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What would you do to the Cheltenham Festival's racing programme ?

How many juvenile handicap hurdles are run away from Cheltenham.
Loads! there was one in Musselbrough on Friday that was part of a series, there is one in Aintree at the GN meeting, Limerick have one at their Christmas meeting, Fairyhouse and Punchestown both have them as I am sure do many of the UK courses - Sandown and Doncaster definitely off the top of my head.

You seem to have a real bee in your bonnet about juvenile handicaps :)
 
Like it, or not, as things stand, what is good for bookmakers at the festival is in a large part, good for racing, as the funding and the promotion of the sport gets it’s biggest boost in the 4 days of Cheltenham.

I have heard the Coral representatives Simon Clare and David Stevens highlighting the betting turnover of Cheltenham and how those 28 races compare on turnover with other big races through the year. In 2022 for instance, with Entain (Ladbrokes & Coral) all 28 races were in the top 35 turnover races for the entire year (Flat and NH). On the Friday of that year, 6 of the 7 races were in the top 11 (The Albert Bartlett was 4th, after Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Derby)!, This tells me the ordering of the races is not too important, but the number of races is. So we need handicaps as well. Some people are more interested in them as betting propositions and they obviously attract a wider group of participants than just those with the elite horses.

Removing or separating handicaps would remove a big part of the enjoyment for many (including me) of the festival and is where most of my betting occurs. The Fred Winter is probably the race in the entire racing calendar where I have profited most and I would be disappointed to lose it. It’s a great puzzle each year. Although it hasn’t been great at producing future stars (in addition to Jazzy Matty, though, Gaelic Warrior was a recent runner up and he came back to win) that isn’t its purpose. I’m sure there are plenty of other races that don’t fare well by this metric.
 
Good idea! Fuck the likes of Lucinda Russel, Rebecca Curtis, Oliver Greenall. Paul Nolan, Cian Collins et all lets make it a festival for more Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliots and Dan Skelton winners.

The festival is not and should not be solely about Champions, it is a festival for celebrating NH racing. Handicaps, juveniles, mares, cross country etc are all a massive part of NH racing.

Royal Ascot has 12 Handicaps and I don't hear anyone complaining.
Well actually I now think it has too many handicaps......

It used to be

Ascot Stakes
Royal Hunt Cup
Bessborough
King George V
Britannia
Wokingham
 
Good idea! Fuck the likes of Lucinda Russel, Rebecca Curtis, Oliver Greenall. Paul Nolan, Cian Collins et all lets make it a festival for more Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliots and Dan Skelton winners.

The festival is not and should not be solely about Champions, it is a festival for celebrating NH racing. Handicaps, juveniles, mares, cross country etc are all a massive part of NH racing.

Royal Ascot has 12 Handicaps and I don't hear anyone complaining.

On reflection, I think you’re right. I’ve changed my tune :unsure:
 
I thought it an irony that the 2m4f open handicap chase was run 2h40m after the 2m4f novice handicap chase and was won by a novice.
 
Loads! there was one in Musselbrough on Friday that was part of a series, there is one in Aintree at the GN meeting, Limerick have one at their Christmas meeting, Fairyhouse and Punchestown both have them as I am sure do many of the UK courses - Sandown and Doncaster definitely off the top of my head.

You seem to have a real bee in your bonnet about juvenile handicaps :)
Can you tell me the names of the winners of the most recent running of the events at the Limerick Christmas meeting and Aintree Grand National meeting because I cannot find them.
 
Loads! there was one in Musselbrough on Friday that was part of a series, there is one in Aintree at the GN meeting, Limerick have one at their Christmas meeting, Fairyhouse and Punchestown both have them as I am sure do many of the UK courses - Sandown and Doncaster definitely off the top of my head.

You seem to have a real bee in your bonnet about juvenile handicaps :)
The race on Friday was the final of a 20 race series -none of the previous 19 races were handicaps.
 


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