Cheltenham consider Saturday finish

Organisers of the Cheltenham Festival are considering moving the traditional start day of the festival to accommodate racing on a Saturday.

The possibility of a move, which is unlikely to happen before 2012, has been opened up by the Racing For Change initiative and was received with enthusiasm by the racecourse yesterday.

The Festival was expanded to four days from three in 2005 and Cheltenham Managing Director Edward Gillespie said he was satisfied that the new format was a success.

However, he dismissed any suggestion that the course might now be looking at a five-day meeting. If the Festival ends on a Saturday in 2012, it will start on the Wednesday. Any such development is unlikely to be effected in time for next year.

It is possible that the Gold Cup, the week's feature race, would be left in its Friday slot, even if the Festival were to finish on a Saturday. Gillespie pointed out that the exercise would be worthwhile, from the course's perspective, only if there was a net gain on the current total of 225,000 racegoers over four days.