48 hr decs for the Festival

And cause lots of non runners, meaning lots of trainers miss an opportunity for a run

I'm in two minds about it. I've wanted it for years, but I feel something will be lost from the excitement of Monday lunch, going through all the finalised cards for the first day, feeling that it is all but upon us. It's not going to be quite the same having those cards a good 50 hours before the start, especially since it's falling on mother's day and I shall have other things to do.

I'm in two minds about it. I've wanted it for years, but I feel something will be lost from the excitement of Monday lunch, going through all the finalised cards for the first day, feeling that it is all but upon us. It's not going to be quite the same having those cards a good 50 hours before the start, especially since it's falling on mother's day and I shall have other things to do.

48 hours isnt enough, should be 96 hours IMO

Not sure why the introduction of 48 hr decs should cause "lots of non runners" although I do recall the system was cynically abused by Paul Nicholls back in 2004 when it was last adopted. He declared Rigmarole in the County Hurdle for the sole purpose of keeping eventual winner Sporazene's weight down and ensuring that a good number of fancied horses had to run from out of the handicap. Rigmarole had run in the Champion hurdle earlier in the week and was pulled out of the race either the day before or on the morning of the County race, thus ensuring that the weights couldn't be raised.

There will also be reserves for the first time so any NRs will presumably trigger the entry of reserves into the race proper (presumably only if NR notification takes place before a predetermined cutoff time). That could be interesting from a betting perspective if a fancied runner makes it onto the reserve list and then at the last minute gets to run in a race on declaration of a NR.