Jump racing’s blue riband meeting has survived the coronavirus and continues to go from strength to strength
In 1990, 147,000 racegoers were at Cheltenham over the course of what was then a three-day National Hunt Festival meeting. This week, despite the shadow cast by the coronavirus and much uncertainty in recent days over whether it would happen at all, the attendance over four days should reach 250,000 or more, as it has for the past three years, and there will be huge relief mixed with the jubilation as the grandstand greets the start of the Supreme Novice Hurdle with its traditional, blood-curdling roar.
For those with no interest in the sport of kings, it is just another race meeting. For devotees of jumping, it is
Christmas for grown-ups, the fixture in the calendar that is anticipated like no other, and a large part of its appeal is that the more it grows and changes, the more it stays the same. Despite the huge increase in attendance and the many thousands of city dwellers who will cram on to trains at Paddington this week, Cheltenham remains a celebration of jump racing and its country roots.