Cheltenham Festival
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Can I suggest that holders of Tattersalls tickets have a yellow star painted on their foreheads on entry, much as the Nazi's did to mark out the Jews as an inferior race. As the new development work is aimed at superior members and club ticket holders perhaps the viewing area in front of the Guinness village could be renamed the Auschwitz enclosure. At least the Tattersalls race would then know where it stands in the eyes of the Cheltenham executive.
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how much did you pay for tatts tickets ?
you can also watch from the betting ring, reasonable view from the front i would imagine |
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Sounds like a plan to me.
That way the Stewards would be able to spot the Tatts patrons gatecrashing Club and strolling round bold as brass without badges. |
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£35, not money well spent imo. I might think of getting club tickets next year but then again I might swerve it altogether. Obviously you're getting the best horses but I find going racing in Ireland and France a far more pleasant experience nowadays.
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for an extra £25 you could get a club ticket
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I have to disagree.
I think Cheltenham have done wonders with the redevelopment and focus on improving the customer experience. Gold Cup Day 2010 was an absolute trial and borderline dangerous, the number of people they had shoehorned into there. I would never NOT go but I was definitely considering moving from my usual place in the Club stands to somewhere where I wasn't in danger of being shoved over in a crowd surge. Happily Cheltenham have reduced the numbers, enhanced the facilities (bladder management is far easier now  ) and made it easier to get around (I was able to see a finish, shoot through the Mill House Bar and be down in the winners enclosure to cheer in the placed horses, never mind the winner, on several occasions). It's an absolute pleasure going racing there once more - and compares very favourably with Longchamp on Arc Day and (in particular) The Curragh on Irish Derby Day. |
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We went in Club on Weds for first time (at the Fez, been before). Found getting onto the steps remarkably easy via the back of the Golden Miller bar which then runs over the concourse onto the general (open to peasants) viewing plaza, and except before and after the first race, getting a drink and a space in there was easy.
Only thing with the viewing steps is those bl**dy pillars. For the top price ticket, you get a sometimes brilliant, but at times an obscured view. That's the next project then !  |
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Well there are two superior attitudes (reference to peasants etc.) that demonstrate the problem with racing in the UK. One of the advantages of Tattersall's was that you avoided the rogerthebutler type of inbred who resorts to his manservant's ring as he can't find **** tight enough within the law.
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Autocue - tongue firmly in cheek ref peasants. We spent Tues/Thurs in Best Mate.
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Autocue
In your headlong rush to be rude, you've ignored the fact I was agreeing with you. If you pay for Tatts badge you should have a decent enough experience commensurate with your outlay - but should not be getting something for nothing by gatecrashing Club. |
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how do cheltenham get on with health and safety when they do not know how many people are in or should be in tatts ( or the centaur) at anyone time
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Not many in the Centaur on ladies day,and able to get online this year.Best festival experience yet for me £35 well spent.
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jasey are you saying you watch the racing in the centaur ??
if so, you might as well watch on your tv at home apologies if i've misunderstood |
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why are people derided for watching on the big screen in centaur,but nothing said of the now 100,s of owners,trainers,media folk who watch the big screen in the parade ring,plus the 1000,s watching tv,s in private boxes corporate etc
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The party i was with did but they're not bothered about racing that much,Bangor or Cheltenham makes no difference to them.
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We were in Club but watched the bumper in the Centaur in advance of the Band being on. Stood right next to Jeff W**ks pitch watching him operate for 10 mins before the off. Odious little fellow.
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OK roger, apologies for being rude. I wouldn't condone anyone trying to get into club without paying for it. I'm comparing two things.
1. The value I'm getting now for my money compared to what I was getting when I began attending Cheltenham in 1990. Absolutely no comparison as the area I can use has been restricted and there are twice as many people using it. I recall QM chase day drawing a crowd of about 26,000 which was ideal for true racing fans as getting to the paddock, ring, stands and winner's enclosure was easy. 2. Whether the differential in ticket price is widening with the differential in quality of the experience. Absolutely not in my opinion as Tats tickets are rising at the same pace as club to pay for the better facilities provided in club. As I said next year it's a choice of club or swerve as the value for money in Tats is now rubbish. As for watching the racing in the Centaur, each to their own but I'd rather go to a racing pub with friends and watch the action on Racing UK. |
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Some of the things they've done with Tatts seem engineered to make people want to upgrade (although downgrade might be just as likely). You used to be able to bypass around the back of the guinness village but not now without a club ticket. Consequently the guinness village is now a ridiculous gridlock and hopeless for everyone regardless of what ticket you've got
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I had that experience as well. If you walk through to the Guinness village from the viewing area afforded to Tats ticket holders you can no longer turn right without a club ticket. Instead you have to turn left and press through the crowd making full use of the outdoor boozer. Cheltenham is all about making money nowadays and there is increasing talk of a fifth day. I saw an article in the Racing Post saying what a great success the four day festival is, and the performance of Vautour in one of the added races was used as evidence. How good was the novice Vautour versus Un De Sceaux or Don Poli? We would have known the answer to one of those possible match ups with the old format. Why on earth would anyone applaud less competitive racing?
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Because the Racing Post is the cheerleader for vested commercial interest - and that is very rarely the punter or the racegoer.
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I thought the having to walk through the Guiness Village was a joke. Also the toilets in there were a couple of old portacabins, and there were nowhere near enough for the volume of people.
When will Cheltenham Racecourse learn to let people take a drink on course? It'll stop huge amounts of people congregating in small areas. |
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^^^ agree but won't happen when they are charging £5 a pop. I went to Best Mate enclosure (for 14th year) I'm getting fed up of it viewing restricted at fez. I love the other meetings where I can do what I want. Feel sp restricted & barely see a horse run all week which seems so wrong.
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We went the Best Mate on Thursday. A lot better view, more toilets and space.
Two problems though: the pissed up stag do mentality in there and the enclosure is sponsored by the Sun. Think we're going to give the festival a miss next year. Agree completely H. A lot of the festival passes me by when I'm there. I think watch it on C4/RUK and go to Punchestown instead. |
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I don't want to come across as a pr*ck here but it does amaze me that so many people who clearly love racing and take the time to post so many interesting, detailed posts in the build-up to Cheltenham then go to the meeting and end up in Best Mate or Tatts and complain about how bad it is.
You're absolutely right about it offering comparatively bad value, and it isn't right - Cheltenham should be doing better. But for the sake of an extra 30 quid per ticket, just buy Club, get the best facilities and watch the best four days of the year in comfort! Surely that's a better option than saving 200 quid and watching it from home, missing out on the atmosphere that is genuinely unrivalled anywhere else all year? |
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PS - Wellchief, not sure if you've done Punchestown before? I moved to Ireland two years ago and have been singing the praises of Irish meetings ever since - tremendous value in comparison to UK tracks, great racing, much friendlier and less elitist... But, that said, the one disappointment I've had was Punchestown festival. Overcrowded, terrible traffic (as bad as Cheltenham last year), small fields of course, and full of people boozing without an interest in the racing. Reminded me of Royal Ascot
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Going for the first time this year mate. When the Fly crossed the line in the CH we said we've got to see him in his own back yard before he retires. Booked our flights last week.
Re Cheltenham, we're always in a big group. A mix of racing and non racing people so we have to think of the group because we can't expect everyone to pay £70+ per day when for a lot of them we couldn't justify the extra cash. No matter where I was, I miss the build up and interviews before each race on C4/RUK, because you basically stand round for 30mins, watch a race, stand round for 30 mins, watch a race etc when at the track. Also because the screens are so far away at the centre of the course you need binoculars to see them properly (well I do anyway), so you miss quite a lot of what's actually going on in the race. Don't get me wrong, I love this sport, love trials day, paddy power meeting etc but I'm going off actually attending the festival. |
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Hope you have a good time at Punchestown - best advice is to treat it like Cheltenham and get there early as it can be very stressy trying to get in to the course. There was a bad accident last year on one of the major roads leading up to the course (but this was some 20 miles away) and there were still coaches of people arriving after the third race :(
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tomdeane • March 24, 2015 9:05 AM GMT
I don't want to come across as a pr*ck here but it does amaze me that so many people who clearly love racing and take the time to post so many interesting, detailed posts in the build-up to Cheltenham then go to the meeting and end up in Best Mate or Tatts and complain about how bad it is. You're absolutely right about it offering comparatively bad value, and it isn't right - Cheltenham should be doing better. But for the sake of an extra 30 quid per ticket, just buy Club, get the best facilities and watch the best four days of the year in comfort! Surely that's a better option than saving 200 quid and watching it from home, missing out on the atmosphere that is genuinely unrivalled anywhere else all year?...Not taken intoaccount that friends may be in the other enclosure. |
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Chief me and you in Punchestown
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I'll buy you a pint of the black stuff :)
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Tom the Friday at Punchestown to some degree mirrors GC day at Cheltenham in that you have a bigger crowd a lot of drinking and a younger crowd out for the day although it has good racing. Overall Tuesday is normally one of the better days.
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We're going the Friday purely to see the Fly, but I would have prefered a different day for race and crowd wise.
Still can't wait for it though. |
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you going this year chief?
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could be The Fly's last run?
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Yeah mate, booked our flights the other day and got accommodation in Dublin for Friday night and flying back Saturday.
We'll probably be giving Cheltenham a miss next year and doing 3 days at Punchy instead so this will be good to scope out what its like. |
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enjoy it pal. Let me know how it is never been.
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Cheers mate. Knowing my luck the fly will be a non runner!!
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