Bookmaker sponsor claims fifth festival day could damage racing's golden goose

A leading figure within one of Cheltenham's bookmaker sponsors has claimed the Jockey Club risks causing "the demise of racing's golden goose" if opting to extend the festival to five days.

Cheltenham's owners will soon embark on an extensive consultation process to determine if the sport's most popular meeting should be increased to five days, having initially grown from three to four days as recently as 2005.

Speaking to the Racing Post this week, Jockey Club chief executive Nevin Truesdale acknowledged there are legitimate arguments both for and against the creation of an additional card and stressed that going to five days was not "a fait accompli".

The festival is certain to remain at four days next year but if rising to five days in 2024 the number of races each afternoon would fall from seven to six, meaning the introduction of two new contests would be required.

However, ITV main channel coverage on the Saturday could not be guaranteed due to the broadcaster's commitment to the Six Nations, while fears for the ability of one of Cheltenham's two tracks to take an additional day were heightened by the rain's ravaging of the Old course on Wednesday.

Simon Clare: 'The growth of the popularity of the festival amongst non-racing audiences has been one of the sport’s greatest success stories'Credit: Ian Walton

Ladbrokes Coral PR director Simon Clare – whose employers support the Coral Cup – said: "From a betting perspective, stretching the festival to five days from four, with just two extra races, is likely to be pretty much revenue-neutral based on current volumes.

"The reduction from seven races to six each day will hit turnover on the four existing days, while the extra day on a Saturday will add incremental turnover to an already strong performing day.

"The more critical question, however, given Cheltenham's huge importance as both a showcase for the sport and a revenue generator, is whether making the festival longer, and slightly less appetising each day with only six races, will maintain the current overall appeal of the event, enhance it or damage it?

"The growth of the popularity of the festival amongst non-racing audiences has been one of the sport's greatest success stories in the last two decades, to the point where it has gone from being a great racing event to being one of Britain's great sporting events. The risk of damaging that appeal needs to be seriously weighed up against any potential benefit, as nobody wants to see the demise of racing's golden goose."

It is likely a festival Saturday would be headlined by the Ryanair Chase and the Boodles Gold Cup remaining on the Friday.

Yet, highlighting that and other scheduling problems, Clare added: "The current festival has clear airspace from start to finish for the sports fan, but extending the event to a Saturday would bring about clashes with Six Nations rugby and Premier League football.

"Gold Cup Friday is currently the big crescendo of the meeting, with significantly more money bet than the other three days. How does that work with an extra day on Saturday? Does the finale get diminished by a post-Gold Cup Saturday, or the Gold Cup being staged on a busy Saturday?

"The festival has proved very successful in its current format, so I'm sure any possible changes to it will be thoroughly researched and evaluated as the stakes are high."

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