Ruth Jefferson sits down with kwiff to discuss this year’s Cheltenham Festival, and upcoming runners next weekend at Musselburgh and Kelso.
Ruth Jefferson: Cheltenham Thoughts and Upcoming Entries
Ruth Jefferson: Lavida Avida
The Diva ran well in poor ground to finish fourth last weekend at Ayr, under 5lb conditional Charlie Maggs. Conditions were beyond tacky, and she never jumped or travelled with the same zest she had last time out at Market Rasen, She did well to finish fourth, and has come out of the race well. She could run next weekend if all going well, but we’ll see how she is in the week.
Ruth Jefferson: Card Lady
Card Lady ran a nice race on debut, when finishing fifth at Sedgefield on Tuesday. We trained the dam, who was quite handy, and rated 135 when with us, so there’s high hopes for her. She will have learned a lot from that, and hopefully she can pick up a bumper before the end of the season.
Ruth Jefferson: Upcoming Entries
We’ll have a quiet week here, before a few likely entries at the weekend. There’s a chance ‘The Diva’ runs, at either place, and we’ll have Maypole, Giveupyerauldsins and a couple more but nothing is definite yet. Loveatfirstglance is in good nick at home and could go for a Mares’ Bumper.
Ruth Jefferson: Cheltenham Festival
I’ve seen the Cheltenham Festival receiving lots of headlines this week, both good and bad, in what’s been a mixed week for all involved. Crowds have been down, but it’s no surprise given how busy it was at it’s peak a few years ago. The place was almost too full back in the last year pre-COVID in 2020, and needed reducing in capacity because it was impossible to get around anywhere.
And then you had the bounce back from people actually wanting to go for a day out or have a social runner, having been cooped up inside with various lockdowns. I had the pleasure of speaking with Guy Lavender at the Grand National weights’ lunch and he seems to have a good gameplan to get the overall Cheltenham experience improved for punters. I’m sure there will be a lot of takeaways from this week’s racing, but let’s not all go over the top with it just yet.
In terms of the racing, it’s been good to see lots of different trainers winning races; it’s good for the game. In terms of stand-out performances, it was hard not to be taken with Fact To File and the manner of his performance in The Ryanair. Whether he wants to be going for a Gold CUp now, I’m not too sure. Those horses that travel so well over two and a half don’t often get three miles. They may want to tackle something like the Aintree Bowl before a crack at the big one next year.
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