For those out of pocket after Cheltenham, this particular takeaway may be a bit rich for your stomach.
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Joe BloGGs
Okay, so not all of my predictions came true last week. However, hindsight is a wonderful thing; so wonderful, in fact, that I’m going to entirely use it for my own purposes and create the most delicious Cheltenham takeaway you ever did read. Or taste. I’m getting a bit lost with the metaphor.
For Starters…The Starters
The one issue which threatened to boil over until common sense took a keen hold on Friday. Robbie Supple did at least front up to the issue later in the week, though it heightened the divide between what the starter sees, and what the jockeys intend.
There is no doubt the runners and riders are more eager to begin at Cheltenham than they are throughout the year, but there were multiple occasions where a fair formation had been arranged 50 yards in advance of the tape. On the Friday, Supple let them go in such array, but it was disarray for the three days prior.
Backers of Primoz and Maughreen in their respective races were given no chance from the outset. This cannot be how the biggest meeting operates. There have been calls for starting stalls, but with fences having such close proximity to the starting line at times, the logistics of this are not entirely straightforward.
I would propose a 100-yard junction in between which a race could begin. Half-a-furlong is unlikely to change a punters thinking regarding the chances of their fancies, and allows the starter loads of leeway to begin a race fairly and without compromising a horse’s chance.
The Remove – Attendees Leaving Early
Jody Townend looked overwhelmed and over the moon when landing her first Cheltenham Festival winner on Bambino Fever in the Champion Bumper. It is such a shame so few were there to greet her.
Cheltenham’s Wednesday saw record lows for attendances, which does at least partly explain the dearth of greetings Townend and her winning mount received. However, the throngs were still meant to have amassed over a tally of 40,000 people, but many appeared to be long gone by race seven.
The most logical conclusion may be that the rescheduling of championship races, plus the outliers which were the results in them, had an unintended consequence. A fair percentage of the crowd may have been unaware of which races carry top billing, but Jonbon’s is a name which has caught hold with some non-racing fans.
It is not hard to imagine such attendees witnessing Jonbon’s defeat, having been told that the Champion Chase he contested was the big race of the day, and deciding that that was enough racing for one day. Especially as one of the remaining two races did not even feature any obstacles.
GG Jumps Journal – Racing’s What Ifs?
Imagine if the world’s best player had not gone off injured in the Euro 2024 final. Just imagine… Joe BloGGs Rodri’s enforced absence from the second half of England’s latest summer heartbreak ensured Martin Zubimendi arrived to inflict 45 minutes of sheer teeth-clenching despair. Football and whataboutery go hand-in-hand, just like they do in so…
Wed 26 Feb 2025The Main Course – What Happened in the Main Events?
Had you placed an accumulator on the SP of the four favourites in the championship races, the odds would only have come to a shade greater than 11/1. The eventual winners combined for odds of 11,933/1. This was not a good Cheltenham Festival for punters, but that does not mean it was a bad meeting for the sport.
Last year, after Ballyburn, Fact To File and Langer Dan had won in succession, I was chatting to a friend of mine whose occasional bets on racing occurred primarily at Cheltenham. As I tried to explain why Langer Dan had won, after already fielding questions on the intrigue of odds-on favourites in the first two races, he simply hit me with an uppercut (not literally): “is this not all a bit pointless and boring?”
Actually, yes it was. Which is why this season’s unpredictability made Cheltenham fun again. Although it left unanswered questions about Constitution Hill and Jonbon, the thrills and spills of racing were on full display. Willie Mullins did not win a single championship race, nor did Nicky Henderson, nor even Gordon Elliott.
Instead, the likes of Jeremy Scott and Barry Connell rejoiced in the winners’ enclosure, the latter in the most emotional circumstances. This was a winning week for racing, if not for its bettors.
And Something Sweet to Tempt You in?
This was a week in which one man simultaneously proved that ambition should show no bounds, and that winning for the sake of it bears precious little fruit.
Willie Mullins won the Triumph Hurdle with a 100/1 shot unraced over hurdles. Poniros was not even the only horse for whom that was true in the race, as Mullins ran two other hurdles debutants imported from the flat, as well as two others who had yet to race for him since joining from the continent.
Let us hope other trainers, and indeed Mullins himself, take more inspiration from this result than Lossiemouth’s second straight victory in the Mares’ Hurdle. She would possess a Champion Hurdle crown had the threat of competition not got in the way. The Festival needs more yards having a go at glory rather than cherry picking it from the laps of others.
Jade De Grugy was second in the Mares’ Hurdle, so Mullins would have had the winner anyway. He is one fewer win clear in his immortal lead of trainers at the meeting, but one win more for the ambition of running Poniros.
A Cheese Course? It Has to Be the Racing Blogger
The five phases of grief have never been experienced so publicly. Stephen Power clearly lost a lot of money at Cheltenham, something not to be celebrated in itself. However, the honesty with which he allowed his emotions to be shared, especially when it became apparent that Galopin Des Champs was to be foiled in the Gold Cup, gave a cinematic platform for the way we all consume racing.
Fascinations & Irritations
They are one and the same this week.
Fascination – Inothewayurthinkin Being Taken Out of the Grand National
I wonder at what point in the season Gavin Cromwell told JP McManus that he may have a superstar on his hands. The fulcrum would appear to be when chasing home Galopin Des Champs in fourth in the Irish Gold Cup when the pace of the race failed to suit.
He was subsequently supplemented for Cheltenham’s own golden prize, but only after his rude health was complemented. Maybe it was then, maybe it was even earlier, but it has been for racing’s good that they discovered a Grand National tilt may actually undervalue Inothewayurthinkin’s ability at the age of seven.
The tantalising prospect of the unknown now stands in front of him. Further Gold Cups, at Punchestown, Cheltenham or elsewhere could yet end up filling his trophy cabinet.
Irritation – Inothewayurthinkin Being Taken Out of the Grand National
I love the Grand National, and still do even after multiple changes have been made to the race in recent years. As an avid fan of past renewals on YouTube, the history-making prospects of Inothewayurthinkin were tantalising, up until 24 hours ago.
That he will not attempt to be the first horse since Golden Miller to win both the Gold Cup and Grand National in the same season is a crying shame. 91 years it’s been, but as the Grand National draws an ever classier field, it felt like we were on the precipice this season. Next year, maybe, but they’ll have to be a good one to beat Inothewayurthinkin at Cheltenham first.
GG Jumps Journal – Predicting the 2025 Cheltenham Festival
Come on, we’ve seen this before, we all know what’s going to happen. Predicting the Cheltenham Festival from a betting perspective is nigh on impossible for everyone but the shrewdest punters. However, in truth, the Greatest Show On Turf gives us plenty of recurring storylines year on year. Often, it is why we love the…
Wed 05 Mar 2025Tip for the Weekend
Look to the 4.30 at Navan on Saturday. JP McManus’ colours may well be seen in yet another winners’ enclosure, as CANAL END may have loads in hand for this novices’ handicap if turning up here. The seven-year-old has been campaigned over shorter trips over fences so far, but he may well prove to be a stayer, and remains 5lb below his hurdles mark after a promising second last time out.