Countdown To Cheltenham

The Countdown To The Festival briefing took place today, Wednesday 2nd March.

It began with Edward Gillespie giving an overview of what is happening at the course.

There are 5,500 staff on site during the festival and each day will have a distinctive theme this year.

They would still like more female racegoers to attend, the split is currently 70 / 30 male / female. Interestingly on the Cheltenham presentation team it was 100% male and with the press it was probably a 90/10 male / female split, so plenty more work there then.

After the Kauto Star / Denman saga of the past few years this year’s Gold Cup is being marketed as the “Famous Five” concentrating on Denman, Kauto Star, Imperial Commander, Long Run and Diamond Harry (that’s the order Mr Gillespie gave the names out)

This year’s Charity Race will again be raising money for Cancer Research and Henry Cecil will be the guest of honour for the race, and he will be providing a runner in the race, his first ever runner at Cheltenham.

Ticket sales are going well, with a target of between 215-220,000. Current sales are around the 195,000 level.

Friday is almost sold out with only 6,000 Club tickets remaining and, like last year, there will be no “on the day” ticket sales on the Friday. There will be tickets available on the day for the first three days.

Over £1m has been invested in changes since the 2011 Festival.

Money has been spent on a new fast flow beer delivery system to help reduce queues at the bars. There is a new bar in the Best Mate enclosure and a new Garden Bar in the main enclosure.

Since the incident at Newbury there has been a full Electrical Services Review carried out and no issues were identified.

After this years Festival is complete there will be a costing study into replacing the older facilities at the course. This will be a multi-million pound investment and will take a couple of years to complete if approved.

Gillespie said he would not envisage a move to a Saturday festival before these works are complete.

Simon Claisse was next up, as always complaining about the weather, in this case the coldest December on record. Having said that he has said February has been really good and the course is in a better condition than it was this time last year.

All the repair work has been carried out following the Trials Meeting.

He reminded us of the new position of the final fence on the Old Course, now in the home straight, which means all chases shorter than three miles will have an extra fence to be jumped.

The final hurdles will also be in the same position as last year, after the final fences, meaning we have the controversial shorter run-in again.

The current going is Soft, Good to Soft in places with going stick readings of between 5.9 and 6.5.

The forecast for the next week is for frosty nights and cool days.

Finally it was over to the handicappers as they revealed the weights for the handicaps.

In the Stewart Family Spinal Research Handicap Chase Phil Smith says this is the best race for the handicappers. Top weight is shared by Siegemaster and Nacarat.

Phil Smith has dropped Nacarat 1lb for his third in last Saturday’s Racing Post Chase, whilst the winner Quinz has been raised 9lbs for his victory.

In the  cross country Garde Champetre given some help from Phil Smith with a rating 157, a drop of 4lbs, this is due to the horses age and not being quite as good this season.

 Phill Smith said this has become  "a much classier race this year" he particularly mentioned Fair Along.  He also thinks Pass Me By could be one to watch.

In Centenary Novices’ Chase,  Qozak, Phidippides, Songe and Aerial all top rated 140. The latter is up 14lbs but carries 1lb less because he is only a five-year-old. Phil Smith calls this year’s Centenary an "amazingly high quality" renewal.

In the Coral Cup, Any Given Day (159) is top rated with Organisateur 1lb behind. Walkon, Solix and Trenchant caught handicappers eye.

Voy Por Ustedes, new trainer Nicky Henderson has hinted this will be his likely target, has been given lower mark than for chasing,  -5 lbs.

In the Fred Winter, Molotof (143) is top weighted with Sailors Warn (142) Fearless Falcon and Tillahow next, 3lbs lower. Nicky Henderson was unimpressed with the 18lb rise given to Molotof for his recent second.

In the Pertemps Final,  Ashkazar is 5lbs clear top rated at 161. Knockara Beau is next best, with Fair Along a further 1lb back.

In the Byrne Group Plate Tartak has top weight with Nacarat one pound behind.

Phil Smith believes the Kim Muir is a "stunningly high quality" contest, with four runners, King Fontaine, Balthazar King, Buena Vista and Can’t Buy Time all sharing top weight with another 11 runners within three pounds.

Overturn and Celestial Halo are the well clear top weights in the Vincent O'Brien, giving eight pounds plus to their rivals  . . . the handicapper thinks Sublimity could be the rick on what would be his handicap debut.

The Martin Pipe has eight sharing top weight, with the handicapper thinking Straw Bear could have a good weight.

In the Johnny Henderson, French Opera is the key to the race, being 6lbs clear at the top. Phil Smith has dropped Voy Por Ustedes 5lbs, but as Nicky Henderson said, he is more likely to run in the Coral Cup before returning to the larger obstacles. Henderson thinks 2½ miles may be his optimum distance.

Nicky Henderson was very outspoken after the weights were revealed.


He believes the rating given to Quantitiveeasing is “a joke” and that Solix has been very harshly treated.

Henderson gave his broadest hint yet that Punchestowns will miss The Festival and will be aimed at Aintree then the Punchestown Festival. The aim is to run him over fences, although Henderson did not rule out the three mile hurdle at Aintree if it turned out to be a weak contest.

Regarding what will run where, Henderson said he will have to sit down and look at all the weights before making final decisions.

Nigel Twiston-Davies was very positive about Imperial Commander, would we expect anything less? Twiston-Davies said the defending Gold Cup champion is in “top condition” and he “could not be happier” with his current condition and he has “a similar feel to last year.”

Regarding the Foxhunters he said Baby Run is “even better than last year” and he cannot believe "an 11 year old has that much improvement."   

Asked for his best horse for the meeting he nominated Ackertac, although he is still not sure where he will run.