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If you had the choice, which Festival race would you omit in order to improve the festival as a whole.
For me it’d be the Ryanair Chase. It’s no more than a Gold Cup consolation and all it serves to do is dilute the big race itself.
The Ryanair doesn’t dilute anything. It is a Grade 1 for two and a half mile horses and more than justifies itself. Why would you want a string of horses running over the wrong trip just because they don’t have a race that suits them?
You would rather have a cross country race for horses who for the most part are well past their sell buy date and a couple of mare’s races when it is inevitable there is only going to be a limited number of top class mares? Those are the three races to look at, nothing else.
Personally, I wouldn’t get rid of anything.
If you had the choice, which Festival race would you omit in order to improve the festival as a whole.
For me it’d be the Ryanair Chase. It’s no more than a Gold Cup consolation and all it serves to do is dilute the big race itself.
Agree, Ryanair a bad idea. If you look at the top of the market they should all be running elsewhere.
Un De Sceuax – Champion Chase
Empire Of Dirt – Gold Cup
Uxixandre – Champion ChaseIt would make Champion Chase & Gold Cup better and if you are not up to that level and are most efficient at 2 1/2 miles, run in the Plate and give weight away which would further enhance that race and make it more of a spectacle.
And if there was no Ryanair we could have had Vautour battling Don Cossack up the hill in the Gold Cup, Uxixandre sprinting past Dodging Bullets in the Champion Chase, Dynaste defying top weight in the Plate and Cue Card could already be a Gold Cup champion.
If you had the choice, which Festival race would you omit in order to improve the festival as a whole.
For me it’d be the Ryanair Chase. It’s no more than a Gold Cup consolation and all it serves to do is dilute the big race itself.
Agree, Ryanair a bad idea. If you look at the top of the market they should all be running elsewhere.
Un De Sceuax – Champion Chase
Empire Of Dirt – Gold Cup
Uxixandre – Champion ChaseAbsolute nonsense. All three are running in the race that gives them the best chance of winning a Grade 1, although Empire Of Dirt is the obvious winner.
how can this be nonsense? at the moment Douvan needs just to complete to win. If both Un De Sceuax and Uxixandre were in the race, we would have exactly that.
how can this be nonsense? at the moment Douvan needs just to complete to win. If both Un De Sceuax and Uxixandre were in the race, we would have exactly that.
What price do you think Douvan would drift out to if those two were confirmed runners? They are too slow. The Tingle Creek and Clarence House form is rubbish. The only way to make the Champion Chase competitive is to switch Altior.
Equally there is no point running potential non-stayers in the Gold Cup. You already have Sizing John, Champagne West and Bristol De Mai? How many more do you want?
It is about doing what’s best for the horse. Empire Of Dirt is 10 and maybe will have one shot at winning a Grade 1. The ideal race for him is the Ryanair.
But as Michael O’Leary said last year, as much as he loves the Ryanair, it’s not the Gold Cup. Surely you must admit that had Vautour run in the Gold Cup last year, that would have definitely enhanced it
Equally there is no point running potential non-stayers in the Gold Cup. You already have Sizing John, Champagne West and Bristol De Mai? How many more do you want?
[/quote]Big statement Stilvi,,I think all 3 of the above will stay easily,one could actually Win it.
As for race to get rid of..’Fred Winter’ for me not ‘Ryanair’ thats a 21/2m specialists race for horses like ‘Taquin du seuill 33/1 e/w and Fondmort.
I would also get rid of any form of cross country race.
Getting rid of the Ryanair simply because its mid distance between the Champion and the Gold Cup seems unfair to me . It’s like saying there should be no Eclipse for instance because it is neither over Guineas or Derby distance.
What was the name of that poor horse back in the day, of David Nicholson’s that never really had his day in the sun as he was best over 2 1/2 miles and the Ryanair didn’t exist. Was it Very Promising ?I would also get rid of any form of cross country race.
Getting rid of the Ryanair simply because its mid distance between the Champion and the Gold Cup seems unfair to me . It’s like saying there should be no Eclipse for instance because it is neither over Guineas or Derby distance.
What was the name of that poor horse back in the day, of David Nicholson’s that never really had his day in the sun as he was best over 2 1/2 miles and the Ryanair didn’t exist. Was it Very Promising ?It wasn’t Very Promising,he was a proper 21/2m Chaser who would have been tailor-made for the ‘Ryanair’.
The flaw in your analogy Coggy is that horses can, and do, run in all three of the races you quoted. I just think to have a richly-endowed and prestigious race over that trip the day before the Gold Cup is daft. To get back to your analogy, it’d be like having the Derby on the Saturday and the Eclipse on the Sunday.
The flaw in your analogy Coggy is that horses can, and do, run in all three of the races you quoted. I just think to have a richly-endowed and prestigious race over that trip the day before the Gold Cup is daft. To get back to your analogy, it’d be like having the Derby on the Saturday and the Eclipse on the Sunday.
And the flaw in that one is that is the only thing that Flat racing has that is remotely equivalent is Royal Ascot and they have the Queen Anne Stakes, Prince Wales’s Stakes and Hardwicke Stakes and various specific age related races at those distances as well. Perhaps you might want to dismantle that meeting as well?
For those that like the Ryanair why aren’t you crying out for there to be a 2 1/2 mile hurdle?
And you were chuffed that we never got to see Vautour tackle Don Cossack or Sprinter Sacre?
What was the name of that poor horse back in the day, of David Nicholson’s that never really had his day in the sun as he was best over 2 1/2 miles and the Ryanair didn’t exist. Was it Very Promising ?
It certainly was Very Promising; he had a fine Festival record between 1984 and 1988 without ever winning there- third in Dawn Run’s Champion Hurdle, third again in Boreen Prince’s Arkle, second to Buck House and then to Pearlyman in consecutive renewals of the Champion Chase and then third behind Pearlyman (again) and Desert Orchid in the Champion Chase.
Half Free, trained by Fred Winter, is another horse who would have won the Ryanair had it been around back in the 1980s.
With regards to the question, I’d get rid of the cross country chase without a moment’s hesitation.
Coggy; isn’t it an Irish horse you’re thinking of? I can recall people saying for years that he was the best 2 1/2 mile horse around but there wasn’t a Cheltenham race for him. Ah yes; found it..it was Native Upmanship.
I’ve redesigned the Cheltenham Festival with 4 days of 7 races per day
Championship Races – all Grade 1
2 mile hurdle
2.5 mile hurdle
3 mile hurdle
2 mile novice hurdle
2.5 mile novice hurdle
3 mile novice hurdle2 mile chase
2.5 mile chase
3 mile chase
4 mile chase
2 mile novice chase
2.5 mile novice chase
3 mile novice chase
4 mile novice chaseThe remaining 14 races would be handicaps in the same divisions as above, maybe 0-145 or lower for the novices
So I’d be doing away with Cross Country, Foxhunters, mares races, races for amateur or conditional jockeys
The Foxhunters could be moved to that Hunter Chase meeting they have in April (?)
Just do away with the Cross Country
the amateurs and conditional jockeys could take their chance in the open handicaps with their weight allowances
Mares could also run in championship races with their mares allowance if they were good enough or in the handicaps with their normal handicap mark
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