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At circa 10.30am a week tomorrow presumably the 48-hour declarations will be made for the opening day on the Tuesday.
That’s the time to start taking an interest in my view.
However, that attitude leaves me somewhat detached from the rest of the racing field, most of who started obsessing about this fixture just after they weighed in for the Martin Pipe last year.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I could take offence, but you are so manifestly correct I have to simply agree!
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"An interesting stat in an otherwise largely forgettable article from Chris Cook today:
Multiple odds-on shots at the festival only really started in 2004. I don’t have the exact stats for that year at hand, so don’t know how many there were, but Cook states there have been 53 odds-on shots since that year. Of course, the meeting got extended to four days in 2005.
Evidence of dilution weakening races?
I think 15 years is a reasonable amount of time/data to draw a conclusion; the evidence would seem to suggest the answer is yes:
3 Gd 1 Nov Hurdles ( 4 if you count the Triumph)
3 Gd 1 Nov Chases
3 Gd 1 Open ChasesOne too many in each category, especially as there will be similar Gd 1 races at Aintree.
NH racing isn’t big enough to support all these races…..
I think you are all correct.
I’ve tried making the argument there are far more distance categories on the Flat, but Jumps racing is simply nowhere near as competitive relatively at the top end.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Well surprise surprise, with the Cheltenham ground now drying out to……GASP good to soft, the panic button is about to be pressed as watering has been mentioned depending on what forecast rain does or doesn’t fall on Friday.
Heaven forbid if the weather gods don’t play ball we should start a Festival on good ground which it seems is now deemed to be unsafe for NH horses but only at the Cheltenham Festival….wouldn’t be the greatest surprise that at some point in the future the Festival ends up never being run on ground with the word good in the going description.
I doubt the usual suspects will be withdrawing their horses on account of the ground. Because Cheltenham is The Only Meeting That Matters.
But (if they don’t get the required rain) they will ensure that at best the ground will be good to soft and probably more on the dead side or closer to soft with artificial watering, so trainers know they won’t have to worry about the state of the ground.
The trainers point of not running on good ground prior to Cheltenham because it runs the risk of them missing Cheltenham baffles me as running them in winter ground is just as likely to leave its mark on a horse too and potentially miss Cheltenham…..maybe that is why most NH horses seem way more fragile than those of yester year that would run 7 or 8 or more times in a season on all grounds and seem none the worse for it by coming back year in year out.
Sorry for the grumpy old man moment.
It’s not particularly grumpy, more an accurate reflection of the current sport. From memory, the going has to have soft in the description. Absolutely pathetic.
Why do they need to water? Is the ground going to be quick? Watering is only needed of we’ve had no rain for weeks, and we’d end up with firm ground. If they can’t race on Good ground then the sport has a major problem. And if you have a horse who wants decent good ground, you’re not going to be happy when they water for no good reason.
I recall before the festival in 1990, when they really did have quick ground; and in the Racing Post, Barry Hills not being concerned about the ground for Nomadic Way “he was 4th in the Ascot Gold Cup on Good to Firm” and John Mulhern, trainer of Galmoy in the Stayers “it’s a lovely day, dammit – Galmoy will hate it” but he still ran him.
And now we’ve got the Racing Post continuing their ‘campaign’ for a 5th day…..The mind boggles – I even saw a comment on Twitter from somebody stating we need a Gd1 2m4f Open hurdle; yeah, of course. Just where are all these horses coming from? We’ve got 10 in the 2m Champion, with only 4 British trained horses……
tbh I have some sympathy with the Cheltenham clerk aiming for official good-soft. Because it’s such an inexact science. Clerks obviously need to give a going assessment before racing starts, before any race time is known – which is not easy.
With the help of race times Timeform do their own assessment of what the true state of the ground was. It’s a regular occurrence for them to be either slightly softer or slightly firmer than the official description. Therefore, if the clerk were to allow what he considers to be “Good” going, the true state of the ground will often be good-firm… Trainers will know it’s truly good-firm because race times tell them… And true good-firm brings both more non-runners and a greater percentage of equine injuries and fatalities.
Where as – as they do – by aiming for official “good-soft” the true state of the ground would be between slightly firmer than good-soft) GOOD and slightly softer than good-soft) SOFT. Neither of which would bring many non-runners AND most importantly be (comparatively) safe.
Value Is EverythingNow I can actually see declarations for the first three days I am starting to get interested.
But there are still multiple engagements and it’s only once the final 48-hour decs occur that we can see what the 2022 Cheltenham Festival actually consists of.
Then it gets exciting.
It looks like being a good one.
Vintage?
Vintage tends to be a medal conferred in retrospect.
Something might win a Grade 1 by half the track and become one of Jumping’s greats.
But the operative word is “might.”
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Fair play, those f*****s PP won’t let me back any horse to win more than a FIVER overnight, but that is the funniest, most well-observed racing media send up I’ve EVER seen.
Cheers, TTC, I would never have seen it but for you posting.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Welcome ID.
I’m no fan of PP and their merry band of ‘Slebs”, but that bloke is a talented impersonator and I thought that segment was hilarious.
The ‘Road to Cheltenham’, Willie Mullins musing indecisively with David Yates lurking creepily in the background, and Kevin Blakes stalking of Fanta-guzzling Joseph O’Brien, were my personal highlights. Oh, and O’Leary!
BUY THE SUN
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