Thumbs down for four-day festival

THAT was a rather thought-provoking article on Cheltenham by Alastair Down in the Racing Post on Tuesday.

Down, essentially, was making the point that lots of people in England don’t particularly fancy the four-day festival and that only Gold Cup day is currently sold out.

You would have to say there is a fair old groundswell of opinion in this country as well that is rapidly turning its back on the notion of dedicating the best part of a week to a meeting which, on the evidence of a year ago, is very much diluted.