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most underwhelming Cheltenham ever?
most underwhelming Cheltenham ever?
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Replies: 93
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Neither Mullins nor O Brien's domination is killing off my interest. It is a privilege to witness two training genius's going about their winning ways. They are phenomenons of the modern age.
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Betting-wise, I finished in front so this is not pocket talking but negative factors this year included:-
awful weather awful going Henderson's virus Nicholls' poor form the first two days were anti-climactic (Ballyburn did what was expected) poor punditry poor lead-up (preview circuit; Willie Mullins bingo; late release of handicap weights) The last is odd because objectively it is the same every year but seemed worse this time round. |
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The drop in attendance is down to cost, not the actual racing no matter how much some people would like it to be.
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I feel like it's just Cheltenham festival saturation personally. That we've seen the peak of Cheltenham fever/fervour. As every year comes and goes it now feels like we've seen it all before. This is inevitable as everything in life has a life cycle, it doesn't stay exactly the same as time passes. And it's not much to do with Mullins' dominance, that's just predominately coincidental.
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i dont mind who wins,its the distances uk horses whose trainers think are possible worldies are beaten ,you cant get your head around
as no top irish novices come to uk before chelt and no uknovices run in ire the ratings/form are completely worthless as are form of mullins horses pre xmas, uk trainers have an excuse they dont no how good their horses areand vastly over rated,but despite his winners mullins has loads of fancied horses beaten miles,pulled up in novices and bumpers, like the jockey championship its basically a numbers game buy enough/throw enough **** and enough sticks to forget about those beaten miles/pulled up |
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Yes of course. And shoulda woulda coulda. If Hendo hadn't been blighted one could easily have seen UK horses win CH, CC and the Triumph. But as I wrote I allude to, this is more about having seen the high watermark for the popularity of the CF as an entity. Constitution Hill's absence was a big loss to be fair.
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Cheltenham for me seemed flat at points. There were some good exciting finishes,which was a plus for me.
 From a British racing point of view: Ireland race for the progression of the horse. British Racing run for Bookmaker Profits (they run the show in the UK) When this happens you get one outcome, Irish domination. Mullins is a remarkable trainer and the fitness of his horses astounds me. The tank seems to have more in it after the line. Personally, I didn't feel the Cheltenham magic this year. Most people don't have much money to spend, and you can tell by how they look and act. I see this in society on the trains, buses in the supermarket. I would go to 3 days myself, and make it £30 entry for everyone. |
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does the fitness of the mullins fancied horses in novices,bumpers that are tailed off,pulled up astound you,preseumably logic would say if those horses were trained by uk trainers they,d be getting hammered in low grade handicaps ?
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Not all of his runners, for obvious reasons. Some horses will run a different race each time, horse racing is not an exact science, plenty of luck involved too. In general, “most” of his horses looked fit to me.
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I want to watch the best horses run against each other, back to 3 days and do away with some races
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stable jock in novices alone picked 3 favs that were either tailed off,or pulled up,presumably they got the best training,treatment from mullins
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You can train horses to peak fitness. But on the day for whatever reason they do not perform. And it remains a mystery as to why some horses don't perform as expected. Some horses get out on the wrong side of their stable.!
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Didn’t see much of a problem with the meeting from a racing and betting perspective.
Also the whole season had been run on very soft ground so I was pleased it was the same at the festival. Obviously Constitution Hill was a huge miss and the Champion Chase was a damp squib even before El Fabiolo messed up. Two out of three of the novice hurdles were very competitive and the Gallagher has a history of short price favourites winning even before the introduction of the Albert Bartlett led to smaller fields - Istabraq, French Holly, Barton, Monsignor, Samcro, Envoi Allen etc. The Mullins domination is just one of those things - plenty of expensive horses elsewhere so it’s not just that he is buying all the best prospects. Up to the others to up their game. |
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yep, IE Gid Park, Jukebox yesterday, head scratcher
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if any other top uk trainer/jock combo had trained.ridden
tullyhill readin tommy wrong storm heart failce vega they,d be throwing themselves of the top of stand just a numbers game for mullins no more idea of whats going to win than the rest of us |
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and if you think the bad jump was coming and he never went a yd as mullins said, you could throw in el fab
imagine pumpkin/cobbden,hendo/nico training EL FAB TULLYHILL STORM HEART readin tommy wrong and half a dozen in the bumper |
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I backed Jukebox Jury, too. Anyone ever keep watching the replay back? Wondering how it got caught up the hill?
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Stellar Story over jumped the last flight too
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I started losing interest in Cheltenhan when it went from 3 to 4 days
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Was there any injuries to horses over the four days?
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paddy bren said last week on lucky and lord snooty agreed that cobbden and bowen had got the english jocks to calm down race more slowly ,like according to paddy they do in ire,if their going slow in ire how come the fancied horsesare a distance in front of the rages after half a mile and how come the supposed faster pace.better ground [ usually ] doesnt catch them out
wheres the evidence of day to day racing in uk been run at far to faster pace, cobbden is help setting that pace on 99% of pumpkins novice hurdler,s, doesnt make any sense to me |
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Thought it was a fairly routine Cheltenham comparable with most recent years, Mullins dominates, irish get most winners and generally best horses won best races with the odd faller to stop a route. Us older people always look back with rose tinted spectacles to say was better in the old days but personally think was decent, a shame Constitution Hill didn't defend his crown though.
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I'm with you Deptford. The move to four days was a mistake. It is meant to be a festival of excellence not over-entered handicaps.
They do a brilliant job staging it though I;ll give then that. The prep. work must be enormous and we never even think of how much goes into sorting the track and surface out afterwards etc: Full marks to the ground-staff for me. |
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Gold Cup day was sold out as usual yet it is day with the most expensive tickets. Tuesday attendances still holding up quite well this year despite the weather and the absence of the sport's biggest star. Most racing fans would say that the Tuesday card has the best races overall and the Friday card has the best race. People have clearly stopped going on Thursday and especially Wednesday though. To me that is consistent with the quality of the races on those cards. At least this means 5 days is out of the question and really a return to 3 days should be a consideration (but won't be).
Tuesday 2019 67,934 2020 60,664 2022 68,567 2023 60,321 2024 60,181 Wednesday 2019 59,209 2020 56,943 2022 64,431 2023 50,387 2024 46,771 Thursday 2019 67,821 2020 65,218 2022 73,754 2023 61,451 2024 53,918 |
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Down hill since covid when they just let everyone in,after clerk of course left.
Course better this time,but Mullins odds on shots,cancelled xcountry will again damage product. Mares have their own races,which is ok,like women’s football,but they can still enter male races,so that’s a quirk. Thursday was the best day this year,which used to be the worst day. Too many 7 runner race grade 1s. Can’t stop Mullins,fair play,but 7 runners compounds the issue. Tweak prize money to encourage more entries for a place. Hunter chase even low entries. The x country is a race for horses who have to adjust to different conditions to win,hurdles,fences,banks etc.. So why not run it has a 3m6f hurdle race this year to at least put the race on,no deaths over hurdles,there wouldn’t of been many non runners |
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LoyalHoncho -- The move to four days was a mistake. It is meant to be a festival of excellence not over-entered handicaps.
Sometimes we over-romanticise the three-day Festival, which in truth contained as much dross as the present, 4-day version. Amateur races and big-field handicaps have always been part of Cheltenham alongside the championship races. |
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Yes, thy have always been there as padding, but not so many.
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I can't understand those of you who would prefer 3 days. Any one of the 4 days this year would be better than the average weekend fayre and I enjoyed Cheltenham this year as I have previously, over all too soon for me.
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Much prefer now the other Cheltenham meetings earlier in season. Still can see some great horses but a bit more variety than the Mullins fest and if you attend more fun and less full of plebs
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No one size fits all. Just enjoy it accordingly eg choose which races and days to attend to minimise/maximise expenses. Or watch it in the comfort of one's home.
Personally I'd just have a 3-day Cheltenham with one race for the Mares, one for the Amateur riders and one handicap race each for hurdle and chase. The Grade 1's confine to only the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and the Gold Cup. The others eg JLT, RSA, Supreme, Arkle, Neptune, AB, Mares, etc, all Grade 2. Less is more, dross is merely a distraction. |
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I'd stick with 4 days but make it 6 good races a day
instead of 9 hcaps & 19 non-hcaps make it 12 hcaps & 12 non-hcaps hcaps: the existing 9 plus the 2 mares grade 1s convert to limited hcaps & the x-country converts to a hcap non-hcaps: NH chase reverts to 4 miles & has a ratings ceiling ryanair chase, the 2 mid-distance novice hurdles & the mares novice hurdle all go I would also run it thurs,fri,sat,sun & 50-75 pound entry per day is PLENTY imo and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE water less when its dry |
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ceo just said on lucky regards number of days etc,no 1 public feedback is no matter number of days 3,4 or 5they want 7 races a day
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It will never go back to 3 days.
They just need to get rid of the mid distance and most of the mare races so you don't have the best horses in their discipline being able to avoid each other. The handicaps are at least competitive large fields. |
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The mares races are designed to develop high-quality breeding mares of NH horses, and it's now worked with the likes of Facile Vega and Mystical Power - that's exactly what the plan was when the race was introduced all those years ago. The mares hurdle and the mares chase aren't going anywhere.
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Run them at another meeting then rather have them dilute Championship races.
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That would miss the point - they are the championship races for mares.
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