Going to Cheltenham and not looking forward to it

I probably sound like an ungrateful swine.

Ungrateful swine!!!

The build up just isn't the same anymore, too many ifs, buts and maybes but I'm sure come the first race cheer on Tuesday the buzz will be back

im exactly the same . id rather have the week off work and just chill at home or go for a couple of nights away .The 4 days since 2005 has diluted the quality of races massively . The last great era of the festival was the 2000-2004 -- monsignor edredon bleu istabraq like a butterfly moscow flyer rooster booster brace inca flagship uberalles

Youll be ok mate - just watch some old cheltenham from when you absolutely loved it and when you get to the course find a nice little spot on your own (mine is leaning on a metal barrier in the tatts ) and relive some of those wonderful moments in your mind . i remember quite clearly like it was yesterday in 2002 when we had a year off due to foot and mouth and cenkos was flat to the boards late on and flagship uberalles stayed on well up the hill to grab victory - the crowd went wild - 23 years ago WOW .

dark stranger relaxation idoles first galileo maximize just pipping merchants friend joe cullen liberman royal predica la landiere azertyuiop hussard collonges whyso mayo fundamentalist

have a great festival .

the dealer
In 1982 there was no 1st race roar, just a wonderful dignified communal sense of atmosphere.

Fair point

For me i think the team back in the days of Jimbo, Francome, Ted Walsh, McCririck completely brought the races and yes controversies to life and gave the festival a buzz on the tv.

I dont mean any harm to the current set of presenters but it feels more like a public school get together with Ed, Matt and Ollie etc who dont have the depth of knowledge or journalistic abilities the team back then had. It feels more like a production of several bookie reps rather than of several articulate enthusiasts and racing professionals.

Also not being able to get on on the phones means you dont expect to get prices from home so that exciting element is taken away.
The 4 days has too many filler races that can drag it out and not create enough interest whereas 3 days were magical and had the perfect amount of racing there to have a tremendous time, spend your cash and leave knowing it was unique

ZEALOT
Thanks, and yes the old recordings are magical when they’re played during the morning. I will stand on what was the members lawn alone listening to those fantastic races!
I am privileged and should count my blessings!

saxon farm ...if i recall correctly your namesake won at my first festival .1983. the dickinson gold cup ....i have some wonderful memories from the place but stopped going a few years ago . anyone who thinks its just some of us  getting old and nothing to do with the many changes , well its understandable but not entirely correct . i will mix up a few pub visits with mates and some  time watching at home . i will enjoy it still .

The advent of the 4th day coincided with Edward Gillespie changing the character of the occasion from a festival of racing to a "go to event". Many who go now have no interest in the racing - it's a week long youngsters (mainly but not exclusively men) p!ss/drug up extravaganza.

The cost of living situation is now having it's effect; crowds are on the decline. The Jockey Club are crapping themselves - chucking money in Racing for Rewards accounts to generate "sales". Clearly there is a desire to stop the attendance decline by whatever means necessary as a further decline may generate more apathy and no shows.

All rather sad. It was, over 3 days, perfect and greed took over. Greed won for 20 years but now the price is being paid.

Personally, although I live within a mile of the track I stopped attending the festival  a few years back. It had become an unpleasant experience. Never regretted it.

windsor knot
Well spotted!
My 1st visit to Cheltenham was Mackeson Gold Cup 1982 and first time at The Festival, 1983 when my namesake won The Triumph Hurdle…..hence the username!

I am perfectly happy sitting at home in comfort laptop to hand ,if I want anything to eat or drink its a walk to the kitchen if I want a pish no qs , can study form in peace and quiet ,7 or 8 quid a pint and not a lot of change form a tenner for a burger I can happily pass .

insist on paying £18 for my ginsters cornish pasty at tesco, just to get the cheltenham vibe

I haven't missed a day since Morley Street year. But this year I am bailing out after the Stayers on Thursday and coming back to London for the Friday at home. I have disliked GC day for many years. Parispike's first paragraph gives my reasons. The old hot toddy bar was my base then but that has been replaced by a gin and cocktail trailer frequented by sockless idiots. To stay an extra 2 nights in Premier Inn for the GC, 2 meals out, drinks on course etc will set me back another £1000. From 8th April, with the £ saved , I am having 4 nights in Florence and Pisa. I have no regrets. Such a shame. Yet I am getting excited about the Craven already so it is not racing that I am fed up  with. Just the Festival.

Parispike's post @ 20.39 is absolutely bang on the money.

I completely agree with those sentiments and I won't be going ever again either.

Agree with the negativity.
They created a monster which is now eating itself.

5th day anyone ??????....no , thought not . that idea seems like a lifetime ago .

Can’t wait. First into Insurance bar to secure table near bar for 8 of us. Best seats outside opposite winning post. First race roar and will watch every race from there all 4 days

Enjoy hibore!
I think the 1st race roar really started in 2002 after foot and mouth.

Think ,like most things,people have fond memories,people grow and change so they alter their opinion of things.

Given the enormity of the festival,4 days was inevitable.ascot went 5,Galway’s 7.

4 is about right.

Accomadation. ,clearly if it’s crazy prices,someone must be paying it,so that’s the market rate.

Yes ,it was all racing fans years ago,and now day trippers,but given the exposure that’s bound to happen.

here we go, I can still remember the 1st winner I had at the festival, meladon in the triumph had a £5 bet on with Ted Sturman

sad to say I haven't been for the last 3 years and wont be going this year, will I ever go back to the festival NO, my itinerary for this years festival is out for a nice mid morning breakfast in a restaurant tue/wed/thursday, back home play on here then out for a few drinks and a nice Thai Tuesday, seafood restaurant Wednesday, Indian Thursday and Friday a lovely home cooked full english with a glass or  of bubbles the out for 12 to the club which will have 250 guys in betting away ; how much would you pay for a pitch in there ; then back home for a asian tapas from the local takeaway, might need to recover on saturday

will still cost me a hell of a lot less than 1 night in a hotel at the festival

but i am forward to the April meeting

good luck everyone Ronnies bogy brighter days ahead in the mares, laid at tens

I stopped going in 2005 , £9 for a taxi from the station to a pub in town centre was a big shock ,it got worse that day place I stayed in was terrible ,and I never went back and headed home the same night after racing . I still go to the Spring meeting and would recommend it to anyone, good solid racing and nice weather usually . I went to the November meeting and for Foyles information theres NO change from a tenner for your burger...Plenty of Irish staying home this year, Hotels etc have priced themselves out of reach of most people . Between travel expences and hotel for the 5 week its over £1,600 minimum you could have a nice 4 days at home in comfort and £400 a day betting money ...

Workrider.
Give me a bell at the April meeting.
Hope you are well.
Ronnie.

Also the mystique has changed.
In the 70s 80s & 90s, there was little ante post betting apart from Gold Cup & Champion Hurdle.
The Irish horses coming over were “mystical beasts” to the British racegoer!

Will do Ronnie , it was lovely to meet you at York, I was supposed to be in Catterick yesterday but had a tummy bug so didn't fly over .

The atmosphere of the betting ring was electric. My eyes nearly popped out. 20K to 5 cash  LARGE ACTION on the off in a Champion Hurdle.
2002 Barry Dennis top pitch on the rails only laying 1 race  Champion Hurdle 2/1 ISTABRAQ. ahem.

My 1st festival was in the 70s I think Inkslinger won that year,I think he had some USA connection.My last was Saxon Farm's I had a great day but I don't like big crowds.

It's called getting old chaps.

Ah, Cheltenham! The roar of the crowd, the thunder of hooves, and the sweet scent of overpriced Guinness wafting through the air—it's the jewel in the crown of British racing, and, frankly, an absolute barnstormer of a betting bonanza. You stick a tenner on a horse called Hoof-Hearted because you like the name, and suddenly, you’re the King of the Paddock! But beware, my fair-weather flutterers—one minute, you're raising a triumphant pint as your 20/1 outsider romps home the next, you’re staring blankly at your empty wallet, Cheltenham is a cruel mistress—one moment, she's showering you in crisp fifties, the next, she’s rifling through your pockets for spare change and laughing in your face. Still, what a rush! Backing a winner here feels like scoring a last-minute goal at Wembley pure, unadulterated euphoria.

Let battle commence.

Like you Saxon , had one four day festival but costs had hit 4 figures then and whilst it was still great it also took its toll , even with Annual Members badge and convenience . If I were you it would be one day only , probably Wed or Thurs .

...it seems to me the Grade 1 Cheltenham races have simply become a question of .." will the Mullins hotpot win or not?"
...

Too expensive. Too crowded. Too cold (in recent years).

And while some blame extra races for diluting quality, I think that is wrong. What they have done is increase uncertainty. How can you anticipate, say, a great Champion Hurdle if you have no idea if two of the likely favourites will line up here or in the mares race? Rinse and repeat for many of the other races.

And now, especially in Britain, Cheltenham is losing its allure as the championship meeting with connections increasingly waiting for Aintree or Punchestown.

The key question might be what else isn't as much fun for you  these days ?

Oh, and inflation in the preview circuit.

More and more and more pundits each night. It is bad enough having three of them making the same obvious points about the championship races that we can all analyse on our own, but then there is a fourth, and a fifth and a sixth, each muttering the same platitudes about the first three or four in the betting.

I was ready to call it quits and miss at least a couple of days this time but in the end got tickets for all 4 days again before the first price hike deadline. I do still enjoy the week but more despite the racing than because of it. This year's racing looks more grim than ever but surely we're long overdue a year of decent weather. One upside of Chelt plc eating itself is that attendances for the first few days have slumped so much that it's at least much easier to get around.

Stayer's Hurdle 1994: Avro Anson - first-past-the-post; disq., placed second. I have never recovered...

“And while some blame extra races for diluting quality, I think that is wrong. What they have done is increase uncertainty. How can you anticipate, say, a great Champion Hurdle if you have no idea if two of the likely favourites will line up here or in the mares race”

You’ve contradicted yourself Ramruna. The mares’ race is one of the extras. Without it the good mares would have to run in the champion hurdle like Dawn Run and Flakey Dove did when the mares’ race didn’t exist. The mares’ race has diluted the champion hurdle. Dawn Run was a heroine with one win whereas Quevega is remembered for winning six races of uncompetitive shoite.

The betting ring used to be electric with character bookmakers backing their opinions and creating a range of prices and a strong market. It’s boring laptop driven fodder now thanks to betfair, who also took the thrill out of ante-post betting. I remember Imperial Call the Gold Cup winner being available at 33/1 before February 11th. Alderbrook the Champion Hurdle winner 33/1 before 23rd February. You’ll never get that now as with betfair price discovery is so much earlier. It’s inadvisable to bother with ante-post now as it’s so open to insider trading. That’s illegal on the stock market but betting is a free for all which is what attracted the betfair city boys in the first place.

Week in Majorca, cant beat it

"Plus ca change" as they across La Manche.

Every year the same old "Brians" (remember that BHB effort some years ago, with archetypes/stereotypes "Brian" the old codger, and "Ben" the younger type that the BHB wanted to attract to racing?)

Every year the "Brians" emerge to whine about the festival being extended from 3 to 4 days.

As the old saying goes, nostalgia aint what it used to be....

Autocue -- I'm saying the problem with the Mares race is not that it reduces quality but that it increases uncertainty. There are too many races where we don't know what runs where until Sunday or Monday of Cheltenham week.

Agreed re insider trading and City sharks. Would add ring bookies on their days off as well, and later from the ring itself.

Agreed re death of antepost for all the reasons above.

Cheltenham Tuesday and Thursday and Villa v Bruges on Wednesday. Not a bad week to be fair

cheltenham march needs the irish, problem is the old irish are dead, young irish are poor and cant afford to go,,,MAYBE attendend 1 DAY,any  irish racing fan i know is going to spain for cheltenham. cheap beer cheap accomaodation....play golf . plenty of like minded  to enjoy festival.....good weather. i was going to say a black cash bookmaker, but you know what i mean. gonna be very hard to attract those people back, i agree the april meeting is fantastic. but you will struggle to get the irish back and unfortunately they make cheltenham what it is.

I’m going to Cheltenham but not looking forward to going….  Don’t go……

.... Exactly my thoughts.

I will go….at least 1 day and will probably enjoy it more when I’m actually on site.

Tim, I can give you a lift to 'Ucheter' for the Mids GN on Saturday instead??

I've been attending since the mid 1980's, initially all three days, then the first three when they went to four days. Managed two last year, and was glad to get home Wednesday night. Decided not to bother this year, only for a mate to persuade me to go on Tuesday. Not looking forward to it. Probably more to do with my age and increasing lack of mobility, but there's definitely something missing. It used to be magical.

I repeat, it's called getting old.

i'm going to Carlisle on sunday, then down to Stratford on the monday and finish it off with Cheltenham on Tuesday and the back up the road, it would have been an excellent outing if Sir Gino was running though. cheers.

If anyone wants to go to Cheltenham and enjoy it.

1. Stay in Worcester,30 quid a night available upwards.3 train stations to get to Cheltenham,or 1 junction on m5 to drive.
2.go in best mate stand,cheapest tickets,best view,most room to move about.
3.drink in Montpellier,if want to avoid packed pubs.
4.back odds on shots if you fancy them,back ew first 6 hcps.try and make small profit each race.
5.big breakfast,take a butty to track.so don’t need to buy burgers.
6. Go first 3 days,then watch gold cup day at home.gold cup day hard graft,espically if been there all week.bigger fields,harder races,more crowd.

Great thread lots a points put very well and amusing to see the word swine used at he start that really shows your age Saxon

My take on the festival is the biggest problem of all is the accommodation costs quite simply outrageous,my first festival was 1980 and prior to the pandemic I missed only one day in that period the day dessie won the gold cup I was certain it would be off so rather than been snowed in ,in bourton on the water I drove home.last year I watch the festival in Benidorm whilst I wouldn’t put anyone off it wasn’t for me,the only real plus was the later start time.this year I’m still undecided what to do no interest in going Friday but still considering 1,2 or 3 days however it just seems hassle for the csts involed even the train companies are now sticking it up you ,hopefully this year’s festival is a great success I spent so many happy times there.

Another event Cheltenham is up against is the Dublin festival there are so many from the uk going over and after speaking to many over the period it’s been on almost all say it’s leopardstown instead nowadays incredible to think 3 nights in Dublin with flights/boat accommodation and entrance tickets for two days is cheaper than 2 nights at Cheltenham and one days racing.

As. Say great head Saxon and hope all those who make the effort to go have a great time

As I say great thread that should read

an interesting point you make Jimnast. I have been checking the trains from Cheltenham to London since December and this is the ONLY route I know from years of travelling that Great Western have not sold Advance Tickets (the cheapest of course). You can buy an Advance on the same route on the Monday the Saturday and every other day of the year. But not during the Festival. Deliberate and wrong. So full price all round. Everyone seems to want to bleed the punter dry. I am looking forward to my 3 days but I'm glad I am missing the Friday this year.

totally valid points about the ever increasing costs . though even back in the 80's and 90's you had to pay a  bit more than ' normal '  . it was the the 4 day job put it on bonkers level as it involved a friday there . ...but the difference was that in the 80s and 90s   you could go round the town  pubs , go to the queens hotel and chat to trainers and jockeys , see them on the next table in restaurants , loads of enthusiastic irish punters tipping you their nap and all good company . and at the course itself you only had to know a friend of a friend to pinch a drink in the car park or a box or tent . ...all gone .very  sorry , but true . i'm looking forward to being mostly at home and on the tuesday opening my last bottle of taylors 1977 port . however , to all going ; hope you have a great time .

The fodder will continue to bow……personally I wouldn’t pi$$ on them…..morals tbh…..

during a (just about legal) Glorious Goodwood garden party at my friends house in July 2020 Windsor, we quaffed a bottle of Warres 1975 (amongst other stuff of course!). As delicious a drink as I have ever had. Enjoy your port. It sounds wonderful. I would say, some strong cheddar with quince, a camembert that has been out the fridge for 3 weeks and a Colston Basset stilton.

donegal ...funny that , .i have a lovely camembert and a blue stilton tucked away already !...on champion chase day it will be out with the port but not before a good slow 4 hours of a whole duck in the oven. never lost its magic cheltenham , has it !!!!!!

Well I’m going on Tuesday as it is an insult to the gift.

I live reasonably locally and have very cheap transportation!
I’m so lucky to have the opportunity and count my blessings!

I'm heading over on Monday for the week and can't wait.

8 of us in a house for the week. Insurance bar and seats opposite winning line.
It’s nearly Christmas

Agree it’s expensive but wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Those seats are crucial to the enjoyment of the week personally I proffered to be around 100 yards before the winning line but either way there a must .

Insurance bar and seats are a game changer for anyone going. Easy to get drinks, cafe and betting shop all in one. Best spot at Cheltenham.

The years is was there hibore the betting shop switched from tote betting shop to hills what is it now ?

Tote in the Insurance Bar and W Hill next door in the Night Nurse

Thanks fistflofdollars

The old tote outlet was for non tote dividend bets as well as tote dividend bets.

comingupthehill,

Worcester premier inn is minimum £120 per night and sold out. Are you talking about taking a dimly lit mold ridden back room in an AirBnb in Worcester for £30 per night?

Arrived safely after a comfortable rail journey.
Now ensconced in a private marquee with a refreshing glass of fizz.
Feeling grateful, have a good week everyone!

You have my sympathy Saxon,listening to the unbearable music spewing from the speakers this morning during interviews…..ffs….

Sofa rule….with mute …

A happy day enjoyed!
Everything was well organised, and my old legs held up well.
The atmosphere was excellent.