The Cheltenham going thread 2015

Nothing worse than rain at the Festival with 60,000 people trying to stay dry. Thinking I might see if there are any tickets left in one of the facilities in the main stand with a booked seat near the finishing line for Wednesday. That way at least you know numbers are limited and it's not an absolute scrum.
 
BBC are predicting some quite heavy rain on Thursday night. We are about to find out if Coneygree stays in the RSA. That forecast might just swing it to the GC.
 
Diamond Geezer said:
Not going related but someone somewhere asked who the course commentator was next week. Mike Cattermole, Richard Hoiles, Ian Bartlett and Mark Johnson are sharing the duties, don't know who is doing what though.
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I'd have Richard on it every single day. Cattermole shouldnt be allowed anywhere near a microphone at a race track.
 
I'm starting to get a feel that Trainers are taking a view that the going will be better earlier in the week.
Coneygree needs cut - and potential softer ground on the Friday seems to be their main driver...
Then Savello is known as a stone better horse on good ground and AJ Martin favouring QMCC on Wed over the County on Friday..
 
Maruco said:
Nothing worse than rain at the Festival with 60,000 people trying to stay dry. Thinking I might see if there are any tickets left in one of the facilities in the main stand with a booked seat near the finishing line for Wednesday. That way at least you know numbers are limited and it's not an absolute scrum.
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I'd like to think they will look after members. ;-)
 
First thing to be wary of after the first race is people quoting the official time of races. If you look at last years official times and compare them to Turftrax's tracking times you will see they differ.

Supreme
official 3m46.4
Turftrax 3m47.14

Champion
official 3m45.25
Turftrax 3m44.41

I'd favour Turftrax tbh..but i personally won't use overall times in any assessment..I think Simon Rowlands will use the full Turftrax times when he does his Timeform blog..and he will also use the finishing % that are associated with the full race...his par % using the full race length is about 98% ..thats from 3 out....from what i can gather..whereas if you use 1st hurdle onwards they are about 102/103% for even par..just pointing that out as they are two different animals. I think usually Simon uses 1st hurdle times if he manually times..but uses the whole thing if turftrax are in action.

I'll post the first hurdle+ time + pace figures for the Supreme as soon as i can..they won't be absolutely to the millisecond as i want to get them done reasonably quick..will use Turtrax times later for post race analysis.

the Supreme ..1st Hurdle+ times...that should point to middle Good ground ..so lets see how close they get..i'll guess they are going to be slower tbh

Supreme Hurdle
1st hurdle to finish = 222.60

thats if its run decently..which can checked straight away
 
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From an interview with Claisse on the RP - Interesting about the strip of ground:

Those walking the Old course have noted a lusher strip of ground on the inside racing line, which Claisse pointed out is the area set aside as soon as last year's festival finished. Assessing the condition of the racecourse as a whole, he added: "Given the cold conditions this winter I'm pleased with the grass growth and think the track looks in good nick."
 
I try not to listen to him. He's a politician at the end of the day. The BHA have put so much pressure on him to produce G/Sft ground he'll just call it as that every single year.
 
The Supreme time from the 1st hurdle was approx 220.80..the race was run pretty much even pace early..injection of pace before 6 out....with a finish % of 102.57%..the par speed is about 102.3

That makes the ground faster than middle Good..proper GOOD ground..no give.....

Vautour ran it in 220.00 off a similar pace scenario last year

Pace Line for the winner..a minus figure is faster than par..the figures are lengths

....................H1-H3....H3-H5....H5-H6.......H6-H7....... H7-Fin
Douvan..........+2........-4...........+4.............-9............+7

not really what HF fans wanted to hear unfortunately
 
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Big change in the offing, with a lot of rain forecast overnight and for all day tomorrow?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
An acquaintance who has a runner in the AB Novices hurdle tomorrow is desperate for predicted continuous rain from 1am this morning through most of the day tomorrow. Looking at the forecast now he will get it.
 
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