For a venue that was built on expecting the unexpected, and on an afternoon that veered from bright sunshine to downpours and back again, there was an odd sense of certainty as Cheltenham opened the doors for its new season on Friday. The Festival in March has been a four-day meeting since 2005, and despite years of debate, speculation and rumours that a fifth day was all but inevitable, the track announced earlier this week that that is how it will stay.
More than 3,000 of Cheltenham’s 8,000 or so annual members responded to a survey on a fifth day, according to Ian Renton, the track’s managing director, and it is fair to assume that a substantial majority were not in favour.
