Mullins says any move to five-day Cheltenham festival must be done properly via IrishTimesSport
Willie Mullins believes a five-day Cheltenham festival is in the offing but argues it needs to be the done properly for the sake of the overall sport.
However bumper attendance levels over last week’s action, with a record 73,875 crowd on Gold Cup day, confirmed public demand to have increased on the back of the behind-closed-doors festival in 2021. A total of just over 280,000 racegoers paid to go to the festival over the four days. “It [Cheltenham] is the shop window. It’s what gives jump racing its kudos and we need that. I’m going to let the people in charge decide what they think. But I didn’t realise it could be a negative thing until you saw how few runners there were this year in some of the feature races.
“But what about the customer experience, people who’re there from 10 in the morning to late in the afternoon? If that’s what people want, that’s fine. But there are a lot more angles to having a fifth day than just trainers and owners,” he added. “I think the accountants are going to press for a fifth day. The people in charge are going to have to see how it’s best presented,” he added.
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