Five-day Cheltenham Festival almost a foregone conclusion
And, of course, there is always the possibility of the extravaganza being extended to five days and if the purists think that making a case for keeping it as it is, on the basis the whole thing will then be overly diluted, then they may as well sing for their supper.
Cheltenham is a runaway train, a victim of its own success and, quite frankly, there is no knowing where all of this is actually going to end.
There are plans afoot to redevelop the racecourse anyway and nothing will happen until such work is carried out.
But then it will be open season and, have no doubt, the debate will rage and, if I’m any judge, you will see the Gold Cup on a Saturday and, perhaps, the dreaded five-day festival.
Five days makes perfect sense from a financial point of view, because there is a massive crock of gold just waiting to be mined.
Imagine, the millions of pounds and euros that another days racing at Cheltenham will bring to the industry and how much it will be worth to the people who run the racecourse.
Nearly everyone moans about the length of the festival now and how it’s not the like the old days when three spectacular programmes were the perfect recipe. But it doesn’t matter a jot about the moaning, all that counts is the public cannot get enough of the jamboree.
Take the Thursday, a day most agree had, as usual, a weak card. There were just six races on offer and three of them were those awful handicaps.
But the public didn’t give a toss and just short of 58,000 arrived, which was more than either the Tuesday or Wednesday.
In the same way as Galway, which houses a lot of moderate racing, thrives so too did the Thursday.
For those of us who go racing regularly the quality of the sport is seriously important. But regulars are thin on the ground and, it seems, that the occasional racegoer, which is what Cheltenham mostly attracts, couldn’t care less. The likes of Cheltenham and Galway are, quite simply, as much about tradition as anything else. To have an extra day would necessitate finding at least another six races. That will be a doddle, like falling off a log.
How about a consolation Bumper, a Mares’ Gold Cup and a championship race for hurdlers, who are out of novice class, over two and a half miles. And that’s without even mentioning handicaps, which can be produced at a stroke of a pen.
Ah, the possibilities are endless, it’ll be great fun entirely and one just cannot wait. For some of us Cheltenham has long been ruined and is now regarded as the week from hell. But not even dinosaurs can stand in the way of ‘progress.’
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Sat down on Tuesday and watched the Champion Hurdle again. I know it won’t be popular to say this, but is it possible Hurricane Fly actually ran his race and that’s as good as he is?
We yearned for him to be the new Istabraq and all the indications, prior to the meeting, were that it was more than a possibility.
I know Ruby Walsh and Willie Mullins said he ran flat and we were all flat-out nodding our collective heads in agreement.
And I know he should have had little trouble picking up the second horse, Overturn, who could only finish seventh last year when Hurricane Fly was an impressive winner.
But Overturn aside what else did Hurricane Fly beat on that occasion? Well, Peddlers Cross was second, Oscar Whisky third, Thousand Stars fourth and Menorah fifth.
None of them ran in this year’s Champion Hurdle, but scattered in various directions at the festival. They had one thing in common: all were blown out of the water.
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Limerick raced last Sunday and Monday and, though the ground was essentially heavy and apparently quite deep, it was notable how well it seemed to ride. You certainly didn’t have horses coming home legless, as we have noted at a number of tracks lately, and, indeed, most seemed to see out their races rather well.
Immediate Response made it three from three over hurdles for Willie Mullins on Monday, defying a 24lbs hike in the weights in the process.
The handicapper has had another go at the nine-year-old and Immediate Response has gone up a further 16lbs. That surely has to put an end to the winning streak, doesn’t it?
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I’m very much looking forward to seeing Camelot working after racing at the Curragh tomorrow.
Let’s just say the word continues to be most positive regarding Aidan O’Brien’s latest potential superstar and, though it is unlikely to tell us much, it’ll be nice to have a look at him all of the same.
