'It's a great thing' - Walsh leads joyous reaction as Cheltenham sticks at four

Racing united in unexpected joy on Monday after it was revealed there would not be a fifth day added to the Cheltenham Festival.

Ruby Walsh, the leading rider in the history of the meeting, said the decision by the Jockey Club not to extend the fixture from 2024 onwards was “a great thing”, while champion trainer Paul Nicholls described the conclusion as a triumph for “common sense”.

The decision was announced following a six-month consultation undertaken by the Jockey Club, which many in the industry had expected would result in the festival being extended into the Saturday. There was also thought to be considerable support from within the Jockey Club for adding a fifth day.

Yet the organisation had insisted the final decision on whether to expand the festival would be based on the consultation, and Walsh said the Jockey Club had chosen to put the health and prosperity of the sport before money by keeping the festival at four days.

“It’s a huge decision for the Jockey Club because financially it makes sense for them to have a fifth day, but I think it’s the first time the sport has been put before profit,” he said. “To me, that’s a great thing. This is Cheltenham and the Jockey Club saying no to God knows how much income. They’re turning down financial gain for the benefit of the sport.

“By keeping it to four days, the whole experience for punters, fans and racegoers is enough. They’ve definitely read the room on this and you’d have to give them credit for doing so, but you’d also hope that now racecourses will realise the people in the sport want the best for it. You’d hope more might listen when the sport is being spread too thin.”

Ruby Walsh: 'They've definitely read the room on this and you'd have to give them credit'Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Concerns had been raised about the competitiveness of races at the festival should an extra day be added, while securing sponsors and terrestrial television coverage on ITV’s main channel was also not certain.

The extension had been supported by some within the sport, including Nicky Henderson, citing the likelihood of extra income and a wider audience engaging by racing taking place on a Saturday.

However, the trainer agreed remaining at four days was the correct call, and said: “Early on I was quite keen on the idea of an extra day but I do think they’ve come to the right decision in the end. I can see both sides of it and I’m not going to rattle on about why I did think it was a good idea, but at the end of the day one of the key things was whether the ground would take an extra day and that’s vital. There were pros and cons but everybody seems happy with it this way.”

Backing for the decision also came from local MP Laurence Robertson and from the bookmaker William Hill, which said it was “fully behind the decision [as] nobody wants to see the quality of the races diluted”.

Leading owner and Cheltenham Festival sponsor Max McNeill admitted he was “gobsmacked” when it was confirmed the meeting would not be extended, and praised the Jockey Club’s willingness to listen to feedback.

McNeill, who sponsors the Ultima Handicap Chase, said: “My gut feeling was they were using it as an exercise to get it over the line because commercially that’s what they wanted to do, but I’m very pleased that I was wrong about that.

“From a fan’s point of view, it’s a lot of money to be asked to pay to watch six races a day and we already know field sizes are down and races are diluted. As a sponsor, it’s not easy for these contests to attract a commercial backer – just look at the Derby. And as an owner, you want Cheltenham to have a gravitas and be somewhere where it means more to have runners and, hopefully, winners.

“I’m sure there was a great deal of pressure to have an extra day. It’s a huge credit to them and maybe it’s something racing on a wider scale can have a look at and approach problems in a similar vein.”

Nevin Truesdale said the Jockey Club had received more than 3,000 responses to the consultation and had reached a “finely balanced decision”.

Cheltenham Festival: a record crowd of 280,627 attended across the four days in MarchCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

“If you look at the four days, we still think there are significant opportunities to grow the festival in that format as we’re still nowhere near selling out Tuesday and Wednesday,” he said. “You look at that against the [financial] upsides of five days in the short term and there was a difference between them, but it wasn’t as material as you might think.

“You also have to consider that we want the festival to grow as it has done over the last few years and those opportunities are still there, so I don’t see it through the lens that we’ve effectively forfeited the money by not having an extra day.

“The modelling we’ve done suggests there’s still a lot that can be done on a four-day festival in the short and the longer term. In addition, it’s worth remembering that this was never just about the finances. There were a multitude of factors at play.”

The impact of five days of racing on the ground at Cheltenham was cited as a key factor in not extending the meeting by Ian Renton, the course’s managing director, and Truesdale emphasised it was the condition of the ground, rather than any concerns over how it might impact animal welfare, that was being talked about.

“It’s more the ground itself,” he said. “We’ve made so many big strides in animal welfare and will continue to do so. It’s a raceability issue around things like if there was inclement weather in the build-up to, or during, the festival and that could become a real challenge with a fifth day.”

He added: “I think everyone had rather talked themselves into a position where they felt a fifth day was inevitable. That was never the case as far as we were concerned and we were very open in saying that the results of this consultation would drive our decision. So it’s a surprise to many but it wasn’t a surprise to us because we’ve been dealing with a very open mind on this.”

Read these next:

Cheltenham giants Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott back four-day festival call (£)

Chris Cook: a victory for people power – but just how bad must the feedback have been?! (£)

What next for Cheltenham? No fifth day – but still issues to address

'Four is what it has been and four is where it should stay' – racegoers react

'Thank Christ for that, I can't afford five' – your Cheltenham Festival views

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