Which of the big 4 Festival races are your best?

H

harry

At the Start
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Apr 16, 2005
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1) Champion Hurdle

Kicks off the week and always seems to be so competitive

2) Ryanair :ninja: enjoying this one more and more in the last few years.

3) Champion Chase : for me, this race was the best in the Moscow, Well Chief, One Man era but hasn't lived up to those heights recently

4) Gold Cup : apart from Denman and Dessie, this race is always the one of the above I least look forward to. It might be something to do with it signifying "the end" of the week....I don't know?

How about you?
 
generally depends on the quality of the races

in my experience i've found the supreme, champion hurdle & gold cup to be my favourites.
 
Sorry to confuse things,

I meant the feature races of each day: Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, Ryanair and Gold Cup.

How do you rank them in terms of your favourite?
 
Gold Cup purely because it is the sports Blue Riband.
Equal on Champion Hurdle and Champion Chase.
Then the Ryanair, interestingly the feature on this day should be the World Hurlde should it not?
 
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Can't see much harm though Harry in allowing people to pick from all 27

But anyhow, in the spirit of the thread;

Champion Hurdle - The whole week still ahead of us and normally a great race to boot. Plus I'm always there.

QMCC - Just always been a personal favourite, although for all the joy Sprinter Sacre brought last year it was something of a non entity as a betting heat.

Ryanair - Agree that this has become better and better and I'd love to see Cue Card, Al Ferof etc. lining up in it this year but alas, it looks likely that that won't happen.

Gold Cup - Still love the race but as soon as it's over I get that dawning realisation that it's another year until the Supreme !
 
I am with JamesRB on this, it depends on what I think has the best quality & likely to be really competitive, this year the Champion Hurdle is the one at top of my list followed by the Arkle, (Neptune third if allowed) and then the Gold Cup.
 
tiggers1972 said:
Gold Cup purely because it is the sports Blue Riband.
Equal on Champion Hurdle and Champion Chase.
Then the Ryanair, interestingly the feature on this day should be the World Hurlde should it not?
Click to expand...


Oh yes, I forgot the World Hurdle:confused:
 
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Champion hurdle and Champion chase
2 miles speedsters just makes the hair stand up, Brilliant!
 
The big four all stand out for me, but usually the CH is the most intruiging

I usually attend the weds and a particular fav of mine is the Coral Cup. God knows why, but i often get it right. aside from that its quite a spectacle and a genuine challenge in its own right. I just like staying hurdle handicaps

The amateur races will always be the worst for me.

Im quite a fan of the cross country race
 
No interest in the bumper really, never had a bet on it.

Champ hurdle should be the race of the festival. Something very special about 2 mile chasers. Love the Arkle.
 
The Gold Cup would normally be the race I'd look forward to most. The 4 mile novice chase is also one i really enjoy most years.

The Fred Winter is the race that holds the least appeal for me.
 
The Supreme has usually been kind to me over the year's....though it has also doled-out several dull ones in the jangler department too. The final hour leading-up to the race itself - at the track at any rate, and I'm sure off-course too - is under-pinned by an atmosphere of unbridled joy and optimism. If only we could bottle it.

Of the main events, the Champion Chase and Stayers were the ones where I was more successful early-on, though latterly (last 8-10 years) it's swung more towards the Ryanair and Champion Hurdle.

The rest of the meeting is a total fu*cking mystery to me every year. :cool:
 
All four are great spectacles, but this year more than ever evolves around picking those 2 or 3 handicap good things that will undoubtedly be there during the week.
 
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