Hard ground, walkovers and a different course - Cheltenham's Showcase meeting has undergone an amazing transformation

Few meetings in recent times have undergone such a dramatic transformation as Cheltenham’s Showcase meeting, which was underlined last weekend when the track revealed it had attracted record crowds despite having a long history.

The meeting started life as a two-day midweek fixture and was often plagued by fast ground. Indeed, a quick skim through old form books shows that the going was hard for the 1970 edition when there were just 30 and 26 runners respectively for the two days, which included a walkover.

Those whose memories don’t go back that far might still recall because of concerns about watering so much of the track, the Park course was used instead of the Old course between 1990 and 1995. This was basically a flatter course where the runners turned into the two-and-a-half-mile start chute rather than heading up the hill and thus it didn't necessarily suit your typical Cheltenham horse.