4 or 5-days is raised again.

​The debate over whether it would be percipient and in all our best interests to extend the Cheltenham Festival to 5-days is once again being debated by the great and the good of racing. A case of here we go again. Why must it take so long for racing to resolve even the simplest of issues?
Amongst those in the ‘inevitable camp’ are Nicky Henderson and David Pipe, with amongst those in the ‘dissenting camp’ are Paul Nicholls and Alan King. Willie Mullins is of the opinion, I suspect, ‘yummy-yummy, good for my tummy. Bring it on!’ The majority of the Racing Post’s journalists are of a more sceptical mindset, being of the opinion that it would be stretching the elastic a mite bit too far. Julian Muscat, a bit of a fuddy-duddy, I suspect, continues to complain that Royal Ascot became a shadow of its former self when the fifth-day was sneaked into existence under the guise of a gift to the Queen in celebration of her Jubilee.
I suspect all those presently arguing that quality of racing will be sacrificed in an indecent haste to refill racing’s depleted coffers were using the same argument when it was decided to keep Royal Ascot to 5-days. Perhaps the thought of quaffing all that champagne five-days in a row and eating all that rich man’s food and having to do a day’s work, while all-the-while there are young whipper-snappers snapping at their heels and eyeing up their office space, is giving them sleepless nights.
They may well be right, of course, though in my opinion Royal Ascot is not in any way diminished by 5-days. Of course, there are two keys differences between Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham, and not the lack of fences and hurdles at the former. The Cheltenham Festival meeting has the word ‘Champion’ in the title of many of its headline races and even those condition chases and hurdles that omit the word ‘Champion’ are considered by all and sundry to be championship races. Royal Ascot, for all its glamour, prestige and huge purses, does not crown a single champion, not even the Gold Cup winner. And Royal Ascot is staged 3-months into the flat season, while the Cheltenham Festival is staged at the back-end of the jumps season, thereby Royal Ascot has a much larger pool of horses to draw upon and in a normal year (will we ever see normal again?) they can attract horses trained in all parts of the world. With the exception of the Cross-Country Chase, Cheltenham can only rely on horses trained in Britain and Ireland.
My take on the debate, as anyone who wishes to trawl the archive of this site can verify, is that I do not think, at this point in time, there needs to be a debate on 4-days or 5, though I am 100% in favour in the meeting being extended by a day.
Prior to the Queen’s Jubilee, Royal Ascot used to be a 4-day meeting, bookended by a fifth-day ‘Heath’ meeting of which the feature race was the Churchill Stakes. This is the way forward for Cheltenham, I believe.
The Midlands National should be moved to the weekend before The Festival, creating a big handicap double with Sandown’s Imperial Cup. The fifth-day could then become a Festival Heath Day which can be used to test the waters to see if there is an appetite amongst the public for an extended Festival. Also, and journalists are being short-sighted in their dismissal of the fifth-day proposal, the town of Cheltenham not only lost out financially when the 2021 Festival was run behind closed-doors but the year before the town’s economy was blitzed by having no literature, arts or music festivals, with the same no do doubt in store for them this summer. In helping our own finances, a fifth-day would help out the town’s finances; a kind gesture in times of trouble and one that can only cement the bond between racecourse and town.
The races, by the way, are there for this fifth/Heath Day. I would like the Cross-Country Chase switched to the Saturday and becoming the headline race. If it was possible to double or treble the prize-money this might entice the top cross-country horses from Europe and perhaps a better quality of horse from Britain and Ireland. Any type of race being considered for the Festival itself could be trialled on the Saturday and any race sacrificed from the Festival could find a home on this under-card.
This fifth/Heath Day would make the perfect home for the consolation races for the County Hurdle and one of the staying hurdles. The novice handicap chase could be reinstated and a novice handicap hurdle instigated. A Veterans Chase would be perfect for a fifth-day and a Mares Bumper would round-off a perfectly feasible day’s racing. And if you want a race from left-field, how about a female jockeys hurdle or chase?
Don’t know what the debate is about.