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Cheltenham Problems

I'm going to the November meeting. Can't decide yet which day to do, Saturday or Sunday. It would be nice to meet up with forumites....:giggle:
 
Robicheaux said:
We're staying Saturday + Sunday night. Going Greatwood hurdle day. 320 for both nights which is pretty decent
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I hope you have a great time.

Never been overkeen on Cheltenham.

Got fond memories of first going on a foggy Mackeson Day in 1983 and backing Pounentes at 8/1 (BBC cameramen on strike so no footage), and just about seeing Noddys Ryde win a 2m novices' chase in the gloom, went with my Dad on a sunny New Year's Eve day in the late 80s, once went to the Hunters' Chase evening (full of local Peaky Blinders wannabes there for the DJ after racing) and was a guest in a private box my last visit about six years ago at the April meeting.

It's a beautiful venue and quality racing but for me there's a bit of the Emperor's New Clothes about it.

Stand set too far back from the run in, the nearest obstacle is the last then they turn away from you on earlier circuits and the general configuration of the track means a 1m4f circuit looks more like 2m.

I've never been to the Festival and tbh I'd bet 1.01 I never will as everything I read, hear and see about it seems ghastly to me.

The November meeting is probably as good as it gets there in terms of the crowds not being too horrendous and the chances of the weather being kind, but even so I shall be in Hampshire while it's going on.
 
I'll be there for better or for worse on the Saturday and Sunday so if any of you fancy saying hello I'll be there with Pawras. You're basically looking for a thinner version of Micheal Mcintyre and Phil Mitchell on a rough day.
 
Danny said:
I'll be there for better or for worse on the Saturday and Sunday so if any of you fancy saying hello I'll be there with Pawras. You're basically looking for a thinner version of Micheal Mcintyre and Phil Mitchell on a rough day.
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Pah im not a short arse like him.

Still annoyed we won't have wolverhampton to bet on in the evening this time.
 
Whether it's Tuesday to Friday, Wednesday to Saturday or anything else, I will enjoy watching it (though it isn't the be all and end all of the Jumps season) at home.

Apparently, Saturday might mean being broadcast on ITV4, not ITV1, but unless you can't access ITV4 I'm not sure why the Racing Post think anyone would care.
 
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Cheltenham Festival could be held from Wednesday to Saturday as course begins to consider radical move
Ending the meeting on a Saturday could boost attendances but would be unpopular with ITV
Last week's Cheltenham Festival was bedevilled by false starts
Cheltenham has started to assess the merits of running the festival from Wednesday to Saturday
The Cheltenham Festival could undergo its biggest change since a fourth day was added 20 years ago after it emerged early consideration is being given to running jump racing's showpiece fixture from Wednesday to Saturday.

There has yet to be any stakeholder discussion around what Cheltenham chief executive Guy Lavender stresses is still nothing more than "a concept", yet the mere acknowledgement thought is being given to such a significant development is sure to stimulate debate.

Ending the festival on a Saturday would be expected to boost the festival's overall crowd total and potentially bring a new audience to a meeting that has suffered a massive fall in attendance across the last three years, with the number of racegoers sinking from 280,627 in 2022 to this year's 218,839. That has proved costly to Cheltenham owner the Jockey Club, for which the festival represents the single biggest source of revenue.

The principal negative consequences of losing the festival's traditional Tuesday opening day would be a forfeiture of corporate hospitality business and the near certainty that the Saturday action would be broadcast on ITV4 as opposed to ITV1 due to a clash with the final day of the Six Nations rugby tournament, which the broadcaster would inevitably prioritise.

Comment:

A Cheltenham Festival day relegated to ITV4 - that's the price the course now has to consider paying
The revelation that Cheltenham wants to assess the advantages and disadvantages of a Wednesday-to-Saturday festival comes shortly after jumping's flagship venue announced a raft of measures aimed at boosting the popularity of the festival. These included lowering the maximum daily attendance to 66,000 racegoers, freezing ticket prices, cutting the price of a pint of Guinness and upgrading car parks, bars and the track's PA system.

Offering some insight into what could conceivably come next, Lavender told the Racing Post: "The metrics for this year were not primarily about numbers, it was about what we delivered, and I think we had a good festival with very strong customer feedback, so I feel we're at the right start point.

Guy Lavender: started as Cheltenham boss on Saturday
Guy Lavender: "I think it is definitely worthy of consideration and exploring further"
Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)
"We have just announced a series of changes for 2026 and we haven't at the moment agreed anything else for future years. We're at the start point of considering a range of options and I don't think this is anything more than a concept at this particular stage. There are obvious pros and cons but I think it is definitely worthy of consideration and exploring further."

Lavender, who became Cheltenham chief executive in January after 11 years in cricket running the MCC, added: "Everyone should expect a new chief executive to explore ideas to grow and develop – and I do think we can grow and develop the festival over the coming years. I'm optimistic and positive about that and I'm really interested in any concepts or ideas that can help us to achieve that.

"As a leader, you have a remit to investigate a range of options. I think this one certainly has some merit for investigating, but we are a long way from getting to a firmer view or decision point. There are different partners we would need to speak to and we would need to do modelling work on the financial implications to give us a view on the risk and opportunities."

Inothewayurthinkin leads Galopn Des Champs over the last
The Gold Cup would almost certainly continue to be run on a Friday, even if the festival was to end on a Saturday
Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)
It is only three years since the Jockey Club surprised and delighted the sport by announcing a six-month consultation into adding a fifth day to the festival had ended with a decision to keep the meeting to four days, as it has been since 2005. Even had the festival been stretched to five days, the Gold Cup would have remained on Friday, as it almost certainly would if the meeting's fourth and final day was Saturday.

As part of that 2022 industry-wide consultation, thought was given to running the festival from Wednesday to Saturday, while similar deliberations took place during Edward Gillespie's tenure as Cheltenham managing director.

Asked about the wider Jockey Club view on a Wednesday-to-Saturday shift, Lavender added: "There is a willingness to explore a range of ideas and concepts, and this is one I feel is worthy of more consideration, but we're a long way from building a consensus around a course of action and a long way from getting to the point of reaching a decision."

Read more here

Changes made to Cheltenham Festival programme with Mares' Hurdle moved to Thursday

'It wouldn’t be the same without the Irish' - new reduced Cheltenham Festival packages on offer for overseas visitors

Cheltenham moves to halt festival crowds slump with cheaper Guinness and reduced capacity among the changes

The Big Jump Off is out on Sunday - read in the Racing Post digital edition from 9pm

The Big Jump Off is out in all good newsagents on Monday, October 20 – or you can read it the evening before with the Racing Post digital newspaper, part of the ultimate horseracing subscription with Racing Post+ Ultimate. You'll also have access to our unbeatable series of stable tours featuring the likes of Nicky Henderson, Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott, Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton.

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Lee Mottershead
Senior writer
Published on 19 October 2025
inCheltenham Festival

Last updated 19:17, 19 October 2025
 
I saw that earlier at the RP site and found myself thinking, "I no longer give one".

I thought the NH season might revive a spark of some sort but I've come to the conclusion that other things in life are more important.
 
Alexa, tell me the price of tickets for 4 days at the festival 4 nights accomodation and the include food and drink. Oh and Alexa bit of a weird one but could you do it in the voice of Dr evil.

"100 trillion dollars"

Thank you Alexa that'll be all.

Wednesday to Saturday to fix dwindling attendances ? I think Granger touched on the problem early in the thread with the growing trend of people going abroad to watch it in Sun. When you can fly abroad and watch the racing in the bars (bars that you can actually get to for a pint) for a smidgen of the price of going to the meet itself then I think thats how the younger generation and a lot of low earning racing fans will go about it from now on.
 
I have subjects I know I repeatedly bore people about.

Despising both the racing print and broadcast media so much I read and watch it solely for rare, relevant-to-punters, news (horse runs in race, horse misses race) and live pictures of live racing on silent is one.

Cheltenham and the Festival in particular is another.

I don't dislike the meeting, but I'd never attend and I don't want to even think about it until the six-day confirmations.

I'm fairly sure I annoyed Lydia Hislop when I told her I never watch RacingTV and I considered her "Road To Cheltenham" as part of the problem.

It would be like the football media making one event - say the Champions' League Final - the ONLY thing that really matters in football.

"Good win for Stockport County on Saturday" - "yeah, but can't see them winning a Champions' League anytime soon, though."

You just don't get that myopic focus on one event: I don't care what days they race, I don't care what crowds they've been getting, I don't care what a pint costs there, and I don't care what price a horse who just won a maiden hurdle by 15 is for the three races it might or might not run in at the Festival.

There used to be three (Champion Hurdle, Gold Cup, later on, Triumph) ante-post Cheltenham Festival markets - now it's every race bar the handicaps which themselves are priced up at entry.

And the racing media endlessly bang on about who might run in all of them, virtually ignore what's going on that day, and endlessly lap up then regurgitate ante-post prices, including the truly obscene NRNB margins come January.

The media have created a nauseating new breed of racing "fan."

"If you don't want Constitution Hill to bounce back and win the Champion Hurdle, you don't love racing," declares some sockless oaf or other on Twitter/X daily.

I'd say if that's all you care about that's the very definition of not loving racing - it's like watching the FA Cup Final once a year and calling yourself a football fan.

The racing media are c***s of the highest order and they've created a breed of racing "fans" who are c***s of the highest order.

Don't go to overpriced rip off race meetings, and don't listen to any of them - they will pollute your mind, destroy your soul and might even turn you into one of them.

The Cheltenham Festival is crack cocaine for the masses - just say "NO!"
 
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That wouldn't have looked out of place of Point Blank. Cracking summary minus the C-bomb for the people that still condsider it a forbidden word.
 
Apologies to anyone offended by my twin use of the C-bomb - I put both in for visceral effect and actually typed the asterisks myself as the filter didn't seem to be working and I'm aware some find it offensive, regardless of context.
 
I like watching the Cheltenham festival on TV in comfort of my own home, if I can wangle working from home any of the days, but I have no interest in going to an event so blatantly overhyped, overpriced and overcrowded , which seems too much like a cash cow, and has way too many drunks and coke heads. I.e. just like Royal Ascot.
With my pattern race cross referencing db I get my own view of the "road to cheltenham" but in the end it's just another race meeting.

My favourite day of the year for horse racing is actually Boxing Day, 11 different meetings across UK and IRE which even includes a bit of AW at Wolverhampton.
I do all the cooking Christmas Day so I don't have to do fk all but watch the racing on Boxing Day and not shift off the couch. Was even better when my old man was around but time moves on.
 
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For the last three seasons I have been involved with the sponsorship of Hunterchase’s initially with Jumping For Fun and now Pointing Pointers following the premature closing of JFF. Each year around now I contact ALL the courses in Great Britain requesting the opportunity to sponsor a Hunterchase every year every single course will respond with a yes or no except one !! Cheltenham I know we are not talking megabucks as all our money is raised via Crowd Funding but courtesy costs nothing. The Jockey Club ethos cannot be blamed as already this year I have received an invitation to sponsor a race at Wincanton. In my humble opinion Cheltenham think that they are above all other courses. Will have one last go this year for a race at the Hunterchase evening although won’t hold my breath waiting for a reply instead will just go ahead and book a race at Stratford on finals night…………
 
In fact, in my opinion it would be better for racing if they toned down the Cheltenham hype and diverted some it to Boxing Day, given the range of geographic locations where meetings are being held on a national holiday, I'd say there's much more scope there to get people interested and going racing.
 
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Gullible said:
For the last three seasons I have been involved with the sponsorship of Hunterchase’s initially with Jumping For Fun and now Pointing Pointers following the premature closing of JFF. Each year around now I contact ALL the courses in Great Britain requesting the opportunity to sponsor a Hunterchase every year every single course will respond with a yes or no except one !! Cheltenham I know we are not talking megabucks as all our money is raised via Crowd Funding but courtesy costs nothing. The Jockey Club ethos cannot be blamed as already this year I have received an invitation to sponsor a race at Wincanton. In my humble opinion Cheltenham think that they are above all other courses. Will have one last go this year for a race at the Hunterchase evening although won’t hold my breath waiting for a reply instead will just go ahead and book a race at Stratford on finals night…………
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Just going to add (in our continuing mutual appreciation) that Gordon has done an incredible job since he has been raising sponsorship for Hunter Chases and I feel personally this is having a positive effect on these races. Initially started as a way of promoting the late and much lamented Jumping For Fun forum, it actually highlighted there was a definite need to help these races that the BHA seem to happily ignore. I recently went to Taunton Racecourse for a Pointing seminar and spoke to the course secretary as there is a new manager arriving next month. She was full of praise for Gordon and remembered him well (they sadly were not able to take one of his races last season due to a local company sponsoring the whole day).
 

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