Cheltenham report card: A for drama, room for improvement elsewhere

On-course drama

Solid A, if only for the most extraordinary running of Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle in living memory. The odds-on Constitution Hill’s departure at the fifth drew the biggest gasp of the week from the stands, while State Man’s fall at the last with a second successive title within sight prompted the biggest groan. The regular failure of hot favourites including Jonbon, Ballyburn and, in the Gold Cup, Galopin Des Champs,to justify their short odds led to a series of compelling tales of the unexpected. The 100-1 success of the fast-finishing Poniros, on his hurdling debut, in the Triumph was the biggest shock of the lot,the third winner at a three-figure price since 1954.

The British challenge

C-, and that’s perhaps a little generous. After going into the week with strong fancies for several championship events, the home team’s eight winners was the second-lowest in the four-day era. That did, admittedly, include three Grade One wins – a slight improvement on two in 2024 – and The New Lion looks a serious contender for championship honours next season while there is also some succour in the fact that Nicky Henderson’s Jango Baie took the Arkle in the enforced absence of his stable star, Sir Gino. But for the fourth year running, Ireland had the majority of runners – 249, 55%, versus 200 from British stables and three from France – and comfortably outperformed its representation, with 71% of the winners. Willie Mullins matched his record total of 10 winners at the meeting despite three odds-on defeats and a repeat of Ireland’s 23-winner haul in 2021 still feels a more likely prospect over the next few years than a Prestbury Cup success for the British.

Willie Mullins (left) once more dominated the festival with Fact To File one of his 10 winners. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA

The starts

Sadly, a U is the only option here since so many failed to reach the minimum standard for a pass. Precisely why the combined might of the British and Irish weighing rooms found it so difficult to stick to the rules is hard to say – and the stewards failed to apportion any blame in almost every case – but the automatic standing starts that followed every failed attempt to get them away in the orderly fashion that works for almost every other jumps races all year seriously compromised the chances of several fancied runners. Maughreen, who whipped around at the start of the Mares’ Novice Hurdle, was the most obvious sufferer, but Jonbon, the odds-on favourite for Wednesday’s feature, was also on the back foot from the off after being slightly slow to stride. Significant numbers of punters will have endured the infuriating sense at some stage that they did not get a fair run for their money. The starts were much less of an issue on the final afternoon so perhaps the first three days were an aberration, but any repeat of similar problems at Aintree in three weeks’ time will suggest that sterner intervention from the official may be required.

Attendance

D for deflating. People still turned out for Gold Cup day, but the failure of the track’s scheme offering a 20% discount on a ticket for Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday with a full-price purchase for any other card to generate any upturn over the first three days was disappointing, to say the least. The overall Tuesday-to-Thursday crowd is now down by 25% in three years. For many National Hunt fans, festival-going now seems to be one-day experience, with Gold Cup day seen as the only one worth the effort, expense and assorted travel-related indignities of being there. Attendance remains buoyant at other meetings earlier in the season, possibly as a result of some former festival-goers shifting their allegiance to the less frenetic days, so perhaps the discount offer could be extended to buying a ticket in November or December. While it makes sense to mine Cheltenham’s audience and database for extra festival ticket sales next year, it will be a thankless task without also focusing on their all-important sense of …

Value For Money

… which was perhaps a C+, or maybe a B-, for all that it is hard to assess objectively if you are in the privileged position of getting in for free. The significant jump in the crowd size for Friday’s Gold Cup, and the knock-on effects on the experience of being there, were impossible to miss. The queues for food and coffee were much longer and so were the scrums for buses and taxis before and after racing. The bars – according to second-hand reports – were all but impenetrable too. The flipside is that racegoers on the first three days enjoyed something much closer to the “premium” sporting experience Cheltenham would be hoping to supply. Relaxation of the rules on alcohol consumption in the enclosures seemed particularly welcome and we can only wonder how many thousands of hours have been wasted at previous festivals telling racegoers “you can’t bring your beer through here”. Business was seemingly much brisker in the betting ring, but a key element in overall attendance and customer experience is still the hyper-inflated cost of accommodation in the local area. That, to a large extent, is out of the track’s control.

Overall

The festival has many strengths, its biggest afternoon retains huge popularity and significance and, on balance, it enjoyed a positive year, albeit with some very obvious areas of weakness that are in need of urgent improvement. With Guy Lavender, its new head, having taken over less than three months ago, this was always likely to be a transitional season. Next year will be the first real examination of whether his new regime is starting to achieve results.