royal ascot & the cheltenham festival should be equal in all things.

​I thought the elongated Royal Ascot was a thorough success. The right type of races was chosen and positioned in the right places in the running order. Congratulations to all concerned. Though why this particular phoenix could be plucked from the ashes of a calendar mangled by government intervention and the Grand National was cast adrift as it were in some way akin to poison ivy is beyond my comprehension. The 2020 F.A. Cup Final will be played outside of the 2019/20 season, yet the most popular race in the British racing calendar, the race that attracts the biggest t.v. audience, that brings in the greatest amount of revenue to the sport, cannot. It rankles. It will always rankle. The flat, you see, it seems, most always taken precedence.
But to return to the subject at hand. I see no reason why Royal Ascot next year could not be the same as this year. The same races in the same order on the same date. I truly believe Royal Ascot should come before the Derby, with the Guineas meeting 2 or 3-weeks before Ascot. I realise to achieve this there needs to be a root and branch transformation of the racing calendar. But if the unnecessary confusion of the past few months has proved, anything can be achieved if the B.H.A. and its stakeholders are chased hard enough.
All the middle-distance races for three-year-olds last week, including the handicaps, took on a whole new purpose this year, with every one of them producing horses with genuine chances at Epsom. The Ribblesdale and alike are normally consolation races for either the beaten horses from Epsom or those not entered in the race as yearlings. Lee Mottershead in todays Racing Post is of the opinion that with the Eclipse this season run the day after the Derby and confined to older horses it becomes just a rerun of the Prince of Wales’ Stakes. I wouldn’t that was actually a bad thing. Of course, if I had my way the Eclipse would become a 3-year-old only race and be the final classic of the season. Lee Mottershead also quite rightly wrote today that this year’s Derby is more intriguing than in previous years’ as until six-days before the race every 3-year-old colt in Europe is eligible to be entered and wished this could be the case every year from now on. He also posed the question as to how to make good the short-fall in prize money due to having no forfeit stages.
At the moment it costs just under £600 to enter a horse for the Derby as a yearling, that is, most likely, before the horse has even seen a saddle. This tradition is so evidently stupid that no comment needs to be passed. Of course, a horse can be supplemented for the race, a quite recent development, but as Lee Mottershead pointed out, how many owners can afford to shell-out £85,000 for the privilege of having a crack at Epsom glory? The problem of maintaining prize money at the inflated levels proposed – next year the race is meant to achieve 1.5-million in prize money – is only solved at present due to the high number of horses entered for £600 as yearling. In future I suggest a one-off entry fee of £10,000, which were there twenty runners would raise £200,000, more or less what is achieved through the entry of yearlings.
But I meander, again. Royal Ascot as a five-day event, with eight races on four-days and seven on the fifth day, garners no criticism. Not even from me. Yet whenever the topic of a 5-day Cheltenham Festival is raised the debate can get as fiery as a lightning strike. ‘The quality would diminish’, they say. ‘There’s nowhere near enough classy horses to fill a five-day Festival’. Yes, it is much earlier in the season, yet Royal Ascot achieved both large fields and a high number of classy horses and that was without too many coming over from Ireland and nearly none from France.
I personally think a ‘Heath’ type day is the solution, at least at first, to test the waters, if you like. But as was proved last week, if the right type of races are selected, races that are competitive handicaps, that bring revenue to the betting shops and the sport, then it is worth giving 5-days a punt. You have to remember, and this is lost on the majority, it seems, the Cheltenham Festival is not only a sporting occasion but it plays a pivotal part in the economy of Gloucestershire and the town of Cheltenham in particular. It is one of the reasons the Grand National should be run during the year of 2020. Why it is vital to have spectators at the festival meetings. It’s not only about us, you know.