The Five Day Festival

[Spook]

When Dizzy Gillespie last denied he had any plans to transform Cheltenham into Punchestown most of us cynics knew the day was drawing ever nearer, but it was the re-branding of the 4 mile chase this week as the Diamond Jubilee Chase that set me off on an old rant of mine (personally I'd call it the 'English National' or 'Cheltenham National') and make it the feature race of the fifth day. It is after all the oldest race of the entire festival. So in an open appeal to Mr Gillespie, and after having given it much thought, with due consideration to balancing the grade 1's, television scheduling, and sponsorship obligations, this is how you should restructure the festival to accommodate your fifth day.

Day 1

Supreme Novice Hurdle (G1)
Arkle Chase (G1)
3 Mile H'Cap Chase
Champion Hurdle (G1)
Fred Winter Juvenile H'Cap Hurdle
Centenary Novice H'cap Chase

I've returned the Fred Winter to the first day to open up the possibility of running in the Triumph later in the week.

Day 2

Spa Novice Hurdle (G1)
Sun Alliance Chase (G1)
Coral Cup
Champion Chase (G1)
Pertemps Hurdle Final
Champion Bumper (G1)

I'm a bit nervous about this day, as I'm struggling to believe that making people watch 2 staying hurdles race is fair (even though the current programme does, and also puts 3 two and a half mile chases on the same card). The bumper is always popular with Irish punters and that's been used for extra ballast to compensate for the staying hurdles. My radical suggestion comes on the middle day, and to some extent draws its inspiration from the cancelled middle day of 2007 when quite a few people remarked how they actually enjoyed the break and had a bit of time to recalibrate. Both Pertemps and Coral need television slots of course

Day 3

Cross Country
Foxhunters
Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Hurdles
The Cheltenham National 4 mile Chase
A N Other Hurdles race (probably 2 mile amateur champion)
The Kim Muir Chase

Now the eagle-eyed will have spotted this third day has something of a theme to it, and isn't necessarily festooned with quality!!! Quite deliberate. I fear that spreading the quality too thinly will dilute the festival, so in effect I've written off one day quality-wise, and themed it instead by corralling a lot of the 'countryside' type of races together in a single feature and allowing them their day in the spotlight rather than asking them to play minor roles to the proper stuff. I'll have another ago at explaining the rationale. The next cab on the rank to try and under-write a 5th day as a 'feature race' would probably be the RyanAir. In itself it would probably struggle to achieve this on its own merits being as it is something of a composite attraction. It's removal would also damage the 4th day as it plays a valuable supporting role to the World Hurdle on what would otherwise be a weak card. It would be a classic example of how spreading the jam too thinly devalues the quality of the product. In essence therefore I've given up a little bit on trying to offer a quality fifth race and promote it as some kind of championship feature event, and elected instead to highlight a theme rather than a race albeit I've got a sneaking feeling a 4 mile staying chase (given the number of people weaned on the GN) could have equal, if not more appeal anyway.

You might think this will be a poorly attended day, but I suspect it will be every bit as busy as a normal day. Essentially it's going to appeal to the P2P fraternity who like it or not, are very much part of the bread and butter of jump racing and make a huge contribution to it. It will be their day out, and could easily develop into the most friendly and relaxed day of the five. Note for instance that the FA Trophy final at Wembley is always well attended, as is any 'play off' final even if it features poorly supported teams. There would also be betting opportunities for punters who fancied their chances still, as well as additional time to put in the study for the final two days

I decided to open with the cross country and have it televised because it is quirky and still grabs the interest of the casual viewer. I can't really see that there's a significant difference in spectacle between the Kim Muir and the Foxhunters, albeit the qualification for participation and the other being a handicap etc I duly put the Kim Muir out of sight of the television audience

Day 4

Grand Annual 2 mile H'cap chase
Neptune Hurdle (G1)
RyanAir Chase (G1)
World Hurdle (G1)
Festival Plate
Mares Hurdle

I'm conscious that this has historically been the weakest day and the one that offers the least appeal. I think I've boosted it sufficiently by giving the slightly questionable world hurdle some good support races, particularly the Grand Annual which should be televised now that its the premier race in the calender of its kind. With Sun Alliance no longer sponsoring the hurdle race the previous requirement to keep these two together has been removed, and I've used the opportunity accordingly

Day 5

Triumph Hurdle (G1)
Golden Miller Chase
'new' 2.5 mile Hurdle (G1)
Gold Cup (G1)
County Hurdle
Veterans Chase

I can see the uproar from Aintree now at the introduction of a Gd1 hurdle over 2.5 miles, and there is the danger of taking something away from the 2 mile Champion itself of course, and the mares race. I'm twitchy about it, but can't think of any other way of doing it short of putting in the 'festival seller'. I quite like finishing off with a veterans chase as a poignant way of symbolically saying good bye to old friends before we meet against next year


Right them Mr Gillespie that's my contribution and I expect to be healthily paid for my consultancy work