Is Cheltenham still the ‘Olympics’ of racing? Not even close

Just how much of a competitive farrago Cheltenham has become is underlined by the race Honeysuckle and Epatante are likely to contest in 11 days’ time.

Between them they have won the last three renewals of the Champion Hurdle. Honeysuckle, easily the most popular racehorse in Ireland, is the reigning dual-title holder. As things stand neither is going to line up in the Champion Hurdle.

The most obvious excuse for that is Constitution Hill, an overwhelming favourite to seal his status as the most exciting young talent in the game. Many believe he’s all but past the post already.

The other reason is the alternative option open to Honeysuckle and Epatante in the very next race. Rather than taking on Constitution Hill, both will line up in the Mares Hurdle, two champions ducking the championship challenge.

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It’s a calculated move and shrewd in many ways. By any measure, taking on your own sex rather than a potential all-time-great increases the chances of success. Connections of both horses are simply playing the system.

Another star name, Shishkin, returned to form with a superb success at Ascot a couple of weeks ago. It was so impressive his odds for Gold Cup glory were slashed to 8-1 despite the horse never having run more than three miles before.

But Shishkin isn’t going to go for ultimate glory in steeplechasing’s “Blue Riband”. Why should he when he’s odds-on for an “oven-ready” Ryanair 24 hours earlier. It’s another shrewd move for connections playing the system.

The problem is this system is cutting the ground out from underneath itself.

That Cheltenham is the sport’s Olympics will be repeated ad nauseam between now and when the festival starts on Tuesday week. Cliches can still be true despite repetition but this one is truly worn out.

A programme that denies Honeysuckle a shot at a Champion Hurdle hat-trick or turns a tilt at Gold Cup glory into a sucker move isn’t fit for purpose.

Cheltenham is supposed to be racing’s championships. But championships, by definition, decide a pecking order, something that fails to occur far too often for the festival’s own good.

The push to expand the festival has resulted in too many “Nubbin” races, largely superfluous third-nipple contests protruding from the programme to pad out the week. It is playing havoc with Cheltenham’s competitive element.

The Ryanair is an anodyne contest. Nobody dreams of owning, training, or riding a Ryanair winner. It’s simply a lucrative diversion for horses that might otherwise contest the Champion Chase or take their chance in the Gold Cup.

All the Mares Hurdle has done this time is allow two champions swerve the main event despite the massive advantage of a 7lb sex allowance designed to even things up. Only if Constitution Hill were to be scratched late might that change.

What exactly has the Turners Novice Chase contributed except deflect from both the Arkle and the Brown Advisory?

There have been spectacular winners like Vautour in 2015 but a four-runner turnout last year was farcical for a Cheltenham Grade 1 and there’s no strategic sense in a post-Cheltenham scenario where we’re still guessing if Mighty Potter, El Fabiolo or something else is the season’s best novice.

Championship events are designed to answer such questions, not perpetuate them.

Since the festival’s commercial appeal led to serious consideration of padding it out even further to five days the obvious response is that popular opinion doesn’t seem to mind much. Trumpian levels of self-satisfaction are required, however, to presume too much on that.

At some point even the biggest hype machine needs refuelling with substance.

Cheltenham’s overarching influence dominates the entire year for National Hunt racing. Whether that’s healthy is debatable. What isn’t is that the four days concentrate the eyes of the sporting world and beyond, making it the hook on which the whole sport hangs.

As such there is more riding on the festival than on any other meeting. It includes gambling with half a dozen races at Cheltenham featuring in the top 10 in terms of betting shop turnover. But championship credibility is a factor too.

Any Olympics is designed to make the best take on the best. Racing’s version provides way too much wriggle room to duck and dive. Connections are entitled to adopt an approach of finding the easiest race to try to win; those in charge shouldn’t be facilitating that instinct to this extent.

A total of 28 races divided equally over four days is ripe for pruning. Plenty will argue the number of handicaps should be trimmed but the spread of Grade 1′s should come into the debate too.

Constitution Hill may well be the greatest talent to ever look through a bridle. But when it comes to horses, and particularly in the jumping game, there are no 100 per cent certainties. Even the best can make a mistake, get brought down, or just underperform.

Just how hollow a sensation will it be then if hurdling’s great pretender fails to fire, and a pair of proven champions are lining up for the next race. It smacks of a lot of things, none of them Olympic.

Something for the Weekend

Gavin Cromwell’s string is in fine form and SWEET WILL (3.50) can successfully revert to hurdles at Doncaster on Saturday. The Irish challenger won his last two starts over flights and was travelling notably well when unseating rider three out in a Navan chase last month.

MEDIA NARANJA (2.00) is still at Triumph Hurdle entry despite fading to fourth on her Irish debut at Gowran. Better ground could help the French recruit strike in Navan’s opener on Saturday.