Days of rogues and deviants are gone - cross-country chases are now star-studded affairs
It wasn’t long ago the debate around cross-country chases was whether they were a good time to go to the bar or shouldn’t exist at all. Now we have a Cheltenham Festival winner taking on a Gold Cup hero in what is easily the highlight of seven free-to-air races on TV.
Somehow, without us really noticing, Tiger Roll came along and won two Grand Nationals and five races at the festival, including three Cross Country Chases, and suddenly the ridiculous has become cool and even Gold Cup winners are doing it.
The mere thought of a Gold Cup winner taking on the cross-country course would have been laughed at BT (Before Tiger), but gone are the days when they were the domain of rogues and deviants and a last-chance saloon for half-a-million-pound horses who had long lost their way.
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- 'I think he should be favourite, not 7-1' - David Jennings gets stuck into the action at Cheltenham on Friday
- 'He should be hard to beat if his jumping has been sharpened up' - Harry Wilson with his ITV tips for Cheltenham and Bangor
- Racing Postcast: Cheltenham and Doncaster preview show with Graeme Rodway and Jonny Pearson
- All eyes on record purchase Caldwell Potter as exciting chaser enters the deep end at Cheltenham
- 1.50 Cheltenham: 'It's a big day for him' – Kim Bailey on Gold Cup watch as Chianti Classico bids to defy top weight