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Had a fantastic day in the Sovereign Bar at Cheltenham on Saturday. Fantastic views as well. Can't wait for March now.
 
OverTheLast said:
Had a fantastic day in the Sovereign Bar at Cheltenham on Saturday. Fantastic views as well. Can't wait for March now.
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Where about's is the Sovereign Bar O.T.L. ?? .. not familiar with that one .
 
Does anyone have a market up for the novice handicap chase yet? It isn't showing on Oddschecker so I'm guessing not.
 
Rare column in RP from JP about the field sizes for handicaps at the festival.

Think he has a very fair point.
In fact this idea throughout the season in other high graded handicaps would help to slightly increase the fields in some of the slightly lower grade handicaps that struggle to make double figures.
It's kind of less races (options) really !!

Reducing to 18 runners Max would definitely make it more competitive to get your horses a place in the field.
Which for the Cheltenham festival it should really be for the best animals.

Using the county as an example
The lower rated 120's and 130 rated horses should really earn their way into the festival handicaps with wins or big runs in other big handicaps during the season or their career.
And those rated in the late 130's, low 140's should really be sweating (and maybe running more) than they do these days.
 
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OverTheLast said:
Had a fantastic day in the Sovereign Bar at Cheltenham on Saturday. Fantastic views as well. Can't wait for March now.
Click to expand...

Reminds me (embarrassingly so) of years gone by. I’ve been a Cheltenham member for close on 50 years. I thought I knew the lay out etc. Me and a mate always went into the Sovereign Bar. But it used to get pretty hectic in there even though the views from the stand is excellent. Anyway we would often look at the Insurance bar stand and wonder how much extra you would need to pay to get in there. After many years we asked the question and were amazed to find we had been entitled to go in there for years! Talk about red faces!
 
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Quevega said:
Rare column in RP from JP about the field sizes for handicaps at the festival.

Think he has a very fair point.
In fact this idea throughout the season in other high graded handicaps would help to slightly increase the fields in some of the slightly lower grade handicaps that struggle to make double figures.
It's kind of less races (options) really !!

Reducing to 18 runners Max would definitely make it more competitive to get your horses a place in the field.
Which for the Cheltenham festival it should really be for the best animals.

Using the county as an example
The lower rated 120's and 130 rated horses should really earn their way into the festival handicaps with wins or big runs in other big handicaps during the season or their career.
And those rated in the late 130's, low 140's should really be sweating (and maybe running more) than they do these days.
Click to expand...

I agree, what he says make a lot of sense

He rarely speaks in public so when he does we should all listen and especially the decision makers


In addition Dinnens rant at the end of Upping the Ante this week, which was about the changes to the festival, also seemed sensible….ie why have the 5lbs Mares allowance removed from the Mares novice hurdle and not the Mares Chase?, why change the Turners chase to a handicap and not the Turners hurdle ?, he thinks some novice chasers stuck between the 2m and 3m distances will miss the festival and go to Aintree and he thinks you will get rags win the Cross Country
 
Killiney said:
Reminds me (embarrassingly so) of years gone by. I’ve been a Cheltenham member for close on 50 years. I thought I knew the lay out etc. Me and a mate always went into the Sovereign Bar. But it used to get pretty hectic in there even though the views from the stand is excellent. Anyway we would often look at the Insurance bar stand and wonder how much extra you would need to pay to get in there. After many years we asked the question and were amazed to find we had been entitled to go in there for years! Talk about red faces!
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I had the opposite experience - took the Mrs to the festival for the first time and we were talking about how good the view from Tatts was and why would you bother paying extra for Club?

Turned out we have accidentally walked into Club lol
 
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Killiney said:
Reminds me (embarrassingly so) of years gone by. I’ve been a Cheltenham member for close on 50 years. I thought I knew the lay out etc. Me and a mate always went into the Sovereign Bar. But it used to get pretty hectic in there even though the views from the stand is excellent. Anyway we would often look at the Insurance bar stand and wonder how much extra you would need to pay to get in there. After many years we asked the question and were amazed to find we had been entitled to go in there for years! Talk about red faces!
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Haha very good.

£95 for a ticket on Sat there (club entrance and racecourse view) .. in my opinion it is well worth the money. The view is excellent, no queues at bar and a bookie in your bar (Star Sports at the weekend)

Appreciate others prefer racing for getting to parade ring etc but at Cheltenham I think it's a great experience being upstairs and in the stand.

£195 for Tuesday of the Festival.
 
On another note .. and certainly not blowing my own trumpet :chuncky: as I bet more than enough losers..

But is there a better feeling than studying a race and reading it nearly perfectly and backing the winner?! It's a totally unique feeling and to be enjoyed as rarely happens!
 
OverTheLast said:
But is there a better feeling than studying a race and reading it nearly perfectly and backing the winner?! It's a totally unique feeling and to be enjoyed as rarely happens!
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Only thing better is having the bet on course, holding your hands out while the bookie counts out a pile of notes, way better than clicking a few buttons and seeing your account balance change.
Can't tell you the fun I had at HQ last Fri/Sat....
 
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Istabraq said:
Only thing better is having the bet on course, holding your hands out while the bookie counts out a pile of notes, way better than clicking a few buttons and seeing your account balance change.
Can't tell you the fun I had at HQ last Fri/Sat....
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Agree totally
 
Istabraq said:
Only thing better is having the bet on course, holding your hands out while the bookie counts out a pile of notes, way better than clicking a few buttons and seeing your account balance change.
Can't tell you the fun I had at HQ last Fri/Sat....
Click to expand...

And then looking over your shoulder in fear for the rest of the race day, since about 20 people saw you collect and know you have a wad of cash in your pocket :glee:
 
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