Cheltenham Festival Going

Bar the Bull

Bar the Bull

At the Start
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Some people might think the timing is weeks out for a thread like this. And I apologise, as I have been busy the past few weeks.

But anyway, conditions are very squelchy in Cheltenham. Going is surely heavy at the moment.

And there is aproximately 50-60mm of rainfall due in the next week, with the following week also looking unsettled.

I remember another very wet winter in 2000, which was followed by a very benign 2-3 weeks leading up to the Festival. The times were very fast, as the going was good, but there was a decent cushion far under the surface, which helped horses not to get injured.

I remember Looks Like Trouble and Bacchanal being amongst many horses to set track records that year.

So either the rain continues, and we have a heavy ground festival (yay). Or it doesn't and we have the type of ground that gave us some brilliant racing 14 years ago.
 
AP writing in Saturday Daily Telegraph about ground concerns. Mostly about horses not being able to get a prep run


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Cannot see it being anything other than "soft" at best. The gulf stream shows no sign of moving anytime soon & the ground is already near saturation point add to that a full moon on the 16th March which will cause a pull on the water table leading up to the event. I'll go for Soft/Heavy
 
Flemenstar said:
Cannot see it being anything other than "soft" at best. The gulf stream shows no sign of moving anytime soon & the ground is already near saturation point add to that a full moon on the 16th March which will cause a pull on the water table leading up to the event. I'll go for Soft/Heavy
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Surely you mean the jetstream - the gulf stream moves we are in real trouble !

I suspect it is far too soon to tell - remember Cheltenham was good to soft in places the day before the trials meeting despite the very wet Jan. Also it has a curious microclimate.
 
Cheltenham Festival Opening Day Betting

4/5 1st race to be run on Good to Soft

9/4 Soft

In the last 12 years the going has been Good to Soft 5 times at the start of the first race, Soft twice and Good 5 times.
 
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Diamond Geezer said:
Cheltenham Festival Opening Day Betting

4/5 1st race to be run on Good to Soft

9/4 Soft

In the last 12 years the going has been Good to Soft 5 times at the start of the first race, Soft twice and Good 5 times.
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Except for the one time Claisse called it Soft (the year Amaretto Rose was Supreme fave - Al Ferof won, I think) when it was running like a road.

The almighty TIT.
 
Grasshopper said:
Except for the one time Claisse called it Soft (the year Amaretto Rose was Supreme fave - Al Ferof won, I think) when it was running like a road.

The almighty TIT.
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You're talking like a flattie there Grass. Al Ferof was a good 4 or 5 years after Amaretto Rose.

I'd be amazed if the official going is anything other than DGs prediction. There'll no doubt change it later in the card but for the opening race G/S definitely (probably with soft in places)
 
wilsonl said:
You're talking like a flattie there Grass. Al Ferof was a good 4 or 5 years after Amaretto Rose.
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Fu*cks sake. What an old bast*ard. :(

I offer as partial mitigation, the fact that Granit Jack was second in the Hales colours (now I've checked), but both he and AR were chinned by 40/1 binger Ebizayan, from the little-known WP Mullins yard.

Fucks sake. :mad:
 
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Funnily enough you couldn't have confused 2 runnings of the race with such differing quality. The 07 race saw 1) Ebizayan, 2) Granit Jack, 3) Ameretto Rose and 4) De Soto (really ??) and to be fair to the winner he did manage to beat 3 home in each of the next 2 champion hurdle. The 2nd & 3rd had one more run each - neither managing to finish. Although to be fair, with extremely sad circumstances re Granit Jack

By contrast I don't need to remind anybody of the first four home in the 2011 renewal.

But I digress...
 
Cheltenham Going

Just wondering if anyone lives in or around the area can give an update on the going at the track, weather forecast etc., at the moment. Here in Ireland we've had a series of storms resultinng in one of the wettest January on records. A huge amount of rivers bursting their banks and surface water everywhere.

I presume it's soft/heavy at Cheltenham at present but can't confirm this online. Any sign of the weather easing to give it a chance to dry or are we looking at soft/heavy ground conditions for Cheltenham '14?

I usually put together a few small antepost bets a month before the festival so would be helpful to know what conditions are like.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
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The Cheltenham area is due around 35-40mm of rain in the next 8 days. Thereafter, there is a tentative signal for more settled weather, but this signal seems to have been at t + 8 days for a month.

I think best case scenario is that Cheltenham will have heavy going by the middle of next week, and then a dry (ish) three weeks before the Festival. Even in this scenario, the ground is unlikely to be teeth rattingly hard, as the water table will be high, and the ground will have a lot of moisture.

Of course, it could p1ss rain for another month, and we could be left in a quagmire.
 
It sounds as if the track won't be draining as fast as usual and any rain in the week before the festival would make a significant difference. I don't think they will be watering this year.
 
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