (2018), Envoi Allen (2020) & Bob Olinger (2021) all went novice chasing rather than going down the Champion Hurdle route which tended to be a tried and tested route back in the day.
I still get excited for Cheltenham but the three day meeting was a little bit extra special but lets not think that the Festival being dominated by the few big guns is anything new as in the past you had your Winter/Rimell/Easterby/Dickinson/Nicholson/Pipe and Nicholls and of course Henderson who stradles them all to the current day – the one big difference now is that where the good horses may have been in several yards and each under a different owner they are now in one or two yards and usually under one maybe 2 different owners tops.
That being said I do dread it going to five days because it will then get to more of a every type of horse has a race catered for them and even more reason for avoidance of blockbuster clashes.
Five days (Tuesday to Saturday) is a racing certainty and I wouldn’t rule out six days (Tuesday to Sunday) in our lifetimes.
Never, EVER, underestimate corporate greed – it has no ceiling.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Yes I must admit it has lost its lustre. I have been going for the last 25 years for the 3 and then the 4 days. Prices have risen, it is more crowded than ever imo however slightly better than before the new stand and the prices are becoming extortionate. Maybe I am getting old but the fun seems to have gone out of it. I get sick of drunk people too.
Maybe I am just getting to old. Also the tannoy in the main club stand right where the owners and trainers go or used to go few go now is appaling.
There, bah humbug“You just have to look at the paltry field size for Saturday’s Betfair Hurdle to see that. There will be horses balloted out of the County, a far less valuable race, left, right and centre.”
Good point. It is not the first time it has happened either.
It shows just how much the NH season is broken. It is sheer madness that such a valuable race attracts so few runners because it is considered too close to Cheltenham.
Owners who bleat about poor prize money need reminding when this sort of thing happens.
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