'Beneficial long-term' - Kim Bailey weighs in on five-day festival debate

Kim Bailey notched a memorable double at the 1995 Cheltenham Festival when Alderbrook and Master Oats won the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup, and he believes the prospect of a five-day meeting is very real.

The trainer has sent out another two festival winners since moving to Thorndale Farm in local Andoversford in 2006 and envisages long-term benefits of a possible extension to the festival.

Bailey, who will be represented by Does He Know and Fair Frontieres next week, said: "I think it will happen and I think the locals will love it because 90 per cent of the locals can't go racing on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday because they've got businesses to run. They would love to go racing on the Saturday.

"Cut back the races per day so you end up with six, then you need only two new races. It will take a while to bed in, but if you look at Royal Ascot its biggest day now is the Saturday."

Kim Bailey with his three best horses: Gold Cup winner Master Oats (left), Grand National hero Mr Frisk and Champion Hurdle victor Alderbrook (right)Credit: Pat Healy

Royal Ascot introduced a fifth day to its programme to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002, while Cheltenham moved from three days to four in 2005, with the Gold Cup switching from Thursday to Friday in the process.

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However, Bailey thinks any extension to the festival should not mean moving the Gold Cup to a Saturday slot.

"As long as they don't move the Gold Cup to Saturday," he said. "I think they made a mistake moving the Derby from Wednesday to Saturday.

"You lose all the corporate entertainment to start with, and I think it's a bit of tradition. The problem with moving everything to the Saturday is people have other things to do. The other thing is Cheltenham is not a big racecourse – there isn't a huge amount of ground."

When asked whether the extra races could jeopardise the quality of the meeting, Bailey added: "They could have a veterans' race, which wouldn't dilute anything.

"From the racecourse's point of view they've got to keep the whole thing standing for five days, so by making an extra day, reducing the prices and getting more people in who are locals and want to go racing, it would be beneficial long-term."

Bailey is not the first trainer to offer his support to the concept. Speaking as part of the Racing Post Weekender's Cheltenham Ultimate Guide, which was published last Friday, Nicky Henderson, the most successful British trainer in the history of the festival, lent his support for extending the meeting from four to five days, saying he "can't see a reason why not".

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