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I’ll swap ya a juvenile handicap hurdle a NH Chase and a Foxhunters for the Coral Cup. The coral cup is a cracking handicap.
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No deal: the NH Chase and Foxhunters’ are part of the tradition of the meeting, while the 4yo Handicap can develop into something just as fiendish as the Coral Cup, if not more so.
:biggrin:
The comments (and voting) on this thread coupled with a wealth of similar views expressed on other forums and throughout the Press over the past few days lead me to think that Gillespie is, as the Yanks would say, "in denial" with his constant upbeat message about the move to four days. The problem is that even to be seen to consider going back to a three-day meeting would involve such a loss of face on his part that he simply can’t let it happen. More’s the pity.
Firstly there must be a caveat for those who vote here for those who attend the meeting for all four days (votes should count as double) and those who sit in the warmth of their armchairs – sorry but the latter are not entitled to the one man one vote mantra.
Second of all we are stuck with the four day meeting whether we like it or not – and now the races are in the book we have to live with it.
However as mentioned earlier it is the running order idea that gives people the option to stay on for the final day if they so wish that I would most like Mr Gillespie et al to reconsider.
I would like to return roughly to the old three day running order and on the Friday as follows
Tuesday
Sup Nov <br>Arkle<br>Ch Hurdle <br>Will Hill<br>Kim Muir <br>Pertemps
Wed
RSA Nov <br>RSA Nov <br>QM <br>Coral Cup <br>NH Chase <br>Bumper
Thurs
Triumph <br>Stayers<br>Gold Cup <br>Foxhunters <br>Grand Annual <br>Racing Post Plate
Fri
The 4 y old handicap <br>The 3 mile novice hurdle <br>A new championship 2m 5 novice chase (replace Jewson) <br>The Ryanair (upgrade to Grade 1)<br>Cross Country Chase <br>County Hurdle
<br>Now I know this may not be everybody’s cup of tea but I reckon as a solution it might work – i would be interested in others thoughts
Best from Singapore – do you know a Festival visitor who travelled further??
Mate of mine came from Oz, and never backed a winner!<br>If this running order came in the Friday would be a non-day, everybody (including me) would go home on the Thursday and watch Friday on the box, and the crowd would be down 30%. The only reason we stay at present is because the Gold Cup is on the Friday.<br>I never thought I’d say this, but I considered not going on the Thursday this year- I can fully understand why many didn’t. Gillespie is no friend of the NH fan.
I saw Gillespie being interviewed last week and he was singing the virtues of Cheltenham as a place to conduct business,to conclude a deal,another stop on the prawn sandwich circuit.<br>In my opinion the fourth day dilutes the overall quality of the meeting.Cheltenham aren’t going to say no the additional revenue so whats the solution.My answer would be to take the 6 weakest races and run them on the Friday as they did with the Ascot Heath meeting that was previously run on the Saturday of the Royal meeting-surely this would satisfy the traditionalists and the managements greed for money.
Just as an aside I see the animal rights lot are calling for Gillespie to jump ship because of the deaths – not sure how this works…!? Was he jumping out from behind hurdles pushing them over or something?
I think some people come to some very strange conclusions.
A friend sent me this link – http://www.animalaid.org.uk/press/0603chelt4.htm<br>The facts in it don’t seem to tally with other reports I have read .
Liz<br>
Cracking use of the phrase "raced to death" I’d suggest that a fractured leg is not being raced to death, collapsing from exhaustion may well be though would be interesting to hear how many die of exhaustion or as AA prefer to term it being "raced to death"?
Poetic license at it’s worst.
I really don;t understand some people – the "raced to death" comment got me too. But they forget that these horses are treated better than I am! They live in 5* accomodation with the best feed/shoeing/vet care etc, is this preferable to being chucked rugless out in a field to freeze whilst keeping someones grass down?
Sorry! It just annoys me, and most horses I’d say, enjoy racing.
Argh! <br>Liz
I’m surprised nobody on here has picked up on Gillespie’s comments looking back on the meeting. Referring to the fact that a number of former regulars now restrict themselves to attending for just two days, he says: "I don’t see it as a negative at all. It just means more people get the opportunity to attend. We are broadening our base, which must be a positive. When we had a three-day Festival, a number would stay the extra day, but now we have four days, they are staying for just two. Our records show that our number of customers has expanded by between ten and fifteen per cent and many of those are newcomers at the Festival."
He goes on: "Another interesting feature is that many leave after the third or fourth race, yet when there were seven races, they would be staying until at least the fifth."
He appears to regard as causes for optimism the fact that a number of his regulars are cutting back on their Festival attendances and the fact that of those who do attend many are buggering off halfway through the card.
Perhaps "in denial" is the wrong phrase. "In cloud cuckoo land" may be more appropriate.
(Edited by guskennedy at 8:23 pm on Mar. 24, 2006)
According to yesterday’s Guardian those in charge at Aintree are now thinking of extending the National meeting from three to four days. This is getting ridiculous.
The Galway Races is a week. The Puchestown Festival is five days. And around the world (cf. Deaville, Melbourne et al) the focus is on short seasons of racing at a track. I reckon its inevitable the Cheltenham Festival will go to 5 days before too long.
I understand what Gillespie is saying…
Like it or not, hes simply stating that withr egulars cutting down a bit, theres more space for others to attend, given that all 3 days were nearly always booked out
Whether you agree or not is different matter
Im still of the opinion that the capacity should be cut by 5000 (even with that awful centaur centre) and the 4 day festival would have ben a good opportunity to do so
Ive stood on too many crammed terraces over the years (remebr watching one match at Cambrdige completely side on for 90 minutes) to get a buzz out of what is a scrum
Quote: from guskennedy on 5:04 pm on Mar. 26, 2006[br]According to yesterday’s Guardian those in charge at Aintree are now thinking of extending the National meeting from three to four days. This is getting ridiculous. <br>
<br>I’d love to see where they’re going to find enough fresh ground down the back straight of the Mildmay course for four days, especially as Aintree is more likely to get soft and stay soft than Cheltenham given a soggy winter / early spring.
Someone will have to throw me a bone on this – is this a problem at the Irish festivals? Do they use fresh ground after a couple of days, or is it accepted that anyone racing their horses on the final day will have to put up with nearly a week’s worth of wear and tear underfoot?
gc
(Edited by graysonscolumn at 3:07 pm on Mar. 27, 2006)
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
I reckon its inevitable the Cheltenham Festival will go to 5 days before too long.
Cheesus!
They needed to create some mediocre races to go from 21 to 24.
What sort of pish are they going to make up to take it to 30?
Steve
Quote: from stevedvg on 1:58 pm on Mar. 27, 2006[br]What sort of pish are they going to make up to take it to 30?
<br>Maybe they’ll go back to the days of dividing races and having two versions of the same race. Would make sense with the handicaps with so many getting balloted out this year. And it would be great news for Trends followers!
Is the Ryanair taking away potential Gold Cup runners? It obviously is and this year’s Gold Cup is not the race I am looking forward to most at the Festival. We need The Listener in the Gold Cup to make it a true test and although Denman can make the running, will Sam Thomas be given the instruction to do so? Last year’s Gold Cup was run at a dawdle (nine seconds slower than War Of Attrition’s GC) and without The Listener we could have another slowly run affair.
Of course we have seen the new staying novice hurdle clashing with the Ballymore hurdle with BJK’s connections swerving a clash with Denman and Nicanor. The Festival has definitely been diluted and although a veterans finale has been banded about on here (and it sounds a good idea) even this may take runners away from the William Hill, Kim Muir or even the Gold Cup.
Choice in not necessarily a good thing! I liked the three day Festival.
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