Ten miles from the centre of the National Hunt racing universe, a more tranquil corner of the Cotswolds is also gearing up for the most important week of its year.
The Hollow Bottom, in the chocolate-box village of Guiting Power, is the archetypal racing pub, ready to receive its slice of the estimated £100 million (€115 million) that the Cheltenham festival brings to the local economy.
Hugh Kelly, the pub’s owner, believes his visitors are usually spread “50-50” between British and Irish, with some staying in rented houses in the area and others travelling out for the evening from Cheltenham town.
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“Organised chaos is the best way to put it,” he said. “It’s a massive week for us; we’ll do more business in five days than we will in a month. We only have five rooms, which the same people take every year but we could sell over 100 if we were able.”
Top trainers
Mr Kelly, a Scotsman whose grandfather was Irish, has owned the pub for more than a decade and does not correct anyone who assumes it is still run by local trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies, whose gallops end virtually at The Hollow Bottom’s door.
“People come in to see Nige, not me,” he laughed. “We get a lot of the top trainers and jockeys coming in here during the week and I guess people like the chance to rub shoulders with them.”
The landlord is the enviable position of hearing all of the local whispers.
“I’ve never seen Nige in such buoyant form and hopefully Ballyandy will get him off to a good start in the first race, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. It will be good news for us, anyway.”
According to a recent survey by the University of Gloucestershire, Irish racegoers spent €22 million on the travel, accommodation and entertainment required to be at last year’s meeting, and make up around 30 per cent of the total attendance of 260,000.
All 84 rooms at the Queens Hotel, a four-star Regency building in the chic Montpellier district of Cheltenham, were advertised as sold out as usual; the late-night parties in the Queens’ bar have become the stuff of legend.
Extra flights
Nearly all of the leading Irish trainers and riders eschew the frivolities by lodging in cottages across the road from the racecourse. The first of the dozens of runners arrived over the weekend and have already been exercising on the track.
Aer Lingus has added flights providing 1,400 extra seats to its routes from Dublin and Cork to Birmingham and Bristol to service the festival, while Ryanair has put on 30 extra flights on its Dublin to Birmingham route.
The latter’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, will be one of the higher-profile visitors as he not only sponsors a race on Thursday but owns numerous contenders under the umbrella of Gigginstown House Stud.
Mr O’Leary could get off to a perfect start in Tuesday’s feature race, the Stan James Champion Hurdle. Petit Mouchoir, one of around 60 horses that Gigginstown removed from the care of perennial Irish champion trainer Willie Mullins last September over an apparent disagreement about training fees, is among the favourites.
