Hot on the heels of Baaeed’s defeat at 1-4 in the Champions Stakes at Ascot, there was another big surprise on Monday morning as the Jockey Club announced that Cheltenham’s Festival meeting in March will not be extended to a fifth day from 2024. If the general delight among National Hunt fans on social media is any guide, this was a rare example of a beaten odds-on shot that punters could celebrate.
Cynics – this one included – who suggested back in April the Jockey Club’s “consultation” over a fifth day at the Festival was window-dressing for a decision that had already been made will eat their humble pie, and do so, for the most part, very happily. Rumours that Cheltenham was intent on moving to a five-day, Tuesday to Saturday Festival have bubbled to the surface on a semi-annual basis almost since the switch from three days to four in 2005, but if a six-month consultation process cannot build a convincing case for a five-day Festival, it is surely now a dead issue for the foreseeable future.
