Cheltenham 2016

Desert Orchid said:
It was a very frustrating week but tempered by the realisation that we saw some genuinely top class horses (which hasn't always been the case).

Altior on day one was the start of dreams followed by Douvan; then on day 2 Yorkhill and Sprinter Sacre; day 3 and Black Hercules, Vautour and Thistlecrack; and today devastating performances from Ivanovitch Gorbatov and Don Cossack.

Shame for me that I'm not a chalk-eater so trying to sniff out value was tough going although I can accept that for big hitters the big Mullins winners were arguably value prices.

I had four winning bets on day Tuesday and only broke even.
On Wednesday it was two winners for a marginal gain.
Thursday was a hefty wipeout.
Today 3 winners and a 40/1 place recouped the previous day's losses and added a marginal overall gain.

But bring on next year!

In the meantime, the Midlands National tomorrow looks like easy pickings then it'll be a relatively quite spell until Aintree and I've already backed the Grand National winner :)
Click to expand...

What are these 2 National winners then? :)
 
granger said:
Fine week

Champion novices Altior and Douvan look top class.

Annie was a great story in Faugheens absense

Sprinter is the story of the year

Vautour is too class. Prob never know the full story

Thistlecrack blew me away.

The real Don showed up and delivered.

The casualties are the sad point but overall one of my favourite Cheltenhams in a long time
Click to expand...

Well put Granger; my additions would be Nina/On The Fringe and the new course layout and stand. It seemed less crowded and you could walk anywhere...I made the winners enclosure steps many times unlike previous years.
Atmosphere was superb and we can all celebrate a proper champion in all 4 Championship races.

P.S How fit are Gordon Elliot's stable lasses??
 
Last edited:
The bookers are saying worst ever festival and who would argue

I hope you all had a wining time or if not then a great time......

If someone had told me I was going to have nearly 20 winning bets I would have proclaimed them insane.

Single and double bets on Sprinter Sacre (18 individual bets ap) plus 1 on the day, Douvan (+ap) +3 Doubles ap

Winning bets on Diamond King EW, Thistlecrack, Superb Story EW and Ivanovich Gorbatov (+ap)

Horses I Dutched with others for a profit were Altior, Yorkhill and Any Currency

EW bets that returned a profit. Taglietelle Valseur Lido Kings Palace Paint the Clouds and Native River

Horses backed in running Minella Rocco 8, Annie Power 2.1, Vroum Vroum Mag 1.5.
-------------

I think we've all had our good years. Mines were 1975 when Ten Up won the Gold Cup in the mud.I simply couldn't do a thing wrong that year even backed Royal Epic to win the Triumph Hurdle got 33/1, Was there with Donal Nolan and Maggie Bell and even their Quick Reply beaten until Rag Trade fell at the last was a winning bet....Any Trunell gave Donal Summerville and we got stuck into him and he hacked up was just impossible to get anything wrong.

Binocular made my meeting when he won the Champion Hurdle but Katchit winning the Champion Hurdle and that crazy horse PN ended up with winning the Arkle was a great meeting too.

Hitting the Hills jackpot 6 the day Dawn Run won the Gold Cup was a big pay day but never felt like it.

The 2 Gold Cups kauto won made those years profitable but hardly boastable and a few Jonjo winners have kept the old head above water

I've probably had 25 losing meetings if not 30 in 45 years but you just keep going because it's the greatest show on earth,
 
Just my theory, but bookies always seem to have a thin time at the meeting when the ground is consistently good, and not over-watered or pelted by rain. Even after such a wet winter, many horses seem to run to their best when the ground is fair to the majority.
What was particularly noticeable about this Festival wasn't just the number of fancied horses who won, but the times others short in the betting also filled the places. Anyone dabbling in forecasts and tricasts on the market leaders must have had an absolute beano.
 
harry said:
Well put Granger; my additions would be Nina/On The Fringe and the new course layout and stand. It seemed less crowded and you could walk anywhere...I made the winners enclosure steps many times unlike previous years.
Atmosphere was superb and we can all celebrate a proper champion in all 4 Championship races.

P.S How fit are Gordon Elliot's stable lasses??
Click to expand...

the new layout is fantastic. I had after 30 odd festivals wavered a big aboyt going this year. I go racing enough anyway but now Being able to comfortably see th paddock at long last, there is no doubting going forward

nina is an absolute star and a credit to the game.
 
granger said:
Fine week

Champion novices Altior and Douvan look top class.

Annie was a great story in Faugheens absense

Sprinter is the story of the year

Vautour is too class. Prob never know the full story

Thistlecrack blew me away.

The real Don showed up and delivered.

The casualties are the sad point but overall one of my favourite Cheltenhams in a long time
Click to expand...

Have be to agree with all of this. Very well summarised

the financial aspect is not that important to me (except two years ago when I actually drew a blank) and I don't do more than 10 to 15 bets and strangely the festival is usually kind to me . However I didn't have a penny on the qmcc and yet it was one of a handful "I was there" moments in all my time racing
 
Another powerful week.

Tuesday morning on the racetrack the wonderful event it always is; lads! get to bed early Monday night and make the effort; it is well worth the effort.

Great to see the diversity of winning trainers from David Kelly to WPM.

Great to see Don Cossack run as well as he looks.

Got to shake hands with Colin Tizzard (what a gent ) and home on the plane sitting beside Jennifer Walsh ( a lady).

Weather makes any occasion and so it was this year.

Roll on 2017 that we may be alive and healthy to enjoy what must be the nearest thing to the Garden Of Eden that we are likely to experience on this Earth.
 
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
 
Nice post Eddie. How early can you get on track?

Last time I was there. I thought it was around 11.

Did Jennifer mention the real story behind Vautour by any chance?
 
granger said:
Fine week

Champion novices Altior and Douvan look top class.

Annie was a great story in Faugheens absense

Sprinter is the story of the year

Vautour is too class. Prob never know the full story

Thistlecrack blew me away.

The real Don showed up and delivered.

The casualties are the sad point but overall one of my favourite Cheltenhams in a long time
Click to expand...

Yep, great summary Granger. Would add the course changes are brilliant and only downer was Guinness @ £5.20 a pint. Thankfully it was my most successful festival in 22 years so could just about afford the beer...
 
Rarely bet ante-post, but did back MTOY after his first racecourse gallop. Was beaten fair & square, but what sticks in the craw is that bookies effectively hoovered up all bets prior to Annie Power's supplement without risk of a single penny.
That cannot be fair or just, and it may well be my last ap bet because of it.
 
AP%20syndrome_zpszzeax6e0.jpg

(Credit to Joe McNally)
 
Perhaps rather than waiting for NRNB next year the starting gun goes when the Mullins less markets open.
 
granger said:
Nice post Eddie. How early can you get on track?

Last time I was there. I thought it was around 11.

Did Jennifer mention the real story behind Vautour by any chance?
Click to expand...

Training ground 7.30 to 9.00.

Never asked her about Vautour sorry, just her view on Victoria P and lads peeing into pint glasses.

Never asked her about the go carting either !!

That is the end of my career as an investigative journalist !
 
Last edited:
edgt said:
Training ground 7.30 to 9.00.

Never asked her about Vautour sorry, just her view on Victoria P and lads peeing into pint glasses.

Never asked her about the go carting either !!

That is the end of my career as an investigative journalist !
Click to expand...

ROTFLMAO :lol:
 
Had a week off from here to properly anticipate, attend and review. There's no way I'm going to catch up on every thread so I'll summarise here.

My ante-post was effectively wrecked by the absence of Faugheen and Myska plus the wrong races for Vautour and Shaneshill. Couldn't do anything about the first two and I'm reasonably sanguine about the other two because I know that the horses were always being aimed at the Gold Cup and JLT respectively. I still think that a 100% Vautour would have won that GC and I also think that Shaneshill would probably have won the JLT and Black Hercules the RSA if their targets had been reversed. The week was spoilt for me by the Vautour decision but I have no problems with it being taken. The Ricci comments about GC or nothing were made well after NRNB and had no effect on the Vautour prices. Probably the only people adversely affected were those who had shortish prices on other horses in the Ryanair but even then some bookies were offering BOG from a fair way out. The real problem is that we're going to have exactly the same long running saga next season.

I was wrong about Don Cossack although everything went his way and I'm still not convinced that he will win in a battle. I was also wrong about Sprinter Sacre who came back with the performance of the week. Full credit to the stable staff. Still think that Douvan will beat him with ease next year. Nice performances by Altior, Yorkhill and Thistlecrack who will all surely go on to better things. Very sad to lose some but, in particular, Long Dog.
 
Back
Top