Cheltenham 2017/18

Just on the mention of training, is this cold snap going to put the smaller yards on the back foot for Cheltenham? All weather gallops and swimming pools aren’t at everyone’s disposal.


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Horses race fit can hold their fitness for up to 14 days without exercise once they are not over fed in the meantime. ( Human figure is 72 hours )
Obviously no one wants to put this fully to the test !
The Presenting Percy lads may be bang on to have run him in Red Mills Chase .
 
Simon Claisse on local radio not worried about predicted heavy snow Thurs and Fri, forecast rain Sunday into Monday and there are "strong signs" that Festival week will be mild.
 
TheBear said:
Just on the mention of training, is this cold snap going to put the smaller yards on the back foot for Cheltenham? All weather gallops and swimming pools aren’t at everyone’s disposal.
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Kevin Blake on Twitter

An interesting one from Willie today regarding the forecast poor weather is that in 1996 he had a tarpaulin cover made for his gallop. They haven’t used it since 2010, but if major snow is incoming, they can cover the gallop and take it off to work on every morning. No hold ups.

They are in 50 yards lengths and he had handles built into them, so he can drag them off with a tractor.
 
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It dries so quickly tho. 4 or 5 days of a dry spell prior to the festival start would have it good to soft. There are varying forecasts but two or three have it fairly mild & settled from next Tuesday or Wednesday on.


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No doubt everyone has seen the WPM stable tour notes from yesterday, or a least snippets of it across various media outlets.

http://cheltenham.attheraces.com/stable-tours/willie-mullins

On viewing I found it unusual that not one single horse of archie's Supreme racing club got a mention?
In particular I was interested to find out about Bunk off early, Kemboy and Shanning - but nothing on any of them.

Any feedback for us archie?
 
These were the 40 horses shown to the press

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Diamond Geezer said:
Simon Claisse on local radio not worried about predicted heavy snow Thurs and Fri, forecast rain Sunday into Monday and there are "strong signs" that Festival week will be mild.
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As I said before, I would rather they cleared any snow off the track rather than allowed it to melt in.
 
And of those 40 there were comments on the ATR site about 38 of them.
Fabulous Saga & Lagostovegas the 2 horses on your list above DG, not covered on the stable tour.
Still no mention of any Supreme racing club horse on either list. Just found it strange.
 
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Double Handful said:
No doubt everyone has seen the WPM stable tour notes from yesterday, or a least snippets of it across various media outlets.

http://cheltenham.attheraces.com/stable-tours/willie-mullins

On viewing I found it unusual that not one single horse of archie's Supreme racing club got a mention?
In particular I was interested to find out about Bunk off early, Kemboy and Shanning - but nothing on any of them.

Any feedback for us archie?
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Kemboy still in Arkle, JLT and RSA. The JLT would be the natural race but it will, of course, be a late decision.
Bunk Off Early is entered in the County Hurdle and we'll see what mark he gets.
Shanning won't be ready for Cheltenham and we'd be looking at Fairyhouse and/or Punchestown.
 
Final entries made for the Festival, all slightly down on last year Cross Country 21 (27) Champion Bumper 31 (36) Mares Novice Hurdle 30 (31) Foxhunters 32 (39) 　

Entries should released tomorrow along with the handicap weights.
 
Diamond Geezer said:
Final entries made for the Festival, all slightly down on last year Cross Country 21 (27) Champion Bumper 31 (36) Mares Novice Hurdle 30 (31) Foxhunters 32 (39) 　

Entries should released tomorrow along with the handicap weights.
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Roughly what time are the weights due to be revealed? (I only ask as with work I'd hate to miss the window on getting a price on a few I'm watching out for).

Cheers
 
Desert Orchid said:
I hope they shovel off any snow that does fall rather than let it melt into the ground.
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My fears realised...

From the RP:
Two weeks before the festival, Cheltenham is preparing to lift the frost covers on Wednesday or Thursday with a forecast of significant snowfall before the weekend.

That might seem counter-intuitive, but clerk of the course Simon Claisse is happy to have the snow act as a frost cover before it naturally irrigates the track when it melts, as is forecast over the weekend.


Giving the ground as good to soft, Claisse said: "It has dried out significantly over the last two weeks. We're forecast up to 15cm of snow on Thursday and Friday.
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15cm of snow is about the equiv of 15mm of rain. That's a lot of rain. The ground will be nearer heavy if he lets it melt.

The festival could be ruined.
 
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I would have thought 15mm would have been the amount he would have to water to maintain good/soft in the week leading up to the meeting.
Obviously that's if the snow materializes, yesterday we had a yellow weather warning and got a light dusting if that!
 
Jeez, that's a grim picture. Despite it's renowned draining qualities I find it hard to see the meeting being run on anything with Good in it.

At best Soft (Gd-Sft in places) I reckon.
 
Bet Victor have Douvan at 2/1 to simply participate in any race at the festival.

mmmmm..... if Willie's telling the truth that's 2/1 about a 4/6 shot
 
wilsonl said:
Bet Victor have Douvan at 2/1 to simply participate in any race at the festival.

mmmmm..... if Willie's telling the truth that's 2/1 about a 4/6 shot
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When something looks too good to be true.........
For a horse that was 2/9 last year to be 2/1 even to show up is some swing!!

Hypothetically, If Douvan never got injured and both he and Altior were arriving there in their prime peak condition and form, how would you price it ??
 
reet hard said:
HTF does he stop it melting?:lol::ninja:
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It hasn't snowed there yet (acc to DG) so he puts down the frost covers and clears the snow off them. Or he gets a fuckin snowblower in and uses that.

Or, as DG's picture from over 50 years ago suggests, fuckin snow shovels and lorries or tractors with trailers.

In case you hadn't realised, we're in the 21st century. :D
 
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