This week Cheltenham will be staging one of the UK’s premier sporting events as the 2013 National Hunt Festival is staged at Prestbury Park, featuring four days of top class racing.
Racing is a great passion of mine, so I’d like to share some fantastic facts, followed by a few nags that may be worth a flutter…
The event attracts around 230,000 spectators generating ticket sales of more than £7 million, with 27 races, offering more than £3m in prize money, culminating with the prestigious Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday.
The Festival has grown significantly over the years and now generates a staggering £50 million for the local economy. Some of the statistics are quite amazing:
- 5,000 temporary staff are employed
- 10,000 beds in the town are sold each night
- 220,000 pints of Guinness are consumed at the course
- 12,000 people sit down to lunch at the course each day
- 30,000 cars and 2,000 coaches bring people to the course
- Over 600 helicopter landings, making this the busiest temporary airfield in the country
- Over £1m cash is withdrawn from the cash machines on course
- Over £1m passes hands in the betting ring for each race
- Off course, bookmakers take more than £600m on the Festival
- Unknown amounts are gambled in all night poker schools
If this is your first visit to Cheltenham, you may be surprised to find that, unlike other sports events, the crowd is constantly moving from parade ring to the stands, to the bar, to the toilet, to the shops, not necessarily in that order. I suggest you try and take time to go into the centre of the course so you can get up close to the horses jumping a fence and appreciate the speed and bravery of the jockeys. It’s a great vantage point to take in the huge number of people in the stands opposite and to hear the roar when a well-backed horse wins, especially one from Ireland!
The Jockey Club is always looking at ways to develop facilities at the racecourse and they are going to be renovating some of the older stands over the next few years, which is long overdue and a welcome improvement. It will be strange not to see Edward Gillespie at the helm this year, as he stood down after more than 30 years as Chief Executive. His forward thinking and organisation have made such a huge contribution to growing the Festival, making the venue a lot more than ‘just a racecourse’, and a place of which the people of Cheltenham can feel justly proud.
No article about the Festival would be complete without a few pointers to some winners this week! So here are some long-range selections for all 27 races, that should give you a run for your money:
Tuesday
1.30 - Dodging Bullets
2.05 - Overturn
2.40 - Fruity O’Rooney
3.20 - Rock on Ruby
4.00 - Arabella Boy
4.40 - Quevega (each way alternative Kentford Gray Lady)
5.15 - Shangani
Wednesday
1.30 - Lyreen Legend
2.05 - Taquin de Seuil
2.40 - Unioniste
3.20 - Sprinter Sacre (each way alternative Somersby)
4.00 - Pendra
4.40 - Bordoni
5.15 - Golantilla
Thursday
1.30 - Aupcharlie
2.05 - Seymour Eric
2.40 - Menorah
3.20 - Reve de Sivola
4.00 - Poquelin
4.40 - Frisco Depot
Friday
1.30 - Our Conor
2.05 - Edgardo Sol
2.40 - Conneygree
3.20 (Gold Cup) - Sir Des Champs (each way alternative Captain Chris)
4.00 - Cottage Oak
4.40 - Art Professor
5.15 - Tanks For That
Enjoy!
Colin Spencer
Chairman
