'Four-day plan is a disaster'

Lydia Hislop13 April 2012

Extending the Cheltenham Festival to four days from 2005 would be "a disaster", the voice of National Hunt trainers Toby Balding argued today.

Researchers employed by track officials are this week canvassing opinion from racegoers on whether extending the sell-out three-day fixture would prove popular. Redevelopment of on-course facilities, to remove any logistical obstacles to such expansionist ambitions, begins this summer.

Over the next 12 months, Cheltenham's clerk of the course Simon Claisse will lead discussions with trainers on whether they would welcome a fourth day and, if so, what races they would like to see staged on it.

But Balding claims the money-spinning plans would irreparably damage National Hunt racing as a whole.

"The programme already suffers from 'Cheltenhamitis' from New Year's Day onwards - if not before. Trainers will tell you, owners are already only interested in these three days in March. The last thing we want is to dilute the rest of the season yet further," he argued.

Brilliant marketing has helped make the Festival by far the most successful jumps meeting in Britain. Only Aintree's Martell Grand National meeting comes close. Cheltenham has also worked hard to develop November's Open and December's

Tripleprint fixtures as major targets and Festival pointers in their own right.

Other racecourses have struggled to construct significant alternatives, resulting in a lopsided jumps programme. Although Newbury ' s Aon Chase fixture has grown in stature, Ascot has been hit by poor field sizes and the problem would be exacerbated if a four-day Festival were to become reality.

Obvious events to add to the Festival include a novice hurdle restricted to horses that haven't previously raced on the Flat - conditions it has long been argued should be applied to the existing Royal & SunAlliance Hurdle. A maresonly contest under similar terms is another to consider, along with a crosscountry chase, moving Cheltenham's own mares-only bumper from its April slot and perhaps a 2m 4f championship event for horses whose talents fall between the 2m Queen Mother Champion Chase and 3m 2f Tote Gold Cup.

The resultant victims of such plans would include Aintree's 2m 4f Mumm Melling Chase, Sandown's valuable National Hunt-bred novices' handicap hurdle last Saturday and Newbury's maresonly novices' handicap hurdle on Saturday week.

"I can see more detriment than advantage to the jumps season as a whole in these plans," warned Balding. " Cheltenham also risks diluting its quality."

Balding also launched a broadside at Cheltenham's priorities, claiming owners' facilities for the Festival itself are "very ordinary".

"Cheltenham says these plans show it wants to 'encourage investment in National Hunt ownership', but in fact they treat their owners pretty shoddily," he said.

"At the Festival, the owners' stand is the only uncovered one on the course and they can gain access to it only for the very race in which their horse runs, not the rest of the day. That can't be right."

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