Rate Cheltenham 2012

Colonel Sanders

Saw irishracing.com do this on Facebook and thought it might be a good idea....

I'd give the festival 6.5 out of 10

The Championship races were disappointing on the whole apart from Big Bucks and that race is always tempered slightly by the weakness of the opposition.

The bright spot for me was some very promising novices (triumph and supreme excepted). Sprinter Sacre and Sir Des Champs look to have the world at their feet. Simonsig harped back to the days of French Holly, Barton and Monsignor in the "old" RSA hurdle with a demolition job and both Brindisi Breeze and Boston Bob look like potential staying chasers with enormous futures

The bumper crop don't look exceptional although with Gigginstown not seeming to like the race and Mullins buying a different kind of horse these days (French bred horses with form in the provinces) maybe the best young horses aren't running in it

A lot of the handicaps seemed to have exposed enough fields with very few with the potential to graduate to graded races

I was going to give it 6 out of 10 until the Grand Annual where Paul Carberry notched up an extra 0.5 due to his exceptional ride on Bellvano. Balls of steel and timed to perfection. A joy to behold

Colonel Sanders

I'm coming at this from a non-financial point of view so give your opinion independently of your punting success/lack there of.....

Pj!

Surely the Ryanair deserves a mention.

6.5 is very low. What were you expecting?

Oscars Well.

The championship races didnt live up to expectation imo. Was very impressed with Simonsig in the Neptune. It was great to see Kauto getting the reception he did when he pulled up too. Id give it a 7.5 out of 10

Colonel Sanders

Pj! wrote: »

6.5 is very low. What were you expecting?

The Ryanair was a good, exciting race. I'd have given an extra 0.5 points if Alberta's Run had held on

As I said the championship races were very disappointing IMO

No disrespect and take nothing away from Rock On Ruby and Synchronised (Synchronised especially I thought was being under estimated, I stated here I was backing him w/o the big 2, in a weak Gold Cup outside the top2, possibly including the top 2 with hindsight) but they aren't vintage champions

The supreme didn't look vintage. The triumph was won by an exposed horse

That marks it down as well as the handicappers as stated earlier. Think back to Kauto v Denman, Moscow v Azertyioup V Well Chief and it doesn't come close IMO

Maybe I'm being unfair but when grading festivals I'd knock one point off any Cheltenham Festival over 4 days rather than 3

longshotvalue

8.5.

Ryanair was one of the best races iv seen for a long time. Carburys ride in the last (obviously im talking from my pocket as i was on, but if ever there was a match its PC and Belvano..)

Mindbending results in the CH and Gold Cup, luckily im not a layer as i gave neither any chance at all..

I think Simonseg and Boston Bob may be the horses to take out of the novice races..

Pinesky

Some very good races but was disappointed with the starting and the course lay out. Big fields stretching across the track can facilitate trouble and false results. Watering policy really has to be looked at because we have to wait for jockey comments and cannot rely on the accuracy of official going. Stewards performance was questionable .
5/10 from me

Sammo13

Thought it was a good festival... but GC was not as strong as recent ones..

My Highlights -
Rock on Ruby, in the van for the whole way, had binoclar beaten at the top of the hill, H Fly ran flat, but Rock on Ruby was very impressive.
SS and Simonsig were class, exciting over a fence next year (simonsig).
New Story 14 years old, ran a cracker in the 4 miler, but race marred by deaths to Garde and Scots.
First Lieu ran a cracker, jumped lovely, just a little to free, Grand Crus was not 100% or needed a ran prior to cheltenham..
Shocker re QM, last fence should have been dolled off... Stewards live in a different plant.
Thursday was a great days racing, SDS was electric, Barry give Riverside an unreal ride, one tough horse, great race. Of cousre Big Bucks, sweet ride by Ruby and the mare ran a cracker, super race riding by Lynch.
Dodging Bullets is one to take out of Triumph, ran free but looks very good.
Boston Bob will be a serious chaser next year, simonsig and BB coming down the hill in the RSA?
Highlight was AP and the little warrior Synchronised, was below recent GC races, but Denman, Kauto will be very hard to match in next 10 years..

Over 8/10... just love the festival..

Sprinter Sacre confirming he's brilliant and potentially one to keep us entertained for years to come, Big Bucks making history at a pocket lining price for punters who had a tough day or two on the Tues and Wed, though Kauto was pulled up he had his head held high and got home safely.

We wonder will Grand Crus go on to better things, Hurricane Fly might be a nice price next time out and what's in the next chapter for Long Run?

AP McCoy = Legend :cool:
And as mentioned epic Paul Carberry too.

We are sad about Garde Champetre though and I wonder why they ran him at all.


7/10 for me.