What the Jockey Club must do if a five-day Festival is to be palatable

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It has been a difficult weekend. In fairness, Nicky Henderson hasn't ruled out the possibility of sending Constitution Hill to Punchestown for a clash with Honeysuckle and Ian Renton hasn't said the Cheltenham Festival will definitely be extended to five days, but in both cases it feels as though the way is being prepared for what you and I would regard as bad news.

The Constitution Hill thing is fairly easy to shrug off. It would certainly have made for a fascinating race but he's a novice and if connections would rather not take on an unbeaten champion at the very end of the season, anyone can understand that.

I think the hunger we've seen in recent weeks for Honeysuckle v Constitution Hill says something about where jump racing is these days. After Shishkin v Energumene at Ascot and Galopin Des Champs v Bob Olinger at the Festival, it seems we get awfully excited about the idea of having two good horses in the same race.

It would be lovely to get back to a time when you could take it for granted that there would be at least two highly talented animals for every major jumps race, and probably more, generating real competition. Even a horse as good as Istabraq couldn't put together a 15-race unbeaten run in those days, because once in a while he would bump into something like Pridwell or Limestone Lad in conditions that favoured them. I suppose he'd have beaten them as well if he was getting a 7lb allowance...

When the news broke on Saturday that the Jockey Club, owners of Cheltenham, are to consult about a five-day Festival, the Front Runner's first thought was that this is duplication of effort. We have already done the consulting, through the medium of our weekly poll, in which we asked this question just last month, during Festival week, in fact.

Bear in mind that we were in the thick of all the Festival drama when people were giving their answers, taking money off the bookies (hopefully) and cheering for deserving winners. And yet the result could hardly have been more emphatic, 93 per cent of votes being against a fifth day. "Let's hope someone at the Jockey Club is paying attention," I wrote. Oh dear.

I suppose they may want to cast their net a little wider than the Front Runner's readership. They will get a very different response from owners and trainers, who will naturally be enthusiastic; more Festival races mean more chances to win, and a fifth day should mean additional income for the sport.

But at what cost? In the time that I've been a racing fan, the Festival has increased from 18 races to 28 but the available population of top-class jumps horses has not remotely kept pace with that expansion and now we have smaller fields and less intense competition. Sixteen of this year's 28 winners were returned at 3-1 or shorter, compared to five out of 27 a decade ago.

In relation to the possibility of extending the Festival onto a Saturday, it is being suggested that will open the event up to people who are unable to attend on weekdays, including teenage schoolkids. I can't say I've ever really thought of the Festival as a family-friendly affair and I suspect quite a few attendees are very comfortable about being some distance away from their families for the week.

If this line of thinking is to be seriously pursued, facilities will have to be developed for youthful enthusiasts to experience the races in comfort because existing facilities are squarely aimed at people who are old enough to i) bet and ii) drink. Beyond that, the Festival experience for a youngster would consist of jostling for viewing space with bigger people.

The words "corporate greed" get bandied about on such occasions but that doesn't quite work in relation to an organisation whose profits get ploughed back into the game. But there is still such a thing as corporate ambition, a desire to drive up profits and devise impressive new schemes which will have to be funded somehow.

We recently learned the Jockey Club is planning a new all-weather racecourse and training facility at Newmarket, which will be a considerable boon to the local racing community but may mean little to anyone else. Due to the coincidence in timing, jump racing fans could be forgiven for thinking the Festival is being milked to pay for a flat-racing track that will struggle to attract paying spectators.

Jockey Club officials would certainly reject that interpretation. They assure us the Festival consultation is about exploring all options to ensure the sport is thriving in ten, 15 and 20 years' time, which is said to be the driver behind everything the Club does.

The detail I found somewhat reassuring was Ian Renton, in the Post on Saturday, speculating that the maximum attendance limit might be reduced to provide Festival spectators with a better experience in the future, the track's infrastructure having been stretched by 73,000 on Gold Cup day. That was hardly the talk of a man in heedless pursuit of every pound.

If we must have five days, a lower attendance limit would be a useful way to go. We'd still have a much larger total attendance but the experience on any given day would be better than some had last month. It would also be a useful way for the Jockey Club to give something back, to show that the extension was not simply a benefit to itself and its other projects.

But before we get that far, Club officials simply must turn their minds to the question of how to shore up competition levels at the Festival. If the sport at the heart of it all ceases to be compelling, attendance limits might very quickly become academic.

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday