The Cheltenham 2m4 Race Debate
Following Rock On Ruby’s
heart-warming victory in the 2m4 Dornan Engineering Hurdle at Cheltenham’s New Year’s Day fixture, his questionable
participation in this year’s World Hurdle sparked sizable dispute.
The Cheltenham Festival in March is largely seen as horse racing’s Olympics – is there need for a middle distance
championship to crown the Ryanair winners of the hurdling sphere, or would it
be a mark of excessive greed on a meeting that already exhausts its exclusivity?
27 races take place throughout the anticipated 4 day festival,
an extended schedule that has gradually materialised over the many years the
event has been held. It caters for the assets of a variety of equines already,
and arguably contains too many unnecessary races as it is, a 2m4 championship
race would give horses such as Rock On Ruby more opportunities to gain credit
and excel over the distance.
Often horses do not stay
3 miles but 2 miles is too short, this does not mean they are talentless and
should not be considered among the best of their division. Is a horse
considered less of a champion if he has not won at the festival?
Many horses compete successfully at the Cheltenham festival and
then continue on to race at Aintree, therefore attention would not always be
diverted from the established showpiece at Merseyside. It could in fact boost
the strength of the field and clashes could become more interesting. Cheltenham
and Aintree are also very different tracks- Aintree is largely a flat course, a
lot sharper than Cheltenham, whereas the undulations and ‘galloping’ nature of Prestbury Park require a different set of
skills.
The
Ryanair Chase can be used an example to exercise understanding of what a 2m4
Grade 1 hurdle would possibly have to offer, as it would only be a furlong
longer and over hurdles rather than fences. It may yet take a better horse to
win the Ryanair Chase than a Queen Mother Champion Chase this season, showing
that diluted racing would not always necessarily be the result of an additional
race. The Ryanair has been won by many talented horses and provided exciting
contests in the past with winners such as Fondmort, Imperial Commander and Cue
Card; a 2m4 hurdle race could do the same. In the past, top chasers did not
have an alternative race at the festival and were therefore inconvenienced.
Using the past three runnings as a guide, it has taken a horse rated around
167.4 to win the Ryanair, and a horse of around 163.3 to win the Cheltenham
Gold Cup, so relatively speaking by no means is it an easier option.
The Cheltenham Festival rightly
or wrongly is the pinnacle of our sport. Should this be embraced and accepted
or do drastic changes need to take place in order to sway from this glorified
universal obsession with four days in March?
In comparison, many people
believe the 2m4 race would be unnecessary, Aintree’s fixture is a hugely popular
and established event and their race serves a purpose. The threat of a
Cheltenham equivalent could be seen as a detrimental display of rapacity by the
organisers at Prestbury Park.
The trouble with using the Ryanair Chase as a logical equivalent
to the prospective 2m4 hurdle is that the difference in distance between the
Champion Chase and Gold Cup is approximately 2 ½ furlongs greater than between
the Champion Hurdle and the World Hurdle. This means that the Ryanair is more
worthy of its position at the festival.
The likes of The New One and
Oscar Whisky would have had the hypothetical race as a possible target; this
would detract from the quality of the Champion Hurdle and World Hurdle fields,
hence crowning false champions. Often the entire “will he stay, won’t he
stay”
spectacle in a race renders thrill and adds dimension. Furthermore, should this
race be permitted, experienced horses would be forced to carry penalties
against unexposed types who were climbing the ranks. In general field sizes are
declining rapidly; the 2m4 hurdle race could accentuate this.
It may be more suitable to host
a Grade 1 2m4 race at another racecourse at another time in the season. This way
horses are more likely to run at their peak on both engagements, a smaller
course would gain more recognition and the horses would face a more unique
challenge in comparison to the more commercial demands of Cheltenham or
Aintree. An ideal scenario could be where Champion Hurdlers and World Hurdlers
take each other on at Aintree. A Cheltenham race would decay the chances of
this materialising.
Finally, the issue may be
reflective of the wider picture, in that we should not be initiating races just
so good horses can win them. The best horses win in a range of circumstances,
and every horse cannot constantly be gifted ideal conditions.
Personally, I am unsure as to
whether the introduction of a 2m4 Grade 1 event at Cheltenham would benefit the
sport and those within it equally. Without the collective and balanced
consideration of owners, spectators, trainers and horses I cannot suggest whether or not this race would be a success, as
under scrutiny other indirect factors present difficulties in making this a
viable proposition.