Festival ponders ways to revive flagging attendances

NOT long ago this corner reflected on changes made by Cheltenham in a bid to revive its famed festival in March, which is hardly thriving.

- By JAMES BURN

Mark Walsh aboard Inothewayurthinkin after winning the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase in March this year

(Mike Egerton/PA)

Touching on the most important week of jump racing again is timely because the track opens its doors for the autumn today and, last weekend, it was revealed officials were considering staging the festival from Wednesday to Saturday - the biggest change since a fourth day was added 20 years ago, extending the meeting to Tuesday to Friday.

It's probably something the Jockey Club, which owns Cheltenham, discusses from time to time, but perhaps it’s in sharper focus because of dwindling crowds; 280,627 attended the 2022 festival but that figure sunk to 218,839 this spring.

The Jockey Club cannot continue to stomach that decline as the festival is its largest source of revenue.