‘That first roar – it’s pure pleasure’
Festival aficionados reveal what they are most looking forward to at Cheltenham this week
Robert Waley-cohen Chairman of Cheltenham and owner of 2011 Gold Cup winner Long Run
The start of the first race, on the first day. We’re here, we’re racing and all the waiting is over. The terrific roar from the crowd as the tapes go up and they set off is a pure mixture of excitement and pleasure.
Nigel Twiston-davies Local trainer with 17 Festival winners
The roar when the starter drops his flag at the start of the first race on Tuesday is very special. The best bit from a trainer’s point of view is when it’s all over and you go home, hopefully with a winner but otherwise to lick your wounds and try and get it right for Aintree in April.
Cornelius Lysaght BBC Racing Correspondent
For me, it is arriving at one of sport’s great amphitheatres with the backdrop of Cleeve Hill. For most of the year, it is an olde-worlde part of the Cotswolds, but for four days, when filled with 70,000 people, it becomes a cauldron of sporting challenge.
Tom Scudamore Jockey
The anticipation of arriving having got through the traffic with your hopes and dreams still intact. Then you start finding out which the best ones are.
Oliver Sherwood Trainer
Coming over the hill and seeing the course in the distance. I have one pint of Guinness a year and it’s in the Guinness village at 11am on Tuesday – the Festival can’t start before that!
Sir Tony Mccoy Twenty-time champion jockey, ITV racing pundit
When I was riding, it was when you arrived and walked into the changing room heading for your peg on the Tuesday morning. All the waiting was over then.
Marcus Armytage Telegraph racing correspondent
Turning off the A40 and getting the first panoramic glimpse of the racecourse from the side of Cleeve Hill. With half a mile of white marquees in the distance, you know it is different to any other Cheltenham.
Alan Tyers Telegraph columnist
The winner’s enclosure is Cheltenham’s most desirable bit of real estate, and can be home to grandees or folk who have bought a leg of something unfancied that has thrillingly delivered for them. It is a dream place to be.
Kevin Perry Telegraph Racing Editor (Marlborough)
The Gold Cup is still the greatest race at the meeting. The contest tests a steeplechaser like no other. They must jump fluently at speed, act on a difficult track where it is hard to find a rhythm and truly stay 3¼ miles. Only the best triumph.