It's simply pure racing
Country Life UK|March 10, 2021
The Cheltenham Festival will be a strangely silent affair, with no Guinness, no Irish punters and no amateurs, but that won’t detract from the quality of racing, which is set to be as illustrious as ever, says Marcus Armytage
Marcus Armytage
It's simply pure racing

IT is going to be a strange, subdued Cheltenham Festival this year, something of a silent movie, and that will be most noticeable, symbolically at any rate, when the runners approach the tapes for the first race on Tuesday. Normally, there would be an almighty roar from 60,000 people in the packed grandstands, signalling that the nation’s four-day celebration of jump racing has started.

Next week (March 16–19), however, if you see a pint of Guinness, it is a mirage and if you spot an amateur rider, it might be Patrick Mullins, the 12-time Irish champion amateur, who was considering hastily taking up a professional licence in order to honour a book that included Sharjah in the Champion Hurdle.

The Festival today is the legacy of the two-decade stewardship of the late Lord Vestey, who died last month, as chairman—perhaps it’s better he does not see it in this muted incarnation—and his managing director, Edward Gillespie. Between them, they turned it into something much more than racing, a carnival of life, of spring, friendships, horses and, above all, sport.

In 2021, it will be stripped back to the bare bones. There are some who might rather enjoy that and, actually, ITV Racing has got this down to such a fine art after a year of crowd-less racing that its audience sitting on the sofa at home will hardly notice the difference.

This story is from the March 10, 2021 edition of Country Life UK.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the March 10, 2021 edition of Country Life UK.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM COUNTRY LIFE UKView All
Love and logic
Country Life UK

Love and logic

Two lovers who endured adversity and separation in life would become united in Paris after death, discovers Eileen Reid

time-read
3 mins  |
March 27, 2024
Don't mock them
Country Life UK

Don't mock them

Plant a philadelphus, or mock orange, now for improbably lovely scent and cascades of sparkling blossom this summer, says John Hoyland

time-read
3 mins  |
March 27, 2024
Home is where the art is
Country Life UK

Home is where the art is

No trouble is too much for the Marquess of Cholmondeley to display to best effect Sir Antony Gormley's sculptures against the magnificent backdrop of Houghton Hall, even if it means cutting a hole in the floor, as Charlotte Mullins discovers

time-read
6 mins  |
March 27, 2024
Bold and beautiful
Country Life UK

Bold and beautiful

The gardens at Broughton Grange, Oxfordshire The home of Sir Stephen and Lady Hester An arboretum, woodland garden, stumpery and heather garden all planted for artistic effect are among the many features that mark out this exciting garden, says Charles Quest-Ritson

time-read
6 mins  |
March 27, 2024
Land of liquid gold
Country Life UK

Land of liquid gold

Greek cuisine-from delicious mezes to shellfish-might be 'tightly bound to the sparse soil and the blue sea', but it is sorely underrated, laments Tom Parker Bowles

time-read
4 mins  |
March 27, 2024
An old way of life in rural France
Country Life UK

An old way of life in rural France

Arcadian tranquillity, a wealth of cultural richness and a slow pace of life enchant John Lewis-Stempel as he reflects on his existence in France profonde

time-read
5 mins  |
March 27, 2024
Deep in Hardy country
Country Life UK

Deep in Hardy country

Hardy's beguilingly pretty Wessex is the setting for three houses with links to people and places that fuelled the writer's imagination

time-read
5 mins  |
March 27, 2024
The benefit of foresight
Country Life UK

The benefit of foresight

The ability to anticipate the future is the secret of a successful building project

time-read
1 min  |
March 27, 2024
Nature's rarest gems
Country Life UK

Nature's rarest gems

G. Collins & Sons specialises in the sourcing and setting of the finest natural fancy coloured diamonds the world has to offer

time-read
2 mins  |
March 27, 2024
A prickly subject
Country Life UK

A prickly subject

Resembling a jumbo jacket potato on surprisingly long, scurrying legs, the hedgehog is Britain’s favourite mammal. Marianne Taylor takes a closer look beneath its spines

time-read
5 mins  |
March 27, 2024