Don't be so hasty to rubbish the idea of a five-day Cheltenham Festival
Those of you who have ridiculed the notion of a five-day Cheltenham Festival, remember this: if you got your way back in 2005 and stopped a fourth day being added we would still be waiting for a female jockey to ride a Grade 1 winner over jumps at the festival, the day described by Brough Scott as "the most moving Cheltenham day of all" would never have happened, and there would be no Quevega's tapas bar at the track.
It seems just about every racing voice worth listening to is saying four days is enough, but those same voices were probably saying three were enough 15 years ago too.
If it had stayed at three we would not have witnessed Bryony Frost's fabulous victory on Frodon in the Ryanair on the most moving day Scott has ever attended at Cheltenham, and he has been to 57 festivals; nor would we have seen Defi Du Seuil beat Lostintranslation in a memorable JLT just a few hours earlier; or Rachael Blackmore's Albert Bartlett win on Minella Indo; or six festival wins for Quevega for that matter.
Read the full story
Read award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing, with exclusive news, interviews, columns, investigations, stable tours and subscriber-only emails.
Subscribe to unlock
- Racing Post digital newspaper (worth over £100 per month)
- Award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing
- Expert tips from the likes of Tom Segal and Paul Kealy
- Replays and results analysis from all UK and Irish racecourses
- Form study tools including the Pro Card and Horse Tracker
- Extensive archive of statistics covering horses, trainers, jockeys, owners, pedigree and sales data
Already a subscriber?Log in
Published on inComment
Last updated
Copy- Why I think Cheltenham Festival handicaps need to change - JP McManus writes exclusively for the Racing Post
- No-one has ever emerged from the womb wearing a trilby - racing's future survival hangs on pursuing a young audience
- Four score and ten just a number to Peter Harris as July Cup triumph shows there's more to the elderly than medical conditions
- 'It's chipping away at the profile and the standing of racing in the UK and somebody ought to at least give the impression they care'
- Comment: It is all change at the Jockey Club and its next chief executive will have to hit the ground running
- Why I think Cheltenham Festival handicaps need to change - JP McManus writes exclusively for the Racing Post
- No-one has ever emerged from the womb wearing a trilby - racing's future survival hangs on pursuing a young audience
- Four score and ten just a number to Peter Harris as July Cup triumph shows there's more to the elderly than medical conditions
- 'It's chipping away at the profile and the standing of racing in the UK and somebody ought to at least give the impression they care'
- Comment: It is all change at the Jockey Club and its next chief executive will have to hit the ground running