Just like that, the climax of the National Hunt season is done. In the blink of an eye, four days of the Cheltenham Festival came and went; it only feels like a couple of weeks ago we were picking through the bones of a wet Dublin Racing Festival.
The racing last week was seriously competitive, which is what we all want at the top level. In the end due to Fact To File not running, I think we only had two odds-on favourites in 28 races; Majborough was beaten at 5/6 in the Champion Chase while Wodhooh, with Lossiemouth running in the Champion Hurdle, won the Mares’ Hurdle at 5/6. I’m sure I am right in saying both Majborough and Wodhooh could be backed at even money or slightly bigger on the day of their respective races, too.
In the handicaps, the 2025 changes brought in whereby novice hurdlers (five runs) and chasers (four runs) must have a certain amount of runs to compete in Open Handicaps has certainly done the job (along with the amendments to the National Hunt Chase, Cross-Country and Jack Richards) – let graded horses be graded horses and handicappers be handicappers. Or, as one man quipped to me, ‘a grand way of stopping the Irish!’ It wasn’t Jonjo O’Neill, but it was an Irish man.
In the end, the Prestbury Cup went down to the wire with Ireland winning 15-13; it’s genuinely good to see the Brits be more competitive, but was it down to a helping hand from the BHA Handicappers? I’ll let that one to my colleague Kevin Blake.
On a more disappointing note, the starts again significantly letdown some owners, trainers, jockeys, punters and fans, much like last year. If the British Horseracing Authority do not sort this issue out ahead of next year’s Festival, then they are doing this great sport a disservice, but I do appreciate it isn’t an easy fix, and we’ll obviously never fully solve the issue given the highly charged nature of these animals and the event itself.
Ahead of 2027 though, this simply must be a priority for new BHA Chief Executive Brant Dunshea who recently got the job he desperately wanted. Time to shine. The BHA, their starters and the jockeys need to have serious and frank discussions about improving this element of the Festival, and all race days in truth. Ex-jockeys, ex-starters and trainers need to be consulted concurrently with the aforementioned to get this right.
There are a lot of great brains in this sport, the BHA needs to use them wisely, while I’d also say don’t turn up your noses up to fans having a view either; I would argue there are no bad ideas that can be put forward. That’s obviously rubbish on my part – I jest – but the point is, the BHA need to listen to anyone willing to give a view as it may help.
For my tuppence, significant changes in distances for certain races need to be explored, especially where races starting on bends take place. For example, would it be the end of the world if races like the Stayers’ Hurdle, Pertemps Final and Albert Bartlett, which technically aren’t even over the full 3m, increased in distance to allow these races to be started in a straight line up the Cheltenham straight?
Is there a huge difference in stamina needs – granted they are on different courses – to say the 2m5f BetMGM Cup Handicap Hurdle and the 2m7f213yds Pertemps Final (while appreciating the latter contest has a qualifying system)? The 2m5f Turners’ Novice Hurdle and the 2m7f213yds Albert Bartlett?
The thought of increasing a novice race in distance at the Festival is likely to send shudders down some BHA spines, but I do think starting in a straight line would be a huge help to everyone while having more of a distinction in terms of stamina requirements across different divisions would cater better for the overall horse population who are good enough to run in, as an example, the aforementioned races.
Elsewhere concerning Cheltenham, I do wonder if extra security is needed in certain places, too? On Tuesday I went down to the Guinness Village to see some friends, but our experience of watching the Ultima wasn’t the best given a pretty serious punch-up took place during the race. I appreciate these things can always happen anywhere that has huge numbers of people drinking (and possibly taking drugs), but there was no security on hand to break this fight up, with it thankfully coming to an organic end.
I have no idea how it kicked off, but one racegoer had a seriously bloodied nose and a ruined suit and was helped by numerous kind women giving him tissues to clean himself up. While the fight had essentially stopped after the race, embers still burnt in places, with it all threatening to kick off again, but if it had, there was no security from what I saw to stop another fistfight breaking out. This all took place right in front of bar staff too, but yet no security came. Indeed, the security team on site seemed slower than some of the horses I backed last week which takes a bit of doing!
Thankfully, I didn’t see any young children and families in the vicinity and it’s not something that I was outraged by, but for a few moments it really did look like someone was going to get seriously hurt, in part thanks to no security, and this is the type of incident that would stop families bringing their kids again.
Security at events like this which have huge numbers of people drinking and consuming drugs can be a dangerous and thankless job, and one I have serious resect for, so I absolutely don’t want to be too critical; at the same time the response time to this particular incident appeared non-existent; thankfully, no one, I guess, got seriously injured.
On a more positive note, talking to numerous fans (small sample size!), from the loyal and consistent racegoer to the once-a-year attendees, the overall experience seemed to improve on more recent years, the removal of drink restrictions the big winner; people who like a tipple able to relax and take their time with a beverage instead of chugging it down before they want or need to move on was appreciated.
This improvement along with a reduced capacity went hand-in-hand; people telling me queues for bookmakers, drinks, food and toilets improved, especially if like a top-class jockey you timed your runs well!
I realise I have had a Cheltenham Festival reflection without properly mentioning the stars of the show, the horses. I’m still going through race replays, sectionals etc so I can hopefully have a more in-depth view on some performances at a later date, but I must give a nod to Gaelic Warrior’s brilliant Gold Cup victory.
The right-jumping, hood-wearing eight-year-old was simply sensational last Friday and is now bang up there with what Galopin Des Champs and A Plus Tard did in the great race this decade. Are you allowed say that re Galopin? Probably not, but bring the pitchforks – it was an incredible display and the performance of the week.
