Cheltenham Consolation...

S

stodge

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I'm no great fan of the Gloucestershire jamboree each March but I was interested in Ben Newton's piece in the RP today claiming 269 horses had been balloted out of races at the Festival and proposing a fifth non-Festival Consolation day on the model of the former Ascot Heath meeting on the Saturday after the Royal meeting.

Is this a more valid "fifth day" option than trying to stretch out the existing format ?
 
The quote about 'lots of disappointed owners' was ridiculous. If owners didn't enter their horses that had got no chance of getting in, they wouldn't be disappointed.
 
An enormous number of those were balloted out of the conditionals hurdle - a race of moderate quality that should never have been added to the festival in the first place.
 
Just as I feared... the course will quote the 'disappointment' and on the back of that, away they go with a fifth 'glorious' day of Class 5 entertainments. I kid you not, the mascot race and the Best-Dressed Pet Pony won't be far behind...
 
Probably thougt he had come up with something original but in reality a daft idea. Who wants to see poorer versions of races we already have?
 
Yawn, yawn - of course the Festival will always be diluted in quality when they have races for such oiks as conditionals and [spit, spit] amateur jockeys.
 
Ardross said:
An enormous number of those were balloted out of the conditionals hurdle - a race of moderate quality that should never have been added to the festival in the first place.
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One of the highest quality handicap hurdles of the entire season based on the range of rating of its runners. Who exactly could complain about a race where the worst horse has an official rating of 129??
 
It is already a consolation race- for the Coral Cup in its own right- why does the festival need two 2m 4f hcap hurdles? - there is nothing wrong with having a race for conditionals but converting the Kim Muir would have done.

At that rate - consolation races for the Jewson, County etc will follow .
 
Ardross said:
It is already a consolation race- for the Coral Cup in its own right
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No it's not, as a glance at the ratings of horses who missed the cut will tell you. Bottom weight in the Coral Cup was rated 126, while the bottom weight in the Martin Pipe was the 129 rated Love Of Tara. It's all very well saying we don't need two races at the same trip for a similar pool of horses if it meant having a strong race and a weak one, but the strength of the Martin Pipe field was not affected a single jot by the Coral Cup.
 
Okay, so there's maybe one more - max two more, races to squeeeeze out of the affair. But a whole fifth day's worth? I don't think I can even stand the thought of the Cheltenham review nights, let alone five days of the stuff on tv.
 
I have no problems with extra races as long as they are relatively 'original' not varaiations on the same.
 
rorydelargy said:
No it's not, as a glance at the ratings of horses who missed the cut will tell you. Bottom weight in the Coral Cup was rated 126, while the bottom weight in the Martin Pipe was the 129 rated Love Of Tara. It's all very well saying we don't need two races at the same trip for a similar pool of horses if it meant having a strong race and a weak one, but the strength of the Martin Pipe field was not affected a single jot by the Coral Cup.
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What were the top ratings ? It could alternatively be argued that it has contributed to a decline in the quality of the Coral Cup . Why have two such races at the championship meeting ? Once you justify such races on the basis of " opportunities " for the balloted out then it is the thin end of the wedge .
 
Ardross said:
Once you justify such races on the basis of " opportunities " for the balloted out then it is the thin end of the wedge .
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Jesus wept Ardross - the Martin Pipe is no more a race for horses ballotted out of the Coral Cup (no horse ballotted out of the Coral Cup made the cut, as clearly explained above) than the Jewson is for horses ballotted out of the Festival Plate. Nor is the Martin Pipe, with a 140 rating ceiling, responsible for any dilution in quality of the Coral Cup which has no ceiling on ratings. Personally I can't stand two and a half mile handicap hurdles, but the fact is that genuinely competitive handicaps have an extremely important place at a four day festival and therefore the Martin Pipe justifies its inclusion in spades.
 
The point is that there are two races largely covering the same horses over the same trip - The Jewson is a novices race the Festival Plate is not . Once you have one race covering the same horses over the same trip then you open the door to the suggestion that this is acceptable for all the races where there is a " demand " for such a race.

The MPH is much the most boring race of the Festival bar the cross country IMO.
 
Philistine! (Re the cross-country - many of the others are just dull old chases, same old stuff, round and round and round they go.)
 
At this rate, the entire Tribes of Israel... ! At least they jump interesting obstacles, Rory, unlike the dull old birch uprights, one after the other, with the Gigantic Thrill (not) of an open ditch. Mustn't say any more, as I can hear Shadow's footsteps approaching, and she's wearing those steel-capped boots...
 
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