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If it was felt the Cheltenham festival was in trouble then yes perhaps tinker with the format etc.
But goodness sake don’t try to change things for changes sake. Sounds like the people from Racing for Change are involved in this.They’ll be advising to target students next to come racing. Oh that’s right they have no money!
Matt Chapman was spot on in saying it will work in the short term but long term it will lose its magic and could dwindle. Look at messing with the Derby and what it has done to the race. Used to be as big as the national it now barely registers with non racing folk. It’s just part of dumbing down for profit thats going on everywhere. Quality in all facets of life is dwindling. So glad I’ve lived through the great eras of night nurse, sea pigeon Moscow flyer and recently native river. Great races which really resonated. We are in danger of diluting the product that we will be seen as the same as buying a pizza. I for one am appalled at the thought of a five day festival. Progress. My derriere it is.
It didn’t take long for the Saturday Derby to start running scared of other sporting opposition. A pathetic second race on the card when Shaamit won. The Gold Cup is a similarly unspectacular looking race and rarely has many runners. It’ll attract a certain crowd but it won’t augment its appeal to a wider audience.
More from Kevin Blake here.
"In a perfect world there would have been one novice chase and they would have all banged heads together!"@kevinblake2011 on the possible solutions to the issues surrounding National Hunt racing… #RacingDebate pic.twitter.com/Mo2xnz2u9J
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) April 24, 2022
He’s right, absolutely no need for that many Nov races. Should be just the Arkle for 2 milers, and the Sun Alliance for 3 milers.
I can’t remember a subject where something like this was so universally opposed, bar of course those with a particular financial vested interest.
Does anybody know if there’s anyone involved in the consultation process who is actually is opposed to this nonsense?
An action plan to deal with boozed up and drugged to the eyeballs types who now go to Cheltenham.
Maybe it would have been a better idea to not encourage them in the first place?
They could offer me free admission any enclosure and pay my petrol money there and back and I still wouldn’t go – bad enough in the days when it was simply rammed, but sounds beyond awful nowadays.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I’m going to stick my neck out and say that the chance of any discernible change any time soon is somewhere between slim and none.
Apart from the money, I don’t get the ‘packing as many spectators in as possible’ to be a good thing. It’s certainly not a pleasurable experience; massive queues for toilets, food, having a bet, trying to get to the parade ring and back…..
No thanks…
That isn’t a problem for me as I never leave the parade ring anyway. I only once tried to watch a race track side and learned my lesson. Apart from a tootle over to pre parade, parade ring and the big screen is where I stay. Having said that, because I’ve missed a few years due to the pandemic I’ve got used to not going and probably won’t go again. I do miss seeing the horses arriving in the morning though, and seeing the Irish horses coming back from their morning exercise.
I used to be an annual member at Cheltenham in the mid-90s but wouldn’t dream of going back there now. Every meeting, even the smaller ones, is just too busy nowadays and the only one where you don’t get the coked-up chavs is the Hunter Chase night… although those who attend that meeting might just be better at concealing the fact that they’re off their tits.
The April meeting was not especially crowded and I did not witness any bad behaviour.
I’ve some experience in this area, and I assure you that illegal drugs are of minimal importance compared to the legal drug (alcohol).
The real problem with Cheltenham is the damage it has wreaked on the rest of the NH season; everything now is a preliminary.“and the only one where you don’t get the coked-up chavs is the Hunter Chase night”
Au contraire, Gladders.
My last trip to Cheltenham was Hunter Chase evening, they’d got a DJ after racing and the local nightclub crowd were out in force among the Point-to-Point fraternity, a more incongruous sight it would be hard to imagine.
I’ve not been back to Cheltenham since.
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"
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