F EATURE ROOM WITH A VIEW
T here were moments in the 2021 Festival that almost allowed me to believe it was a year like any other: rain spray flying from every brush fence as the field went over, sun peeking momentarily through an overcast, grey sky, and the voice of Ian Bartlett calling the race from a balcony high above the course. But the reality was that the 2021 Festival was unlike anything seen for a generation. Run behind closed doors, without crowds, The Festival was undoubtedly historic, but I, for one, can’t wait to be back at the heart of the action, carried on the wave of the Cheltenham Roar, experiencing first-hand the best food, the best wine and the best racing in the world. In what was a real week for the girls, I would love to have seen Henry de Bromhead’s extraordinary Put The Kettle On become the first mare to win the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase under Aidan Coleman. I wish I could have cheered Rachael Blackmore home as she led with every
stride from the third fence, giving Willie Mullins his record fourth win in the Ryanair Chase, and for the boys, I would have raised the roof for Jack Kennedy bringing Minella Indo home in the WellChild Cheltenham Gold Cup itself. If I had been there this year, I would have done it in style. In 2022, at the very first opportunity to go back to The Festival, I will be taking a Room with a View package to experience it as never before. We will stay at Chewton Glen, tucked away in the heart of the New Forest, in a private Treehouse Studio Suite, in absolute peace and tranquillity, suspended 35ft above the ground. After checking in to our secluded haven, we will be whisked from hotel to helicopter, ushered by a team for whom nothing is too much trouble. The flight to the racecourse is about half an hour in The Jockey Club’s twin-engine Agusta AW109, giving our perfect, helicopter- sized party of six plenty of time to enjoy the countryside rolling along below. There is little doubt that arriving by
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