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If the Cheltenham executive is stuck for a new race they might wish to follow Stockton’s example.
In 1841, the last race of the Stockton meeting was confined to agricultural horses ridden by ships’ captains.
Nathan we all know when the Qatar World Cup comes you will be watching it and placing 1st player to score bets on it. Stop with this false virtue signalling please.
If they bring back the novices’ handicap chase that was removed and introduce a veterans’ chase then we have the two races needed. Neither of these would be likely to be significantly detrimental to other races.
I agree about the Novices Handicap Chase a bit. My problem is that Cheltenham should be about Championship races and not about bypassing each other prior to that or fiddling handicap marks just to get into a race.
Don’t see why Veterans should run at the Festival in their own race.
Cheltenham should be something like a Tennis or Golf Slam. The best of the best competing against each other and providing thrilling and close finishes. And prior to that they shouldn’t avoid each other en route to the meeting.
If there had been a veterans race this year, would Vintage Clouds have run in it instead of in the Ultima?
Can’t tell you that, since I don’t know the conditions of a new Veterans race. Trip, weights and so on.
Considering that Sue Smith was badly out of form for the entire season, you could never know. Probably Trevor Hemmings would have still run him in the Ultima.
Assuming it was over 3 miles or longer then there must be a fair chance of this. However, Vintage Clouds doesn’t fit the typical profile of a modern Ultima winner or, indeed, runner. I’d imagine a veterans’ chase would steal occasional runners from the Ultima, Kim Muir, cross-country, and even the Gold Cup. I doubt the effect would be very pronounced though.
Not every race at the Festival is a championship, and it never has been. I can’t see why there shouldn’t be a race at Cheltenham focused on veterans given how many there are focused on novices. As I’ve said further up the chain, I’m happy with the current four days structure, but the change to five days seems pretty much inevitable, and I think a veterans’ chase would be much preferable to, say, a Ryanair hurdle.
Marlingford, I wonder what Capt. Tim Foster would have said even to a four day Festival….
I just don’t want Cheltenham to become a meeting with too many handicaps. This is what happening to Royal Ascot, but it’s no problem once you start concentrating on the “old” race card.
The problem, is that by making ‘The Festival’ the be all and end all – you make the rest of the season less competitive, and probably less important. There is nothing worse than uncompetitive 4-6 runner graded races, with an odds on favourite. And then there is the possibility that some media, pay very little attention to the season, only bother come March, and Cheltenham.
Which is what happens with cycling; most of the mainstream media ignore the spring classics, and the Giro, but come the Tour de France, they all turn up giving it all kinds of coverage. And then 6 weeks later when it’s La Vuelta, they’re nowhere to be seen.
What is needed, is not a 5th day, but a proper Winter mid season Festival; Ascot’s pre Christmas & Kempton’s 2 day meeting aren’t quite hitting the mark as a ‘festival’.
“I just don’t want Cheltenham to become a meeting with too many handicaps. This is what happening to Royal Ascot”.
Yes, the balance between Group races and handicaps at the Royal meeting is not right now. There was one day which finished with three wide open races that looked impossible to solve. Sorry, just not interested.
“What is needed, is not a 5th day, but a proper Winter mid season Festival; Ascot’s pre Christmas & Kempton’s 2 day meeting aren’t quite hitting the mark as a ‘festival’”.
I believe they should make Kempton a proper mid-season festival. Upgrade the Desert Orchid chase to a Grade 1. Transfer the Long Walk and the 2 mile handicap hurdle from Ascot (it already has enough big races).
The British racing authorities need to show a bit of imagination. They have been caught out by their Irish counterparts twice. Once by the creation of Irish Champions Weekend (grabbing the prime September slot before the Arc) and once by the Dublin Racing Festival (creating the perfect trials for Cheltenham).
Most of the British NH season is a sub-standard joke and the Ascot Champions Day is too late in the season and on unsuitable ground.
The fact is the British NH season is a joke. You’ve got the current most high profile trainer Hendo, rubbishing a prestigous race like the Tingle Creek by stating “its all about one day in March for this horse” etc.
I’ll soon be flat only I think thanks to attitudes like this. If people like Henderson don’t care, why should I?
BUY THE SUN
Very true AndyRAC.
Horse racing is our second largest spectator sport because of the other 360 odd days of the year.
The sport does seems fairly solid still, but you wonder with a lot of poor decision making by those at the top, the supposed custodians of horse racing, at some point are these ‘tinkerers’ going to do something so damaging to horse racing it never recovers.
Possibly due to its comparatively lowly origins and being primarily a winter sport, the Jumps has never had a series of high profile “Festivals” throughout the season in the same way that the Flat does. This didn’t seem such an issue years ago, but a “Cheltenham or nothing” approach seems to now afflict some of the biggest trainers and owners. The problems that this causes have been further magnified by the modern approach of only running top horses a handful of times per season.
Trying to build some other meetings into “Festivals” seems a good idea to me, but it feels like some quite radical changes are going to be needed to reverse Cheltenham’s dominance.
I’d say the veterans chase would need to be over an extreme trip so as to make it different from the Ultima and Kim Muir. Could also be marketed as a Grand National trial with a bonus for going on to win the Grand National (either that season or the next).
What is the longest race Cheltenham stage during the season?
Value Is EverythingI do not expect Uttoxeter will be in favour of a long distance chase just before its big meeting of the year.
The Midlands National will need a new fixture slot.
I think it used to be run in late April anyway – after the Scottish National and the Whitbread?
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