Seven months after the current National Hunt season’s official opening in earlyMay it will finally move from a walk to a gallop on Friday morning when Cheltenham welcomes the first of 70,000 racegoers to its Open meeting, with Saturday’s Paddy Power Gold Cup as its main highlight.
A full field for the £160,000 chase is all but guaranteed after 28 horses were declared at the five-day stage on Monday, with David Pipe, whose father Martin won the race five times in six years from 2000, responsible for two of the first three in the ante-post betting.
In the days when Martin Pipe was all but unbeatable in the first big handicap chase of the season the attendance at the Open meeting was 56,000.
The figure has increased by nearly 30% over the last 14 years and, with the Princess Royal due at Cheltenham on Friday to open the track’s new grandstand officially, there is quiet optimism at the course that this weekend’s attendance will set a record.
“Ticket sales in all enclosures are seeing increases from this point last year,” Sophie Dale, Cheltenham’s communications manager, said on Monday. “A lot can happen between now and then that could affect the walk-up on the day but it’s all looking really good.
“It’s been a busy three weeks to turn it around since the Showcase meeting [in October] as normally it’s a four-week gap but the team has done a great job and all the necessary marquees and so on are now in place.
“Friday will be hugely busy with the opening of the grandstand and we also have Tony McCoy doing dressage in the paddock [at 11.30] as part of our effort to raise money for charity.”
Racegoers on Friday can also claim a piece of a cake modelled on the new grandstand – it measures 1.5 metres by 1 metre – while Sunday’s attractions may include Sprinter Sacre, one of the outstanding two-milers of recent seasons, who could make his latest attempt to return to something like his best form in the Shloer Chase.
But with football in the top two divisions on an international break, it is Saturday’s Paddy Power Gold Cup card that could attract the biggest crowd for any sporting event in Britain this weekend.
Pipe had three winners at the Open meeting last year including a double on the Saturday card. His seven-year-old Kings Palace, a novice chase winner 12 months ago, is the joint-favourite at 8-1 for the Paddy Power while Monetaire, the runner-up in a valuable handicap chase at last year’s Festival meeting in March, is a 10-1 chance.
“With Kings Palace, it depends on how he schools this week whether or not he runs, basically,” Pipe said on Monday. “He’s in the Betfair Chase and the Fixed Brush Hurdle as well the weekend after. With all of them, including Monetaire and La Vaticane [who is also entered at Cheltenham on Friday], we’ll probably decide on Wednesday.
“We like to try and do well at this meeting but it’s getting more and more competitive over the years. The last couple of years it’s been good there and hopefully we’ll send a nice team of horses.”
Tom Scudamore, Pipe’s stable jockey, is currently sidelined with a knee injury sustained in a fall at Huntingdon on 13 October but hopes to return to action on Thursday before his anticipated ride on Kings Palace.
Gary Moore, who suffered multiple injuries when kicked by a horse at his Sussex stable last Thursday, was able to watch horses cantering at his yard on Monday, less than 24 hours after being discharged from hospital.
“My ribs are pretty sore to say the least, but there’s nothing you can do except just get on with it,” Moore said. “I’m just watching the horses, no more than that.
“The last time I broke my ribs was about 40 years ago I think, and I can’t really remember how long it took, but those were in front and these are at the back, . the horse double-barrelled me.
“It’s not nice being injured, and not when you least expect it as well, it’s the last thing I thought would happen. But there you go, don’t be complacent.”
