New Year’s Day Racing Review: Cheltenham Crowds, Winners and Talking Points

Hi all,

I woke up on New Year’s Day convinced it was Saturday. When you’re stuck in the Christmas twilight zone, the days tend to blur into one.

I’d been out for dinner on New Year’s Eve and, walking home, it was clear the Arctic blast had arrived.

Friday’s meetings at Fakenham and Ayr both face inspections due to frost. We already lost Exeter on Thursday. Thankfully, Cheltenham, Musselburgh and Windsor survived to give ITV Racing viewers a full New Year’s Day programme.

Cheltenham Rings in the New Year

Cheltenham staged a record New Year’s Day fixture. It’s usually the course’s biggest crowd outside the Festival, but an attendance of around 44,000 was some 6,000 higher than the previous best. Dry weather clearly helped, but it’s still an encouraging way to start the year.

Ed Chamberlain said on ITV Racing that Cheltenham were reporting 50% of the crowd as first-time racegoers. I’m not quite sure how the course arrived at that figure, so I’ll treat it with a pinch of salt.

The card itself didn’t look especially strong, but I enjoyed ITV’s coverage. My only gripe is the continued reluctance to show replays of falls or unseats. There were several yesterday, no horses or jockeys were injured, so why not show them? They’re part and parcel of jumps racing. Let’s not sanitise it and pretend they don’t happen.

That summed up my day. After a profitable Christmas and December, it ended up a losing one.

Matata jumped neatly and ran out a comfortable winner of the Betfair Exchange Handicap Chase. He proved his stamina for 2m4f, at least on good ground, and it was a good weight-carrying performance in what looked a competitive race on paper.

Plenty of punters ignore trainer comments in the Racing Post, but they can be useful. The joint trainer’s pre-race view of Matata pointed you in the right direction.

If you do have access to them, they’re well worth a look.

Relkeel Hurdle: Class Winner, But Stayers Doubts

Kabral Du Mathan was an impressive winner of the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle (2m4f). He travelled powerfully and now looks a Grade 1 hurdler in the making. Second favourite for the Stayers’ Hurdle, there’s no doubting his ability, but stamina at three miles remains the big question. Dan Skelton appeared to rule out a Champion Hurdle tilt, so it may be that the Grade 1 Aintree Hurdle over 2m4f proves a better fit than Cheltenham.

Ma Shantou bounced back from a lacklustre Haydock run to land the Best Odds On The Betfair Exchange Handicap Hurdle. He stayed on strongly to edge out Ace Of Spades after the last. The return to better ground suited and he’s now two from three at Cheltenham. A strong stayer, he’s 10/1 for the Pertemps Final but could also have each-way claims if aimed at the Stayers’ Hurdle.

Friday Racing

If Fakenham and Ayr pass their morning inspections, there are a couple of races of interest.

Fakenham

2:20 – Kelijoe improved to win a handicap at Doncaster 21 days ago. He has previous form here over shorter and there should be more to come from the 6yo over hurdles. The main question is the ground, but if he’s as effective on good going, he looks well placed. The yard also had a winner at Cheltenham yesterday.

Ayr

3:30 – Highland Fashion improved for the step up to 2m7f when winning a handicap hurdle at Newcastle in November. He remains unexposed over staying distances and a 4lb rise may not be enough to stop further progress.

There’s a decent card at Meydan this afternoon. I used to enjoy playing the Winter Carnival but have largely ignored it in recent years. That said, if a proper freeze were to decimate the jumps programme, I might be tempted to revisit it.

There won't be a Saturday column if there's no jumps action due to frost.

Good luck with your Friday bets.

All the best,

John