It’s over, after a build-up of months! In 4 days all the speculation, predictions and meticulous planning either succeeded or ‘crashed and burnt’.  

In the West Country we hit the net twice, Monmiral took the Pertemps Hurdle for Champion trainer Paul Nicholls under Harry Cobden who is in a tussle for the Jockey’s Championship with Sean Bowen. 

He is eleven clear as I write and his 24% winners strike is very impressive considering the number of rides he is taking up. Talking of impressive, let’s discuss the other West Country winner Golden Ace (pictured).  She travelled supremely in the race, led narrowly approaching the last hurdle and battled up the hill to beat two Irish talking horses, one of which cost 310,000 euros and the other 230,000 euros. 

She was snapped up by her owner, Ian Gosden, for a meagre 12,000 gns.  The two-time Taunton winner was expertly prepared for the day by her trainer Jeremy Scott and given an ice-cool ride from Lorcan Williams, an unforgettable day for all concerned and richly deserved.

Many a column inch has been written about Cheltenham last week, from cars getting stuck in the car park to Irish domination and I do not have enough space to express my opinions fully.  

However, as someone who has been attending the Festival for over 40 years and used to get ‘flu’ at school for the second week in March but was somehow well enough to hop on a National Express coach from Bristol and head up to Prestbury Park to watch the likes of Sea Pigeon, Monksfield, Dawn Run, Desert Orchid, Best Mate among many more, I feel we are being distracted from the point.  

Cheltenham is all about the horse and the competition.  It is the sport’s Olympics, irrespective of where they are trained, we all want to see quality horses compete against each other.  We are moving away from this, the racing at the festival is becoming diluted and therefore less competitive.  Here’s my solution: a. Reduce the number of races and b. Review the conditions of some of the races.

I appreciate it’s not easy, however I feel the 'product' needs tweaking and if we could get back to full fields and competitive markets, I’m sure people wouldn’t be so concerned about getting stuck in the Car Park.. just saying..

On a personal investment front, we were quick out of the blocks with Corbetts Cross, then hit the crossbar with Crebilly and Ginny’s Destiny and finally lost miserably on Reading Tommy Wrong somehow, maybe he turned right on the track at some point and headed into Cheltenham town for a pint of dark refreshment. It’s not easy and I want it to be more competitive, who’s the foolish one now!

We next race on Tuesday 26th March for the RNLI Charity Racemeeting. The first race is scheduled for 2.20pm with early bird discounted tickets (only £15) available at www.tauntonracecourse.co.uk. 

For those of you looking to use our courtesy coach service, it will depart from outside platform 5 of Taunton Railway Station 90 minutes before our first race time and return half an hour after the start of the last.