'It's not working and it's not right' - time to dial down Cheltenham obsession
Just imagine it. You have achieved something special, something you have always wanted, something that makes you feel proud and satisfied, something that is the culmination of hours, days and weeks of hard work, sweat, toil and endeavour.
You wait for the recognition of your achievement but it is muted. All anyone really wants to know is what comes next and whether you can produce it again on another day that matters infinitely more to them, to the point where you wonder whether anyone really cares at all about what you did today.
It would be pretty demoralising wouldn't it? Yet this is what jump racing has increasingly become to many operating within it as the magnificent Cheltenham Festival has consumed everything around it like a black hole – ever growing and insatiable in its appetite.
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- We know that times are tight - but racecourses really do need to step up and improve outdated weighing rooms
- The budget has heaped even more trouble on racing - and I fear many trainers will now decide the numbers just don't add up
- Why I think Cheltenham Festival handicaps need to change - JP McManus writes exclusively for the Racing Post
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- Four score and ten just a number to Peter Harris as July Cup triumph shows there's more to the elderly than medical conditions