A positive four days in Gloucestershire can start to repair the damage caused by a leading trainer sitting on a dead horse
The strangest, quietest and most surreal of Cheltenham Festivals, a meeting in front of empty stands that was beyond anyone’s imagination not much more than a year ago, will open on Tuesday with a stronger sense than ever that it is at the centre of the public gaze.
It is a little over two weeks since a grotesque image emerged which showed the leading trainer Gordon Elliott sitting – and posing – on a horse that had died on his gallops. As a result, National Hunt racing begins its biggest week with its standing diminished, because of a photograph that left most of us within the racing bubble as shocked and repulsed as those on the outside looking in.
Related: 'A sadness about the town': Cheltenham prepares for remote festival
Related: BHA ready to throw open racing's stable doors in wake of Elliott scandal
Southwell
12.30 Sezina 1.00 High Security 1.35 Qaaraat 2.10 Beat The Heat 2.45 Daafr 3.20 Holiday Magic 3.55 Brandy Station