This time in 7 weeks will mark the massive build up ready for the Tuesday, signalling the beginning of the Cheltenham festival. By the time the discussion begins running in the morning, that will give us a 50 day countdown marker until the Supreme Novice gets everything under way. I propose that this thread gets stickied, and that it can cover formlines, questions, suggestions, tips, and most important of all- any Cheltenham-related news articles. The one thing we have probably been missing in the past two years is a central source acting as a news feed- vital to the antepost punter- and therefore I felt an 'All Things Cheltenham' thread would be a great way to do so, in amongst the always-intriguing not606 Cheltenham discussion. What I hope we end up with is a great reference thread, so that come the Monday of Cheltenham week, everyone knows where to look for any news that has come out in the past seven weeks, a good idea of how horses have got on in their Cheltenham preparations, bits and pieces in terms of where antepost money is, who fancies who (not in that way, ladies and gentleman ) A few links for any newcomers if you want to look at what last year looked like on here: The Cheltenham Festival Index Cheltenham Festival Tuesday 2012 (If you search (as shown here) you will find the other daily threads from Cheltenham week last year) 2012 Cheltenham Preview Reports The Not606 2012 Cheltenham Preview Let me know if you think it is a good idea or not to have this- I just thought it was a great way of centralising the discussion and should tick along nicely next to the daily threads in the coming weeks. Ron I hope you don't mind me asking Edit from Ron. Of course not. Just added a link to last year's index and to an example search
Monkslandseems set to head to the World Hurdle without a preparation run: Racing Post Noel Meade, trainer of 8-1 shot Monksland, confirmed on Thursday he was an intended runner: "All is well with him at the moment and the plan is to run Monksland in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle," Meade said. "I am just giving him an easy time - a bit of break - and then we will start building him up for Cheltenham. "We were hopeful he would get the three miles at Leopardstown because he was staying on well in the Hatton's Grace Hurdle but maybe the way the race was run suited us. The leader went off at a hell of a gallop and perhaps the favourite followed him sooner than he should have, but Paul [Carberry] was very good on Monksland. "With Big Buck's out of it, the World Hurdle has opened up. Monskland obviously stays well but he isn't a slow horse and has the speed to win over two miles. "The plan is not to run him before Cheltenham and we are hoping there could be a bit more improvement to come from him. We have been purposely easy on him, as he is a very clear winded horse and doesn't take a lot of work to get fit. We are hoping by keeping him fresh that we will be able to prolong his longevity."
I can't wait for our preview "night" to see how bad I am this season!!! So who is joining me on the hill in March?
If you use Advanced Search, select Search Single Content Type, and complete as shown below you will see all the past Cheltenham related threads. I think it will be great to have a focal point for the Festival but I would like you all to consider the structure you would like. Maybe start with last years, and suggest how we can make it better.
I just imagined this being an open Cheltenham discussion Ron. Then come closer to the time, the relevant separate race threads will start appearing. But at the moment we have no Cheltenham discussion thread and I envisioned this being a thread where there isnt much of a structure other than focussing on all things Cheltenham. All breaking news could be discussed here, so could the aftermath of any trials, and what better timing with this Saturdays Cheltenham card being such high quality?
Well it's not for me to dictate how the forum is structured. I just like things to be organised and easily referenced but maybe I tend over structure at times. I'll just mention that if you have looked at last year's index (linked to above) you will notice that it was created on 8th January. Maybe that didn't work too well, I don't know but the 3 links you have provided Toppy are not very representative of how things develop. At the end of the day it boils down to what everyone here is most happy with and, to a lesser extent, what attracts guests to join up. So why don't you just go ahead and see how it goes. I'll leave it to you to run the Festival how you want and just help out if needed. I hope you don't think I'm interfering too much; really just trying to be helpful and, if you need any help later, just let me know.
Unfortunately only there for that day- Its not my 1st choice but only time I can go Ill be at aintree on the thursday
Just bumping and stickying to see where we want to go with this. As we approach the festival, I've taken the Cheltenham Festival Race Thread Index out of the wider Principal Races Thread Index and given it its own thread. I see we have a separate Meet Up Thread which has already disappeared. I've copied your Ladbrokes Hurdle post to the Ladbrokes Hurdle thread as it seemed a good way of starting that one off. I really do hate to interfere Toppy but may I suggest that, having stickied your very well titled Everything Cheltenham thread I also utilise it to index all the separate threads and other existing and future articles etc of interest. I would like to do one of two things: 1. Keep your thread name and make it the main stickied thread and for it to include an index (which I'm happy to maintain) to all other relevant threads and articles etc. Being entitled Everything Cheltenham I think it should include an index to cover everything Cheltenham. 2. Change your thread name to Cheltenham Festival Discussion Thread (or something similar). It could still be stickied but will also be linked to from an overall index. When we have decided the way forward, I'll tidy up.
Please see proposed revisions to Toppy's thread so that it can be the main focal point for All things Cheltenham
