I think the headline is a little misleading, the new man doesn't even take over control of the racecourse until after the November meeting, and he's only said it's not a priority. This subject divides opinion, a Sat Gold Cup would become a beast of a meeting and very quickly surpass the Grand National in terms of viewing figures, traditionalists prefer a midweek festival and it looks as if it won't be on the agenda anytime soon..... http://www.racingpost.com/news/live.sd?event_id=1009006
Hi Grizz....a Saturday Gold Cup is an awful idea...EOS. I suppose that would ultimately result in a five day festival. The meeting is already heavily diluted regarding quality and a mere shadow of it's fomer self.
its a tricky one this. on the one hand a Saturday Gold Cup would increase TV viewing figures but on the other hand it would I think be swamped by other sporting events on that day. One problem I think is when the festival takes place. Mid March sees the culmination of the 6 Nations and important Premier League football matches. I reckon the Gold Cup would struggle to get a look in. However sometimes I think Saturday can work - I wasn't too bothered when the Derby got moved to Saturday because the first weekend in June doesn't usually have too much else going on. from my own personal point of view I like it as it stands now with the Gold Cup on a Friday. Ok you may have had more quality in the past but I think it makes it a really good week and like it ending on a Friday. 2013 looks superb every day: Tuesday - still the most quality out of all the days Wednesday - Sprinter Sacre becoming the next superstar in the Champion Chase? Thursday - Big Bucks going for 5 in a row Friday - A new Gold Cup champion?
I'm not at all convinced that horse racing needs mainstream TV coverage to prosper, hence moving to a Saturday would be a complete waste of time. Does Channel 4 actually plough much money into racing for their coverage? You never see races sponsored by them, whereas ATR and RUK are frequent sponsors of races, as are most bookmakers. I've never bought into the vast majority of nonsense spouted by media and marketing idiots. Will a Saturday afternoon Gold Cup result in thousands of new fans flooding to the races? I'll give you a clue: it didn't happen when they moved the Derby to Saturday.
Given that Racing For Change have moved a whole host of races to Saturday in the theory that this will improve attendances and garner more publicity (a mistaken theory in my opinion) such as the Ebor handicap at York and the July Cup at Newmarket, it should be no surprise that National Hunt is expected to follow suit. A Saturday Cheltenham Gold Cup would not improve attendances as it is a sell-out already and it would have to compete with all the other Saturday sports (football, rugby, etc.) for general media coverage. Also, running the principle event on the last day when the ground may have been chewed up badly if it started out soft on day one does not make much sense either. Channel 4 hardly make a penny out of racing coverage. It is sponsored (actually subsidised) by Dubai otherwise it probably would not exist at all. The bookmakers sponsor lots of races as that is one of their excuses for not increasing their Levy payments every time that comes up for discussion.
