What's hot (Zara) and what's not...

14 April 2012

The hype has been colossal for the biggest event in jump racing. But now the build-up is over it is time for the Cheltenham Festival to deliver. Graham Cunningham looks at what is moving and shaking in the Cotswolds this week.

The ins

Zara Phillips

Racing most glamorous link with royalty has other things on her mind at the moment, notably her bid to make the three-day event team for the 2004 Athens Olympics. But it would take wild horses to drag the president of Cheltenham's 16-24 club away from the Festival. Memo to single young racegoers: she's no longer an item with jump jockey Richard Johnson. Memo to anyone else: she tends to blank anyone who isn't in with the National Hunt in-crowd or an international rugby player.

Defending champions

Never before have the winners of the biggest races at the Festival all returned to follow up the following year, but 2003's Fab Four all come back as hot favourites to repeat the dose. The odds against Rooster Booster, Moscow Flyer, Baracouda and Best Mate were 40-1 before Christmas but have shrunk to only 12-1 as potential rivals have fallen by the wayside.
Coral spokesman Simon Clare has resigned himself to another nervous three days. "Nothing could be as bad as last year, but if the big four all win again it will be lights out as far as the bookies are concerned," he said.

Venn Ottery

Poised to overtake Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards as Cheltenham's most celebrated underdog and could write the most romantic chapter in Festival history if he lands Wednesday's Champion Chase. But can a horse who failed to win in his first 23 attempts have improved enough to beat the fastest chasers in training?
Oliver Carter, the 85-year-old Devon farmer who owns the gelding, certainly thinks so. "I've backed him at 1000-1 and, mark my words boy, this is a powerful horse," he said. "Some people have said he's going to Cheltenham a bit too early, but you don't wait till next year when you're as old as I am."

The Centaur Stand

Named after the creature who was half man and half horse because, in the words of managing director Edward Gillespie, "Cheltenham is all about the horses and the people". This shiny new £14million edifice will double as a conference centre and concert venue and is already booked for the Pony Club's 75th anniversary conference and a lecture on Shakespeare by Judi Dench. But first comes a baptism of fire as 5,000 punters swarm into the stand tomorrow. Expect to see a bewildering array of gambling opportunities including banks of one-armed bandits. Don't expect to get served at the bar unless you have the pushing power of an NFL linebacker.

In-running betting

Fancy backing a horse who is 10 lengths clear with one fence to jump or perhaps laying one who doesn't seem to be going that well at halfway? Internet websites such as Betfair will gladly accommodate you but, as Chris Tarrant would say, it's fastest finger first when it comes to snapping up the best odds ahead of the other sharks in the exchange pool.

Going in style

Left it too late to book a ticket on the train to
Cheltenham tomorrow? No worries, because the good news is there are still some seats available on the Orient Express which leaves Victoria at nine o'clock. The deal includes a champagne breakfast, coach transfer to the course and a three-course meal washed down with wine on the way home. The former star jockey Steve Smith-Eccles will mark your card as the rattler heads west. And at
£250 per head he needs to tip a winner or two if his audience are to break even on the day.

The outs

John Magnier and JP McManus

The Coolmore Mafia have tidied up those annoying loose ends just in time for the Festival. Sir Alex Ferguson has been brought to heel in the battle over Rock Of Gibraltar, while Manchester United fans have agreed to shelve plans to use the meeting to protest against the duo's growing influence at the club. Or have they? One Old Trafford regular feels some of the more resourceful members of the red army will still be on hand. "These are lads who travel all over Europe to watch United without ever buying a ticket," he said. "They won't go looking for trouble, but they will go wanting to make their presence felt."

Panoramic Restaurant

Fancy experiencing the thrill of the Festival from the comfort of your own table perched high above the winning post. Thousands do and the 300-seat restaurant is booked solid for all three days. But is watching the action from the comfort of a hermetically sealed glass box all it's cracked up to be? Take a guess at what it costs per head for lunch with the high-flyers on Gold Cup day. Well, prices range from £405 at the back of the room to £490 for a prime spot at the front. And do those prices include drinks? "Sadly not," said a spokeswoman. "But it does include a lovely afternoon tea."

Mounted interviews

The Channel 4 team devote 180 hours a year to live racing, but are threatening to abandon ship if they lose Cheltenham in the ongoing debate over terrestrial coverage. Mounted interviews with winning jockeys certainly won't be missed if they do carry out their threat. Probing questions such as "How did that feel?" at a moment when riders are desperate to savour the applause from the stands add nothing to an otherwise excellent show. So why not just let the pictures do the talking for once?

Dressing like your grandad

Times may change, but at Cheltenham you seldom have to walk far to come across relatively young men who still think custard coloured corduroys set off with a tweed donkey jacket and a trilby hat are the height of Festival fashion. Meet up with hordes of them and their female counterparts in the annual members' bar. Or then again, maybe not.

The Guinness Village

It will be packed, but Guinness in a plastic glass with loads of phoney Oirishness thrown in is about as far removed from the true spirit of the Festival as Dublin is from Galway. Entertainment will be provided by Murphy's Marbles, who have penned a Festival song. Its first three lines are: "Cheltenham, Cheltenham, that's the place to be. Where the Guinness flows like blackwater. And the craic is rare and free." Suddenly, that members' bar doesn't seem too bad, after all.

Three-day Festival

With 150,000 punters expected during the Festival's three days it is no surprise they've come up with the wheeze of adding an extra day next year to ensure bigger crowds. Depending on your view this is either added value or too much of a good thing . . . at least we all have 12 months to make up our minds.

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Cheltenham

Festive Events (including Carnivals)

Horse-Riding

Zara Phillips

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