The Great, The Very Good and the downright Terrible - Cheltenham Review 2023

[Tamerlo]

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You may be right because of course it's the BHA. There seems to be a redline that there's no turf racing in the UK before the 1st April. At one time the Lincoln would have been run on the 25th March (in fact before that the 23rd, as it was run on a Thursday) and if there was some sense they'd have run it on the 25th this year. Instead they didn't and we have the Greenham and Fred Darling being run on the 22nd April, just 2 weeks before the 2000G and 1000G.
I can't help feeling this has come about because they are too precious about Cheltenham
Of course they'd have been alright with the Grand National if Easter didn't land on the 9th this year. But Easter has been at different defined dates for centuries, and it's rarely caused a problem before (can be any date from the 23rd March to 2othe April: as a Yorkshireman as QM)..

Hi, Bustino. A belated happy Easter to you.
As I remember, the Grand National and FA Cup Semi-Finals tended to be on the same Saturday in the first week of April.
I remember going to Villa Park to watch Burnley play Fulham and luckily get a draw - and they announced Kilmore as the Grand National winner at half time.

 

[Ron]

Hi, Bustino. A belated happy Easter to you.
As I remember, the Grand National and FA Cup Semi-Finals tended to be on the same Saturday in the first week of April.
I remember going to Villa Park to watch Burnley play Fulham and luckily get a draw - and they announced Kilmore as the Grand National winner at half time.

I do remember that as I backed it. Fred Winter riding if I remember correctly. I believe he fell in his last run before that GN

 

[Tamerlo]

Ron, now I know you’re older than me.
I was only 14 when Kilmore won the National, so you must have been an inveterate gambler at an early age.

 

[Bustino74]

Hi, Bustino. A belated happy Easter to you.
As I remember, the Grand National and FA Cup Semi-Finals tended to be on the same Saturday in the first week of April.
I remember going to Villa Park to watch Burnley play Fulham and luckily get a draw - and they announced Kilmore as the Grand National winner at half time.

And to you too Tamerlo.
What a side Burnley was then. When I saw Fulham I thought you were going to say you were at Craven Cottage, watched the match, listened to the National on a transistor radio and saw the Boat Race. Which you could do there as the river side stand was open to the river.
Although Johnny Haynes was the glamour boy at Fulham, at that time, I always thought Eddie Lowe was their best player.
In 1966 I was (for some reason) certain Anglo would win the National so my Dad put 1/- EW on him for me. And he did win.

 

[Tamerlo]

And to you too Tamerlo.
What a side Burnley was then. When I saw Fulham I thought you were going to say you were at Craven Cottage, watched the match, listened to the National on a transistor radio and saw the Boat Race. Which you could do there as the river side stand was open to the river.
Although Johnny Haynes was the glamour boy at Fulham, at that time, I always thought Eddie Lowe was their best player.
In 1966 I was (for some reason) certain Anglo would win the National so my Dad put 1/- EW on him for me. And he did win.

No, it was the year Burnley played Spurs in the final of 1962- and played well below their best to lose 3-1.
Behind the scenes, some angry Burnley supporters vented their fury at Harry Potts for playing Gordon Harris on the left wing in that final (and he was useless)- instead of Trevor Meredith who had starred in previous rounds.
In that semi final against Fulham, although Burnley won the replay, Fulham tore us apart at Villa Park.
Fulham had one simple tactic- give the ball to Graham Leggat on the right wing. Leggat gave Burnley’s full back, Alex Elder, a torrid time and continuously put great crosses over for big centre forward, Maurice Cooke, to attack.
After Leggat scored and Connelly equalised for us, Cooke headed against the bar twice and how we survived that match I’ll never know.
Despite stars Haynes and McILroy playing, Leggat was easily the man of the match.

 

[Ron]

Ron, now I know you’re older than me.
I was only 14 when Kilmore won the National, so you must have been an inveterate gambler at an early age.

Indeed I was. I had several winners during the 50s and 60s (much easier then) so yes, I am definitely older than you . You must remember Team Spirit. What a game little horse that was. My worst moment was when I had picked out ESB, Royal Tan and Sundew for my dad, brother and future and brother-in law and the bets were written out. They went to watch Wycombe play but I stayed to watch the National. In my wisdom I looked at the race again after they had left and decided to scrap those bets and put it all on Devon Loch (our neighbour was a bookies runner). You can imagine how I felt, knowing that they would be coming home thinking they had the winner

 

[Tamerlo]

Indeed I was. I had several winners during the 50s and 60s (much easier then) so yes, I am definitely older than you . You must remember Team Spirit. What a game little horse that was. My worst moment was when I had picked out ESB, Royal Tan and Sundew for my dad, brother and future and brother-in law and the bets were written out. They went to watch Wycombe play but I stayed to watch the National. In my wisdom I looked at the race again after they had left and decided to scrap those bets and put it all on Devon Loch (our neighbour was a bookies runner). You can imagine how I felt, knowing that they would be coming home thinking they had the winner

Yes, I particularly remember Team Spirit, Ron.
I think his win was about his fourth attempt- a small horse that stayed but I never fancied him.
Most winners nowadays are having their first try in the race.

 

[Flying Bantam]

Just wanted to share another story.

I was stood at the parade ring, near the jockeys room when the horses paraded for the Turners Novice Chase, and two things really struck me -

1 - How many Ownersgroup scarves and colours we could see around the parade ring
2 - One such member then talking to us, and he had travelled on the morning from Troon!! A six hour drive to go and watch a horse that you have a tiny share in! The chap had left home very early (obviously) and was full of the joys of having a runner at the festival.

Now a share in a horse like Stage Star costs sub £100 and is one of 3000 or so shares, but the absolute joy and pleasure that horse is giving its "owners" is something else. I am normally cynical and sarcastic about the micro-share approach, but it did show its worth to racing on Thursday. I did joke that the attendance that day was so much higher than Wednesday purely on the running of one horse!!

So a question to the forum, does anyone have shares in an Ownersgroup horse? and if so, how do you find the experience? Would you drive 6 hours to watch it run?

I’ve had a couple of Owners Group horses and they are a great introduction to ownership, but I quickly became bored as never got a pass, despite applying for races at very unglamorous venues. I’ve now graduated to a syndicate where I own 5%.
The best feature of Owners group was the stable tours that were part of the package. I went to Henderson’s yard and it was very good. Some Owners group members have shares in many horses, I spoke to people with 10 plus horses.

PS, my horse, Howzat Hiris runs in the first at Newcastle on Saturday. Cheek pieces and riding from the front have transformed her and we are hopeful of another win.