Cheltenham 2010

If you tear a betting docket in half, then again and once more for good measure you are left with twelve pieces of paper reflecting what could have been. The represent the hopes, the dreams, the plans for how the winnings might have been spent, but ultimately frustration. The frustration can oft be tempered by getting one up but this wasn't a week of getting anything up. By Friday evening my bin had 144 pieces of paper representing 3 losing bets a day. The two each way bets I did manage to get up were but a dent on the losses. Having said all that it's hard to get too despondent after a Cheltenham meeting. As a meeting it is like no other, unifying professional and casual punters in one gorge of unrestrained punting. For owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff it is their annual championships.
The dissenting voices around a 4 day festival have been growing among the purists and on the evidence of the results this week there is merit in their argument. Quality over quantity will always win out for the purists but for the money men and organisers hard cash is the only currency in town. Moves are afoot from 'Racing for Change' to move the finish day from a Friday to a Saturday. The rationale being that more punters will be afforded the opportunity to attend the festival. Of course what it really means is that more money can be squeezed from those punters who would be excited to get a cut of the Cheltenham experience. It is hard to argue against the merit of getting more people involved in the racing experience as ultimately this enables the sport to grow. However this should not come at the expense of diluting what is widely regarded as the pinnacle of jumps racing.