blonde poker forum

It's off today :(

yippee, i go thru to next round

Oddly though, they are spreading todays races over the next 2 days

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Our neighbour, a young lad of 16, travelled over to watch his horse run today and planned to return home this evening.  He'll be like a bear when he wakes...if he hasn't heard already. 

sickner,but i suppose its just one of those things,must be an early start tomorrow,1.00pm ish i imagine

yeah..it really isn't safe at the moment...and all the races reschedule so a fun packed day tomorrow and the day after.

buggers up my chances for the tipster comp though..they just went from 0 to...erm 0

Some would say( the cynical old haggard ones mainly) that as the ground is fine and the course able to wiithstand rain and wind normally that the reason that the days racing is off is because of the multi million pound making corporate machine that Cheltenham runs. Lets put it this way, if the temporary corporate tents and facilities werent there and in danger of collapsing would racing have taken place?

It is bloody windy here though!
Sods law, got free tickets for today with all the trimmings and now already in our local pub and its looking like a long day, the poker table and cards are out ........weeeeeeee
Two pints already down, can i make the first jump?

and the even more cycnical haggard ones might even be up in arms when seeing that the wind speed at both Huntingdon and Southwell (who both race today but havent sold themselves out) is higher than at Cheltenham.

Back in my good old days I accepted an invitation to Wednesday at Cheltenham in a corporate box

Hated it, never ever again.

Surrounded by arseholes who were there to eat and drink, didn't watch the racing and couldn't care less.

yeah i think we should send a letter complaining, never mind your £200.000 races, this has knackered up the tipster competion,please give more notice next time,lol

agreed..

exactly, the racing fans that want to go to the paddock, stand on the course and watch the racing are so far down the chain these days its embarrassing, and today is a culmination of the mess they have got themselves into.

My local course is Wetherby, probaby one of the coldest and due to the layout of the whole racecourse the windiest track Ive been to but they dont call off the racing when the wind is howling up the str8 and making it tough for the burger and candy tents to sell food ;o).

Life is all about priorities.

Racing re-scheduled. 10 races tomorrow starting 12.30.

entries to be in by 1pm..........hmmmmmmmmmmmm


Thursday March 13 (all times GMT)

12.30: Peter O'Sullevan National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup

1305: Royal & SunAlliance Chase

1340: Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase

1420: Queen Mother Champion Chase

1455: Ryanair Chase

1530: Ladbrokes World Hurdle

1605: Racing Post Plate

1640: Pertemps Final

1720: Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup

1750: Weatherbys Champion Bumper

I don't get the chance to go much but i love racing at my locals, Towcester and Huntingdon, Newmarket in the summer. Get up close to the action and not too busy

Cheltenham I preferred when it wasn't busy (autumn midweek) as its a great facility in a great panoramic location

Festival week though, turned me off big time from attending again



Once also I took a box at Lords in the Mound stand. Most fantastic view, and invited 8 clients to join me. If I was actually to partake of the facilities I'd paid for...3 course lunch, 2 course tea etc I'd never have watched any cricket due to poor service.

Oh wait, not many do..hence the rows of empty seats for an hour after each interval

http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=racing/08/03/12/manual_092918.html

the trainers and jockeys say they'd go ahead.

It is a joke.

Have only been to the races a couple of times at my local tracks (Market Rasen and Southwell) and have loved every minute of it.  I have always wanted to go to the Cheltenham festival but all I hear are tales of woe, both from people I know who have been and from threads like this....wow, looks like I might not bother if it is not all that it's cracked up to be.

So what is so bad about it?

thats the pont Boldie, everything that needs to be in place and safe for racing to go ahaed is there, the reason they wont race is they cannot now get the zillion drinkers into the tents that make them millions of pounds every year.

Its the same mentality that leads to them shamefully calling the ground good to soft every year when it never is. They want the good ground horses to come but they wont on soft, and they want the soft ground horses to come but they wont on good, so whatever the ground is they will call it good to soft, they were slogging thru it yesterday and they still havent changed it.

Someone from Cheltenham was on 5 Live and he did say that it wasn't just the corporate tents that were causing a problem, it was a general safety issue.

Cheltenham may be a great festival and I'm sure I'll get there one year, but to be honest, I prefer 'smaller' meetings.    There's far too many people at these things for my liking - queue ages for everything - drinks, toilet, placing bets, getting in and out, it's all a nightmare.    Royal Ascot was somewhere I went every year, but it's just crazy now, not to mention it's a fortune.   

The other meetings are way better and have some excellent horses running from time to time.  Kauto Star graced the Ascot turf a few weeks ago and Diamond Day is a great day out.  I just avoid meetings (not that I go often) with 50,000+ people expected.  Can't beat a day with the tele and the Sporting life!

50k people standing in front of you..mainly people who are drunk and don't really give a toss about what's going on at the course. Unless you're paying through the nose you'll have a tough time actually seeing the racing.

The racing is the best jumps racing in the world (maybe even the best festival racing period) but the people who scream the loudest at Cheltenham are people who have never been to another track...you probably think that the small racing at your local tracks are great for atmosphere and a good day out and therefore Cheltenham (which has better racing) must have a better atmosphere..it doesn't mate. I would MUCH rather spend the occasional sunny day at Southwell than go to the Festival.

Huge crowds,makes for a good atmosphere but by early afternoon its filthy, people are drunk, huge queues, overpriced food and drink (if you can get to buy it), terrible getting out afterwards

In my experience Aintree is far more attractive..real fans, better behaviour, less commercial


the racing at Cheltenham is clearly stunning but the customer experience for ther festival is a shocker

They are gonna say that tho Silo, its like they think the racing people cant see what is going on, they are running the event to make as much money as possible and it has now got to the stage where some hospitailty tents that arent here 47 weeks of the year have brought the greateast 4 days of racing a year to a stop. They will tell you its the wind speed and this and that but as mentioned above the wind speed is higher at both the other meetings scheduled for today and they are both racing.

theres nothing like a busy cheltenham for atmosphere. how anyone can say they didnt enjoy or want to go again god knows.

but dont do it at a coperate doo, do it cheaply in the cheap enclosure with the real racing fans from all parts of the uk and ireland, different class.

the whole festival experience is fantastic, rent a cottage in the cotswolds, get your papers early, study the form, get to the town of cheltenham early enjoy the buzz of the town in the bars etc then enjoy top class racing before returning to town to enjoy a few drinks with new found friends.
then in the evening enjoy a nice meal and a number of drinks in a beautiful village pub in the cotswolds. then try walking back to your cottage in the dark and pissed up!
then do it all again next day!

the memories are good!

god your getting old tighty!

how many times you been rich? was the coporate event your only experience?

I wouldn't go again

but your description sounds the way to do it!

you are spot on mate, stand in the best mate enclosure getting p**s wet thru and enjoy the real atmosphere, get into the main stand or the poncey areas and its the equivalent of standing in a crowded room with a load of arseholes.

i done it 6 or 7 times that way through the 90s, absolutely loved it, the cotswolds are such a beautiful part of the country as well.

went to the festival once..corporate..hated it

been a number of times outside the festival...loved it

the festival..non-corporate..as I am now as you say "getting old" so the factors above would still put me off

Strangely I loved Aintree..corporate. Went year after year. excellent fun

True you get a good atmospehere in the Best Mate enclosure..but that's not where I want to stand when watching a race..and it drives me nuts that it's the only place you can stand these days without being surrounded by twats...That's the problem with plenty of the festivals these days. even Chester and the Chester Vase meeting has gone that way..and that's Chester FFS.

Newmarket in July is nice though...probably the nicest flat festival there is...and York the Ebor meeting on the supporting days.

Sounds like I might try York or Newmarket for a decent race day out (scumbag section of course)

glorious goodwood is my favourite, and if you get the weather its fantastic

i think safety must have been there priority, they will loose a fortune today, they will have to return 55,000 admission charges for today, i assume they will still have to pay all the staff for today,i think they would of just closed a few areas if they thought there was no danger for the rest of the crowd as they would at least have had some money coming in, the races will still be run tomorrow at no extra cost to people with tickets for thurs and friday .

mind you thinking about it,i wonder if they have insurance to cover all losses if they have to cancel due to bad weather

York is grade one top quality as a racecourse Matt, you wont have bad day there.

True..I've only been to Goodwood once..but that was a great day out.

Why wouldn't you want to stand in the Best Mate enclosure? Since they built the new stand on that side of the track about 5 or 6 years ago its a cracking view,certainly miles better than being low down in Tatts/Club.

bloody hell this is crap! what else can i do for the rest of the afternoon! grrr

Bookies keeping bets. What does everybody think?

I was out the office until just now so i placed all my bets last night.

Is it pretty standard that bookies keep your bets for re-arranged events. The ground could change or other things could affect your decision but i see at least 2 bookies are keeping the bets placed on Todays races for when they are re-run.

I'm happy with my selections but as i'm going friday i'd rather have my money back and put it on tomorrows racing than have 4 bets on tomorrow and 2 on Friday that i could place at the course.

Blue square is keeping them

demand they void your bets they cannot refuse

Apparently they can...

this has been a VERY long afternoon...thanks God it's on again tomorrow..

+1

I'm at college tomorrow but might have to leave early....

I am leaving work early on Friday..even if only to drive into the twon where I work to watch the gold cup...but I shall be watching it.

nice post mate, im with you. Theres nothing quite like the buzz. Last year i went Thursday and friday it was brilliant. In 2005 the live band in the guiness tent was awesome, everyone freindly. Nothing quite like it for me. We should get a blonde trip sorted for a few days next year imo

Greyhound Derby is better :)

defo up for this next year mate, can prob get a cottage for 3 days 10mins outside cheltenham for about £500 thatl sleep 6 to 8.

you've only been once and that wasn't a patch on the greyhound derbys of yesteryear!

I put my tiny bets on my picks this AM on Betfair. Seems to have been refunded. Presume voided markets tho I cant imagine any ante post markets have been?

cool count me in, we'll sort it out in the summer