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It is inevitable innit ? Charity race gone next year and extra day in 2018ish imo.
Donn says no:
Why another day?
There are a hundred reasons why they should not add another day to the Cheltenham Festival. Here are three of them.
First, another day means more races, and that dilutes the thing even more than it has been diluted already. It is easy to point to the races at the Cheltenham Festival as it stands currently that are simply not archetypal Cheltenham Festival races. It would be like adding another pint of water to an already diluted jug of Ribena – the whole thing would just lose its potency.
Secondly, more races also means more opportunities for the top class horses to avoid each other. Put on a two-and-a-half-mile championship hurdle, for example, and you could lose Hurricane Fly and possibly one or two others from the Champion Hurdle field, and Rock On Ruby from the World Hurdle field.
Thirdly, more races means more opportunities for owners and trainers and riders to have a Cheltenham Festival winner, and that will be viewed as a good thing by many. But the whole reason why a Cheltenham Festival winner is so cherished is because it is so rare. There are now 27 Cheltenham Festival winners every year. It is not so long ago that there were just 18.
Add another day, make it a five-day Festival with six races each day, and there will be a minimum of 30 Cheltenham Festival winners every year. And it creeps up again as more new races are added. 31, 32, 33. At some point, you push it through the barrier, you shatter the glass and you lose the magic.
You cannot be sure of the point at which the magic will be lost, but you can be absolutely certain of this: once it is lost, it will not be re-captured.
You can see the attraction for Cheltenham. Five days means another day for people to spend money. So here’s an idea: make it a five-day Festival, if you must. But have the first two days on Monday and Tuesday on the Old Course, then take a break on Wednesday and have the final two days on the New Course on Thursday and Friday.
Radical, maybe, but we may have uncovered something in 2008 when the high winds meant that racing was abandoned on Wednesday, and Wednesday’s races were added to Thursday and Friday. It was not planned, but there was something positive about taking a day away and returning.
Let people take a break on Wednesday, go shopping or play cards or write copy or go to the pub or go to the bookies and watch Huntingdon. Or let people go home on Tuesday night, have the new people arrive on Thursday morning. Then open the gates again on Thursday morning, let the people in again, refreshed, the first two days assimilated, bursting for the top class racing to begin again.
Donn says no:
Why another day?
There are a hundred reasons why they should not add another day to the Cheltenham Festival. Here are three of them.
First, another day means more races, and that dilutes the thing even more than it has been diluted already. It is easy to point to the races at the Cheltenham Festival as it stands currently that are simply not archetypal Cheltenham Festival races. It would be like adding another pint of water to an already diluted jug of Ribena – the whole thing would just lose its potency.
Secondly, more races also means more opportunities for the top class horses to avoid each other. Put on a two-and-a-half-mile championship hurdle, for example, and you could lose Hurricane Fly and possibly one or two others from the Champion Hurdle field, and Rock On Ruby from the World Hurdle field.
Thirdly, more races means more opportunities for owners and trainers and riders to have a Cheltenham Festival winner, and that will be viewed as a good thing by many. But the whole reason why a Cheltenham Festival winner is so cherished is because it is so rare. There are now 27 Cheltenham Festival winners every year. It is not so long ago that there were just 18.
Add another day, make it a five-day Festival with six races each day, and there will be a minimum of 30 Cheltenham Festival winners every year. And it creeps up again as more new races are added. 31, 32, 33. At some point, you push it through the barrier, you shatter the glass and you lose the magic.
You cannot be sure of the point at which the magic will be lost, but you can be absolutely certain of this: once it is lost, it will not be re-captured.
You can see the attraction for Cheltenham. Five days means another day for people to spend money. So here’s an idea: make it a five-day Festival, if you must. But have the first two days on Monday and Tuesday on the Old Course, then take a break on Wednesday and have the final two days on the New Course on Thursday and Friday.
Radical, maybe, but we may have uncovered something in 2008 when the high winds meant that racing was abandoned on Wednesday, and Wednesday’s races were added to Thursday and Friday. It was not planned, but there was something positive about taking a day away and returning.
Let people take a break on Wednesday, go shopping or play cards or write copy or go to the pub or go to the bookies and watch Huntingdon. Or let people go home on Tuesday night, have the new people arrive on Thursday morning. Then open the gates again on Thursday morning, let the people in again, refreshed, the first two days assimilated, bursting for the top class racing to begin again.
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