Saturday at the Cheltenham Festival would be a royal success | Greg Wood

The popularity of weekend racing at Royal Ascot shows Cheltenham could find a new and lasting audience There is a sense of inevitability that the Cheltenham Festival will run from Wednesday to Saturday some time soon, if not in 2012 then probably the year after that. There are still plenty of issues to address, not least what will happen to the Midlands National, the biggest race of the season at Uttoxeter, but there is also a widespread acceptance that racing needs to make more of its major assets. On that basis, a Festival held entirely on weekdays looks like an event with an afternoon going to waste.

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