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 | | Tuesday, 12 March, 2002, 10:20 GMT High hopes for festival spending  Conditions were fair at the Cheltenham course Organisers of the Cheltenham Festival say it could be a bumper year for spending at the event as the tape goes up on the three-day horse racing meeting. The event, which usually generates up to �40m for the local economy, was cancelled last year because of the foot-and-mouth epidemic. But the managing director of the course said punters had saved their money from last year to spend on this year's racing. The Gloucestershire town was buzzing with expectation again on Tuesday as Istabraq bids for a place in history by aiming to become the first horse to win the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle for a fourth time. Heavy betting The festival is a huge money-spinner with 700 extra staff being employed at the ground alone to deal with the increase in bets. Tickets for the event sold out at Christmas with more than 150,000 race-goers visiting the town, betting an estimated �25m over the three days with �1m being placed on each race. The meeting climaxes with the Gold Cup on Thursday. Edward Gillespie, the managing director of the racecourse, is hoping for an even better year than usual.
"Five thousand people are employed here this week and that gets back in to the local economy. "It was an eerie feeling this time last year but the good news is that the visitors tell us they're bringing last year's money as well as this year's money." He said the large contingent of Irish race-goers makes for a lively atmosphere. "People that normally behave like English gentlemen amongst Irishmen behave like Irish people, so this town and the whole of the Cotswolds and Gloucestershire lights up for the next three days." As for Istabraq breaking the record his tip was to expect the unexpected. "We would love Istabraq to win, we'd love to see history here but you can't build a festival around one horse," he said. "Cheltenham year after year proves that whatever you expect to happen sometimes doesn't and whatever you couldn't dream of does come true. "We just hope for a great three days." | |   See also: Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top England stories now:  Links to more England stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||
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