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Greg Wood’s take in the Guardian:
Don’t think they should be congratulated too much on doing what was the bleedin’ obvious to the vast majority of us. How many of the 3000 plus consulted were actually in favour of 5 days and who were they?
I was one of the few who, while preferring to keep it four days, wouldn’t have been bothered by a fifth day.
I never attend, it would be a dilution, but it would also be an extra day of above-average quality televised racing, the Midlands National apart, it’s not exactly scintillating fare the Saturday after Cheltenham.
I suspect this decision will be revisited in the future.
Continued climate change could result in consistently quicker March ground at Cheltenham, the War could end, the global economy could revive, boom times may return and those Peaky Blinders boys may be up for a fifth day of Alfresco boozing and giving it large in the Cotswolds.
Nothing is forever in this life.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"It’s hard to judge the weight of support behind each of the reasons for not going to a fifth day without sight of the detailed feedback. I was surprised how final yesterday’s announcement sounded, with no mention that it would be kept under review. Realistically the idea will probably resurface at some point.
I hope it won’t be an issue like Brexit or Scottish independence where those who want change keep chipping away until they get what they want. That said, in this instance I think the people with the more passionate views will very much be those in favour of the status quo.
I’ve no doubt a push for the fifth day will resurface some time soon, with those in favour using the finances angle on the grounds that both the sponsorship revenue and Saturday
‘ cult’ racegoer revenue support the wellbeing of the rest of the meeting or something similar.Sadly it’s too much too wish for a return to 18 races over three days. There is no need for mares this and mares that events with a sex allowance available, the 3m novice hurdle is one open older novice hurdle too much, the Fred Winter or whatever it’s now called would fit in well to the April meeting, the Ryanair would slot in well at the Cotswold meeting, while not only is if questionable that the Cross Country event belongs there, one could also ask whether there is any place for the Bumper which is in a way a relatively new addition to the fixture.
It’s not just Cheltenham – making the Heath card a fifth day of Royal Ascot created new races, but the pool of quality and the range of race distances on the Flat is such that Ascot got away with it.
In contrast, Goodwood is indeed a “Glorious” venue, but I defy anyone to tell me a five-day “big” meeting that dilutes the quality quite so much over the five days.
Back in the day, I’d had enough by the Friday and legged it down to Devon for Newton Abbot, the then start of the NH season, on the Saturday.
But money talks – shouts, in fact.
We haven’t heard the last of the five-day Cheltenham.
Come the boom times…,
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Quite frankly I don’t trust the Jockey Club, as a 5th day is a must for them regardless of the dilution of the meeting because increased revenue will trump all common sense. Not that it will happen but I would love it if they posted the full results of the survey they undertook just to see what it would reveal.
It would seem the biggest issue is whether the course can take another days racing on it, yes everyone bangs on about global warming but that has little effect on Cheltenham when we know that regardless of how dry the weather could be they will always ensure that the fastest ground they will start the Festival on is good to soft (unless mother nature makes it a wet spring).
As we know the problem with that is that if you have already watered heavily to produce good to soft it will then not take much natural rain to turn the ground hock deep like it did for the Queen Mother Champion Chase day last year. That then means the ground will take more of a beating with 20+ odd horses per race chewing up the turf and yes I know they have the old/new courses they switch to later in the week but the meeting is supposed to showcase what is best about NH racing and I doubt horses slogging through deep winter like ground in slow motion finishes where you have trouble seeing the colours or telling which horse is which is not something we want to see.
Personally, at some point I think the JC will find a way around any (and all) arguments and a 5th day will be added (regardless of public opinion) and then the argument will be shifted onto whether a 6th day should be added and then low and behold the Cheltenham Festival turns into a version of the Galway Festival where we give every type of horse a race they can run in and even more opportunity for the big guns to avoid clashing against each other.
Rant over.
“Sadly it’s too much too wish for a return to 18 races over three days”
If only we could condense the meeting as follows:
2m: juvenile hurdle, novice hurdle, novice chase, open hurdle, open chase, hcap hurdle, hcap chase
3m: same as above, without the juvenile hurdle obviouslyThen four historic races: NH Chase, Mildmay Of Flete, Kim Muir, Coral Cup.
And finally the Fred Winter, so that the Triumph field is filtered down and we don’t get 66-1 rags like Baron Blakeney and Ikdam winning it.
Nine hurdles and nine chases; 18 races; sorted.
“And finally the Fred Winter, so that the Triumph field is filtered down and we don’t get 66-1 rags like Baron Blakeney and Ikdam winning it.”
That was one of the attractions of the Triumph, a massive field with all sorts happening at the end of race and lots of outsiders being involved. An excellent spectacle though obviously not a race to be involved in betting on.
Now find the race relatively boring.Bachelors Hall put up a well thought out programme for a 4 day Cheltenham a couple of years ago, much better than the current one.
Fred Winter himself was not a fan of the old style Triumph, of the opinion it could ruin a horse (though the likes of Night Nurse, Monksfield and See You Then all ran in it). To many fans it was a real butterfly in the stomach race with most of the runners lining up having had trials in small field/steadily run events, now faced with a crazy cavalry charge. The jigsaw would start being pieced together early in the season, the ante post market for the race would be included daily in bookmaker adverts in the Life from early December onwards, and you’d end with a good balance between animals who had been out early, and the likes of Pollardstown, First Bout and Alone Success who appeared late. I honestly loved the race as it was.
Bit of a mad race the Triumph back in the day before the 4yo handicap hurdle alternative emerged but I liked it and once landed an ante-post touch with Saxon Farm at 25/1 after he seemed to have done a good time at Fontwell.
It’s a different race nowadays.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I too liked the Triumph as it was, First Bout’s win in 1985 was my first winning bet in a Licensed Bookmakers, it’s been largely downhill ever since
Okay, okay…
In homage to our recently-resigned prime minister, I will u-turn and get rid of the Fred Winter.
We’ll have the old Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle, a race with a short-ish but rich history, instead.
You lot can go back to pinsticking when the Triumph comes around.
If I had it my way Cheltenham would be one race but tour de france style, each day would have a different stage, Tuesday could be 2m hurdle, Wednesday 2m chase etc, Thursday and Fridays stages I’ll let you guys decide. The winner would be the horse with the lowest overall time. It should be noted that all horses would be running at once and that the old and new courses would be combined to accommodate the larger field size.
Can we include the cross-country Ben? Can’t wait to see Constitution Hill over those banks
Of course we can! I was going to include the 2m bumper as a stage too but thought that may be a touch boring, the cross-country would be much more eventful!
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