The Greatest Show on Earth

Cheltenham is a winner – as Press Club director PETER BROOKES discovered for himself.

As Midlands journalists, we are privileged to have on our doorstep what is known as The Greatest Show on Earth. Well, that’s how The Cheltenham Festival is viewed in terms of jumps horse racing.

Just over an hour’s drive from Birmingham and the Black Country, spread over four days in mid-March, Cheltenham is a celebration of racing, encompassing the very best of the sport, despite its detractors.

I visited on the Wednesday of the meeting, now known as Style Day, replacing the old moniker of Ladies’ Day, in modern parlance thought to be old hat (excuse the pun).

If you have never been to Cheltenham, it is a truly British (and Irish) spectacle.

All life is here; perfectly groomed horses, brightly coloured silks, a roaring 50,000+ crowd and many punters dressed up in their Sunday best.

Then there is the atmosphere. The racetrack is huge, the verdant green turf stretching out to the foot of Cleeve Hill. In and around the stands the hub-bub of the crowds is only broken by the cries of the bookmakers as they try to tempt punters with better prices.

And then there are the aromas. Beer (mainly Guinness), hog roasts, pizzas, no-one is short of a drink or something to eat at Cheltenham.

The race-goers love it and tens of thousands of Irish punters make their way here every March. There is a dedicated “Guinness Village” where the brewer has stated they sell more pints of the black stuff than in the whole of London and Dublin that day.

Enjoying a pint, Irish visitor Conor Murphy told me: “We save up all year for this. It’s our racing Mecca. I love everything about it, the atmosphere, the people, just the Craic.”

I enjoyed it enormously and with two winners at a 66-1 each-way bet, I walked off the course with more cash than on entry – an unusual feat!

If you do not like the idea of racing, stay away, but if you fancy a great day out, take a short trip down the M5 for The Greatest Show on Earth.