It was a rather soggy start to the Cheltenham festival, the pinnacle of the jump racing season, with the top of Cleeve Hill sometimes lost in mist, morning pints of Guinness diluted by the drizzle, and punters huddling together for warmth.
About 250,000 racegoers – from farmers to city slickers to royals and a great many Irish sports fans – descend on this corner of the West Country early every spring. This means there is always an awful lot for the Jockey Club to sort, but this time it feels as if it may be even more challenging than usual.
Though the weather improved through the day on Tuesday, there were concerns that a race on the muddy cross-country course on Wednesday could be called off. Organisers are also worried that the gloomy weather, coinciding with the cost of living crisis, could lead to disappointing attendance figures.
In addition, there was a scrap of fashion controversy as what used to be Ladies’ Day was rebranded as “Style Wednesday”, with people – not just women – being encouraged to shun new outfits in favour of vintage and secondhand ones.
Despite it all, there was – as ever – a rousing Cheltenham roar for the first race. “It doesn’t matter what the weather is, what the outside problems are,” said Jim Gray, a horse-racing fan from the West Midlands. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be than here on day one. It’s a wonderful break from the real world.”
The weather is almost always a talking point at Cheltenham. It can be glorious, it can be testing. The clerk of the course, Jon Pullin, said two of the three courses, the old and new, had taken the deluge well. But the cross-country course was struggling.
He said: “We only race on the cross-country course three times a year and as a result it hasn’t the same level of investment in drainage. That means it takes a lot longer to filter through and dry. It is waterlogged in places.” An inspection took place on Wednesday morning to decide if a cross-country chase could go ahead.
The rain did not deter festival regulars Ash Robinson, who was dressed in a bright pink suit, and his friend Paul Norfolk, sporting one decorated with images of the world map.
“It was lashing down with rain this morning and I knew everyone would be in coats – greys and browns – so I thought I’d go the opposite,” said Robinson.
The official attendance for Tuesday was 60,181 – very slightly down on last year but much lower than 2022.
On this Style Wednesday, vintage clothes are encouraged and “slow fashion style awards” are awarded to the best dressed.
Robinson was not impressed. “For me, it’s still Ladies’ Day. We are trying to get our ladies to look as good as they can. I don’t think that’s the right day for secondhand fashion. We want everyone in their finery, not in secondhand clothes.”
The former Tory culture secretary Nadine Dorries was livid, describing it as “some sort of woke nod”.
But Avi Gal, who moved his London vintage shop to the course’s shopping village for the week and had just sold an Italian racegoer a secondhand top hat, was keen. “Vintage is so in,” he said. “Everyone loves it. I’ve got lots of Harris tweed, lots of City boys long coats here. It could be a good day for me.”
Nicola McGeady, head of PR at Ladbrokes, said: “As someone who has been coming to Cheltenham for over 10 years, I am delighted I can recycle the wardrobe instead of feeling pressure to buy something new.”
But vintage and secondhand doesn’t necessarily mean modest at Cheltenham. The prizes for the best-dressed include a £4,000 necklace from jewellery brand Boodles.
Another concern the racing establishment had on day one was that a fancied horse called Monbeg Genius owned by the Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, who are at the centre of the PPE scandal, could do well. It did not come to pass. The horse was pulled up and Cheltenham was spared the possibility of a victorious horse being booed in the winners’ enclosure.
There was a reminder of the danger of jump racing when two horses died on day one of the festival. Only last week one of them, Highland Hunter, pulled the funeral cortege of 25-year-old jockey Keagan Kirkby, who died in a point-to-point in Kent. Before the festival, the League Against Cruel Sports had called for tighter safety measures in horse racing.
