Horse Racing: Why Cheltenham is a Gambler’s Graveyard

During March, the best national hunting races of the year will take place at the Cheltenham Festival Race meeting. Here, the best hurdlers and hunters will compete against each other in 27 races spread over 4 days from Tuesday to Friday. The anticipation and excitement begin to build many weeks before.

It’s the week thousands of racing fans descend on the Prestbury Park race field, of which the racing press will write very little more. Millions of pounds will be won and lost over the course of the meeting, although unfortunately it is a meeting that tends to be a kind of profit for the bookmakers. So why is it so difficult to find winners in a gathering where only the best of the best compete with each other?

In most race meetings, any race can be subdivided into runners trying to win and runners preparing to win. This simply means that some horses will not yet be fit enough or at the top of their form and the race is only one step towards an eventual winning race. However, at Cheltenham, all the running horses will have been tuned and brought to the peak of their physical condition by their trainers for this meeting. This means that all the riders are trying to win and there will be no horse there to fill in the numbers.

The rolling nature of the Cheltenham countryside can trap a lot of horses that don’t like the roller coaster track. That is why many experts consider good previous performances in the field to be a great advantage. This is further complicated by the fact that the fences are not the easiest and some are located on the downhill parts of the field. This can easily catch the horse and rider off guard.

It takes more than a good jump to win at the Festival meeting. A horse also has to be a fast jumper because a fast jumper can do a length or two in the air. The problem is that the faster the horses take the fences, the more likely they are to make a mistake. Over the years, many of the so-called “safe jumpers” have lamented on the fences at Cheltenham.

Having successfully maneuvered around the field, the half-mile uphill finish is able to find any flaws in stamina or jumping ability. While many horses come to Cheltenham in high repute only to break the heart of their connections on the big day, the ones who win deserve the title of Champions. For the punter, racing can be an exciting spectacle, but it is definitely not a meeting to put on the jersey.