Cheltenham Festival anyone feeling

I agree the 3 day meeting generated hotter races

unfortunately it is more likely to go to 5 days rather than 3 if there is a change because there is money to be made

VERY MUCH HIT AND MISS ON A/P front  ....needs sorted out  long before now  with sigle  entries  by a certain date    .

particularly  bad this  year  with drop outs and  ,not  qualified  ,multiple  entries  and  betfair  trainers  blogs  ,, leaving a lot be desired  ,extra day  has weakened  the  festivals best  races  .....or  were best races  ...?..O nly thing is  people can  get a week off  no problem ,,so  more liable in years ahead to  go longer  ?

There certainly appears to be a lack of depth to the big races.

Will get more satisfactions out of the hdcps I think

Maybe each night on here I read yet another gd horse will swerve proper competition, its hard enough getting all the great horses to get to festival uninjured

If it goes 5 days will be awful, think am looking forward to the hdcps this year competitive and we have had none of the shennigans going on with horses targets being constantly switched.

Onwards still be good but not great for me as things stand gd luck all

will be laying heavily based on trends mostly

and punting big prices in the handicaps

Its a shame that big races are being diluted by newer races. Personally I think it'd be much better if they dropped a few races (new Jewson and the 3m novice hurdle come to mind). You only have to look at the below par QMCC and Gold Cup are this year to make a good case against the Ryanair too.

I would drop the Jewson Novices, the Albert Bartlett, the Fred Winter, the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys and the Mares Race

MAYBE JUST MAYBE ,  the media  will become  more friendly to  the racing game  ,only ever ran out of  newspapers  ...in the shop  , when bad news  prevailed  ?  very few wagers on horses this past while  thanks  to  whip  ,,,yes or ...no .  national  2011 did  us no favours  either  ,  tinkering too much with that as well  , none of it  for  the better,  as  little difference  .?

My hdcp fancies backed already Orsipus nrnb 25/1 ew Coral cup and Pertemps 25/1 ew hopefully Coral

Sunnyhillboy Kim Muir 16/1 nrnb and 20/1 e/w on here

Cantlow 20/1 ew nrnb Pertemps

Oeiseu de Nuit 16/1 ew nrnb Grand Annual

Moon Dice   12/1 ew
Citizenship 12/1 ew  County Hurdle

Nearest the Pin 20/1 ew Centenary Novice

Have few bets for the other novice events so here's hoping Moscow Mannion at 16/1 ew would be nice for Bumper as well

nice list governor   I  WILLHAVE A FEW QUID  E/W  ON THAT LOT FOR AN INTEREST  cheers ,

4 I  RECOGNISE OVER LAST 6 OR SO WEEKS  nearest pin and cantlow  not so sure about  , but will wait till wed  after noon as will see still in running ..  3 I have jotted down to do  something with so  will add rest to  them .

you can add in Rileyev if he goes in the Byrne Plate - 25/1 ew but wait for final decs coz he needs a few to come out

Orsippus last two festivals 3rd both occasions won at Aintree festival starting prices 33/1 33/1 40/1

Oeiseu de Nuit won last year almost beat finnigans Rainbow at Kempton in dec will love the pace travels like a dream

Sunnyhillboy last two festivals 2nd and fell backed into 6/1f and 9/2f might have him in the wrong race but Kim Muir is the chase event, feel it would be unlikely he would go to Aintree on the back of two hurdle races

Moon dice bit unlucky from recollection in greatwood hurdle in November /december  might have the wrong race but watched its run at Chelt would have finished closer.

Pays your money and all that but all have proven chelt form and 3 of these have run v well at the festival.

Ran well Rileyev last weekend I think

Forgot Divers as well at 12/1 nrnb Murphy horse won well last year for Byrne better just check all my bets as I will end up forgetting I have got some of these and punt others or double my stakes

totally agree with ACStafford.

We will never go back to 3 days now so maybe they could think about having less grade 1 races - forcing grade 1 winners to compete with penalties in the 3m novice hurdle and ryanair for example forces them into competition... even think about making the Jewson a grade 3.

or make it a 2 day festival.....when you die and go to racing heaven this is what's on .....

Supreme Novices' Hurdle Hurdle Cheltenham 3319 2m ½f 4yo +
Arkle Challenge Trophy Chase Cheltenham 3219 2m 5yo +
Champion Hurdle Hurdle Cheltenham 3319 2m ½f 4yo +
RSA Chase Chase Cheltenham 4929 3m ½f 5yo +
Queen Mother Champion Chase Chase Cheltenham 3219 2m 5yo +
National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup Chase Cheltenham 6437 4m 5yo
Champion Bumper Flat Cheltenham 3319 2m ½f 4yo * 4–6yo


Triumph Hurdle Hurdle Cheltenham 3420 2m 1f 4yo
Ryanair Chase Chase (grade 2) Cheltenham 4225 2m 5f 
World Hurdle Hurdle Cheltenham 4828 3m 4yo +
Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase Cheltenham 5331 3m 2½f 5yo +
Neptune Investment Management Hurdle Hurdle
Christie's Foxhunter Chase Chase Cheltenham 5331 3m 2½f
Vincent O'Brien County Handicap Hurdle Hurdle Cheltenham 3420

The question is - who in the media will have the cojones to stand up and tell it like it is.

Someone prepared to step off the gravy train and call Cheltenham to account over this wholesale embracing of the 'more racing = better racing' mantra?

good thread  roger  .. gravy train  stays on track   ,punters to the trough  , take some of this  .becomes like a drug  every year ...............A/P   on it's knees  ,back to  3 days  quality  , less choices ?

@ ming

that might be heaven for you but I want all the handicaps with 4 (and often 5) places paid - this is where the big money is to be made

so 3 days with the Coral Cup, Byrne Group, Grand Annual, William Hill, Kim Muir etc

Dropping the Ryanair to grade 2 would be a good idea, might help strengthen the QMCC in particular.

Agree with many of the sentiments here BUT whereas I used to feel depressed at the end of the 3 days because it was all over, I now feel at the end of 4 days that "that was good but I have now had enough" which is a better feeling!

Under the 3 day festival the World Hurdle was just a stayers race and did not have the prestige that it now has. If you remember it used to be run on the first day.
4 days is fine but 6 races not 7 that way we could cut 3 races.
We have seen some great Ryanair races and the Gold Cup has not always been as great as it has over the last few years.

Just wait till they introduce a 2m4f hurdle race. Inevitable.

Gutted about Peddlers going Jewson, didn't have a penny on but feel robbed...the arkle looked quality...and it's just been weakened significantly.

That said I still think it will be one of the races of the festival.

reckon you will see the performance of the Festival Ian

The mares race is a pile of nonsense as is cross country garbage as is novice handicap and do we need the jewson?

Agree with most about there being way too many races and the fields are weakening as a consequence. IMO there should be no ryanair, whilst it is a good race in its own right, i would much rather see all the runners either in the champion chase or the gold cup and make them fields stronger. You could have a gold cup with kauto, long run and the rest of them, but then add in riverside theartre, albertas run, medermit, captain chris. How much of a stronger gold cup is it already. Then you could add noble prince and sommersby to the champion, would add a couple of intresting runners to a very weak field.

Same with the jewson, peddlers, crystal bonus and for non stop would all add more to the arkle. Sir des champs, solix and champion court would all make the rsa a better race.

I really hope they dont add a 2 1/2 mile hurdle. If there was one this year then you could take away from the champion rock on ruby, oscars wells, thousand stars n poss overturn and from the world hurdle you could take oscar whiskey, voler la vadette, so young, zaidpour, mikeal d'hagunet and so on. Now dont get me wrong, if all the horses i listed were too race then it would be a cracker, but the champion and world hurdles would be very poor and severley lacking in depth. Especially in a year like this when youve got too very strong favs in hurricane fly and big bucks, the opposition would just end up running scared and going for the easier option.

Cheltenhams about champions.

Sorry hardy but the  Ryanair takes horses from the Gold Cup does not stand up. In the 6 years of the Ryanair
Before Ryanair Gold Cup Runners 98
After Ryanair Gold Cup Runners 107

Just thought that if the Ryanair had been around back in the day then Dawn Run would never have even competed in a GC.

It is due to this dilution that lower grade handicappers attempt to get the place money now IMO (therefore bigger fields). The worse the race the more runners you get at graded level.

quote hardy - I really hope they dont add a 2 1/2 mile hurdle.

that would not be good.


what we really need is a 2 mile 2f novice chase, of course that does not play into the strengths of the many 2m 1f beasts out there but we can add that when we get to a ten day festival. It'd solved McCains problem this year wouldn't it.

Steamship     06 Mar 12 15:23 
Sorry hardy but the  Ryanair takes horses from the Gold Cup does not stand up.

Well im sorry but it does. The four horses i mentioned, riverside theartre, albertas run, medermit, captain chris, also forgot to mention rubi light, they would all run in the gold cup if the ryanair didnt exist. So theres 5 its taken away for a start. As MtM says, its due to the ryanair taking away 5 horses of such caliber that more and more no hopers are takeing part in the gold cup in the  hope of sneaking a place.

it takes runners away from the QM as well no?

I remember joking with a friend back in the early noughties that Native Upmanship would hose up in a two and a half mile chase each year.

No what would happen is they would go to Aintree or Punchestown or run in The Cathcart basically The Ryanair.
Why do you want to see specialist 2 and a half mile horses in The Gold Cup? When did one last win it?

As for no hopers sneaking a place, we are just coming to an of a great era for 3mile plus chasers whereas the 90s there were no world beaters.Look at the ratings of the recent winners and placed horses compared to the previous decade.

I honestly think The Ryanair has been a success. It has produced close finishes and a Gold Cup winner.

Dont get me wrong the Ryanair is a good race and very well contested, but i dont think you can disagree with the fact that if the race didnt exist then the champion chase and the gold cup would be stronger as a result. Thats just what i pesonally would like, the gold cup n champion too be proper championship races that define the best from the best, no horses being given the chance to take an easier option, other people will like the way it is now. Over fences i can just about accept it, but if they ever create a 2 1/2 hurdle it would be a disaster imo.

Not feeling flat at all. Absolutely buzzing for it to all start. You can feel the anticipation building up in the town just by walking around. Not one race that I'm not looking forward to.

COME ON!

The Ryanair was there though but as The Cathcart, look at the winners and you would see that horses could have run in CC and GC. They re established the race, whereas it looked old and tired. The World Hurdle has improved massiveley since it has it's own spotlight. 


I was initially against 4 days and I think they could drop 3 races, I don't want to see the inevitable 5th day. They should also put the County as last race. Overall though I think a 4th day of Cheltenham is far better than the Friday at Fakenham, what a come down those Fridays were.

when the 5 day decs appear is when it really kicks in.

For me I start looking forward to Cheltenham on Midlands National Day

Grade 1's are fine as they are.Dont need horses running in thbe QM or GC if they aint running at their distance,they just become virtual no hopers as Albertas Run was the only time he tried the GC.Ryanair has been a success,and the race looks good again this year.
The top 2 milers will still be in the QM and the top 3milers will still be in the GC.
Having more runners that aint got much chance at that distance does not make the race better imo.

As for the festival as a whole,its ok now i think, but no more changes please,and certainly not a 5 day with Saturday!!

3 days was absolute perfection - 4 days is already too diluted, when they add the 5th day the Festival will lose its lustre completely and just be a a run of the mill event akin to Aintree, Punchestown and Galway

All in the name of GREED

Ming_the_Merciless

Talking of heaven days racing, I remember the Thur and Fri after the abandoned Wed card 3/4 years ago, there will never be a better two days racing anywhere in the world...

stake - were else can u get 11 grade 1's  in the same meeting, u mention aintree- only 5 grade 1's over the course of the meeting there

The problem is that not many people can handle going racing 4 or 5 days on the spin, which means that they have to be selective about which days they attend, and therefore end up not seeing races like say The Gold Cup.