Cheltenham Festival: 16 per cent admit to skiving off work to watch sport
A new poll ahead of the Cheltenham Festival has shown 16 per cent of Brits have skived off work to watch sport.
The research, conducted by YouGov in association with Betfair with a sample size of over 1,000, suggests nearly one in five adults have bunked off work to tune into sport at some point in their careers.
Furthermore, seven per cent of people suggested that they’d instead watch the Gold Cup from the comfort of their office.
It comes as respondents overwhelmingly voted Rachael Blackmore’s 2022 Gold Cup triumph atop A Plus Tard as the most iconic moment in the race’s history.
The Cheltenham Festival begins today in Gloucestershire and runs through until Friday.
The Cheltenham top five
Arkle’s third consecutive Gold Cup victory, won by over 30 lengths, was second behind Blackmore’s No1 spot – the jockey was the first female to win the Friday race.
Desert Orchid in 1989, Kauto Star in 2007 (winning the Stayers’ Case Triple Crown) and Sizing John in 2017 (when he also picked up the Irish Gold Cup and Punchestown Gold Cup) completed the top five.
“The Gold Cup is just such a special race. It’s one as a jockey that you’d love to ride in someday and to be able to say you’ve won it is just incredibly special,” Blackmore said in response to the data.
“There’s been 100 years of Gold Cup history, and I’d love to make some more.”
Gold Cup winning jockey on Kauto Star, Ruby Walsh, added: “The Gold Cup was always on a pedestal in our house.
“I think horse racing was lucky to have the rivalry between Denman and Kauto Star, when you look at the publicity it drove. Everyone was asking would Kauto stay, wouldn’t’ he stay, huge fields, there were so many unknowns.
“When you have an association with an incredible horse like Kauto Star, you’re almost as thrilled for him when he was able to regain the Gold Cup. To go back and win a second one, to make himself, I guess that little bit different.”
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