Willie Mullins believes a five-day Cheltenham festival is in the offing but argues it needs to be the done properly for the sake of the overall sport.
Mullins was speaking on Sunday on the back of his record tally of 10 festival winners last week which included an unprecedented 1,518-1 five-timer on Friday. It brought his career total of festival wins to 88.
The Jockey Club, which owns Cheltenham, is considering extending the festival to include a Saturday meeting in 2024 although it has stressed no final decision has been made.
There has been vehement criticism of any such move with widespread fears about competition already being diluted over four days and the accompanying dangers of spreading the product even further.
However bumper attendance levels over last week’s action, with a record 73,875 crowd on Gold Cup day, confirmed public demand to have increased on the back of the behind-closed-doors festival in 2021. A total of just over 280,000 racegoers paid to go to the festival over the four days.
The lowest was the 64,431 at Wednesday’s rain-soaked Champion Chase card. Thursday’s programme was also a record with 73,754 in attendance.
Mullins believes such lucrative dividends will further encourage the Jockey Club to extend the festival.
He said such a step would please many owners and trainers but expressed concerns about the wider impact it might have on the sport and how serious issues need to be addressed.
“It [Cheltenham] is the shop window. It’s what gives jump racing its kudos and we need that. I’m going to let the people in charge decide what they think. But I didn’t realise it could be a negative thing until you saw how few runners there were this year in some of the feature races.
“As a trainer we want more options. But you have to think of the health of the sport in the long term; is it dissipating the competition, the actual product itself, by not having very competitive races?” Mullins said.
Customer experience
“You have to look and ask, was it diluted this year? There were a lot of small runner fields. Was that just the year that’s in it, or is that what’s going to happen if you have a five-day festival?
“In any five-day festival, should you spread out what’s already there rather than bring in new races? I don’t know.
“It’s a long day’s racing at Cheltenham. You have 40 minutes between each race which is needed I think.
“But what about the customer experience, people who’re there from 10 in the morning to late in the afternoon? If that’s what people want, that’s fine. But there are a lot more angles to having a fifth day than just trainers and owners,” he added.
Ultimately, however, Ireland’s champion trainer suspects the potential revenue generated by a fifth day will prove decisive.
What will be vital is how such a move is presented with Mullins predicting the likelihood of six races on each day.
“It’s probably going to happen so we’ve got to get the presentation right.
“I would imagine the accountants in Cheltenham, the figures men in Cheltenham, are going to make it happen. They’ve got an earner. They’re going to make it happen. So if it is coming we’ve got to get it right. It’s really got to be thought out well,” he said.
“I think there will be probably less racing. Traditionally, England always had six races per day. I’d say they’ll cut down the races per day and there are a few races they’ve got to look at, I think.
“I think the accountants are going to press for a fifth day. The people in charge are going to have to see how it’s best presented,” he added.
The festival’s dominant figure also backed Cheltenham’s new clerk of the course, Jon Pullin, over his decision to water parts of the course on Tuesday evening ahead of the following day’s downpour which turned ground conditions heavy.
Biblical rain
The decision was criticised by Britain’s champion trainer Paul Nicholls who withdrew a number of horses including the top novice Bravemansgame.
“I think they were right to water. Obviously biblical rain fell. I think it was 22mms when they were told on the Monday it was likely to be four to six or maximum 11mms.
“But on Tuesday evening Paul [Townend] came in and told me that ground had no soft in it. He couldn’t see any soft in the good to soft. He told me if it was a prep meeting for Cheltenham he’d be advising me bring the horses home, the ground was riding that fast.
“Watering had to be done. From what I can gather, there were only two little sections of the track watered. It wasn’t like they watered the whole track.
“With jump racing, if you have fast ground you have injuries; especially around Cheltenham you’ve lots of injuries.
“You’ve got to think of the health and safety and care of the animals racing there. It’s better to have ground that’s too soft rather than too hard,” Mullins said.
