The thing that is ruining the festival for me is the fact you don't know what races certain horses are going in ,

been happening for a few years now .

I hope it don't go to 5 days and the gold cup is run on a Saturday cos that will cripple it imo.

I've been feeling similar to the opening post about the whole jumps season this year to be honest, not had many weekends where something's made me sit up and watch the racing back. As someone mentioned earlier perhaps we are just in a transitional period and I've no doubt come the Supreme il be going mad with excitement but at the moment I'm very "meh" about most of the races at the festival

sounded like the OP was more about not being able to find a bet which is understandable compared to the quality of the horses which to me looks fairly decent. Of the 4 main races we potentially have an above average CH (2013 & 2014 winners) and above average CC (2013 and 2014 winners both entered and 1st and 2nd in the betting), the world Hurdle looks wide open and maybe there isn't a superstar horse and I might argue that the GC is a little bellow what is was in say 2008/2009 (although it does have the most recent KG winner and all the main G1 winners of the year so far).

Maybe the ante-post markets are just getting more efficient over time as betfair matures, more people focus on Cheltenham at the expense of other AP markets. As for WM I am sure as always one or two of his novices who no one could see getting beat will flop (So Young and Pont come to mind), the Neptune never looks a particularly strong race from an AP perspective it always feels like a bit of 2nd class race compared to the Supreme in terms of quality.

Cheltenham is Cheltenham and it's impossible not to get up for the festival.

Punting aside it is upsetting if you can't get up for the greatest of meetings.

I do agree that the punting side has been ruined. Bookies price up the leading prospects months in advance and if they win their trials on route as expected they get shortened and shortened so they become unbackable.
But I feel we are half to blame.

We have been chatting and debating on this forum since October regarding who will win what. So obviously bookies will react to public demand.

I personally haven't contributed much recently as we have been going over the same debates for months.

Betting angles may have gone but the excitement for the meeting remains.

Also knowing which race a novice may run in is not new. It's been going on for years.  The only difference is that so many top prospects are in one yard. I do not blame him for waiting till the last minute to finalise plans.

If this is the only thing in our lives we can complain about we are very fortunate people.
When you see  parents willing to risk their families lives to board a barely floatable ship to find a better life for their family puts it all in prospective.

I've put on two silly Yankees for the festival. One is worth 95G the other 130g. If they come in every penny is going to the Red Cross to help these Middle East families.

RACING is life. BEFORE or AFTER is JUST WAITING.