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Cheltenham’s November meeting heralds real start of National Hunt season

about 6 hours ago
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Three days of racing that starts on Friday has attracted nearly 400 entries, many hoping to return in March for the festivalThere are nine days of racing at Cheltenham each season before the track’s festival meeting in March.This time next week, with the showpiece event still four months away, five will be in the form book.It is, on the face of it, rather a waste of a magnificent racecourse (or two racecourses, since the New course takes over from the Old after the final afternoon of the November meeting on Sunday).But the paucity of racing at the home of jumping is, to some extent, the point.Cheltenham racing is National Hunt’s most precious resource and an increase in the supply would debase the currency.

It would also diminish the anticipation for the three-day meeting that has attracted nearly 400 entries.This meeting is in rude health on both sides of the running rail.The abrupt decline in attendance at the festival has been well-documented, but Cheltenham’s second-best meeting has reversed the trend since a one-off post-Covid boom in the 2021-22 season.Like the festival attendance, the total crowd for the November meeting dropped the following season.Unlike the festival, however, where the decline has continued, the November crowd has edged back up in the past two years.

It can only be a positive sign for the track’s management team as they set out to address their festival problem.Cheltenham in general retains its appeal to the fans, even if some of them have – hopefully temporarily – fallen out of love with the festival-going experience.If the festival-specific issues can be identified and addressed the track’s showpiece event should regain its appeal.For owners and trainers, the pre-festival meetings are an invaluable chance to give their best prospects vital experience on the uniquely demanding track where 28 horses will become festival winners next spring.Three of last season’s festival winners – Wodhooh, Jagwar and Stumptown – were last-time-out winners at Cheltenham.

Five more ran on the penultimate start before the festival, including Haiti Couleurs and Jango Baie, both of whom won at the December meeting.There could be a festival winner lurking in the field for any of the 19 races.While there are no Grade One events at this – or any other – pre-festival meeting, there will be past, and probably future, Grade One winners in action, starting with the ever-popular Jonbon in Friday’s Shloer Chase.James Owen, whose growing strength on the flat and over jumps is one of the stories of 2025, has won the opening juvenile hurdle on Saturday’s card the past two seasons.It will be fascinating to see which of his three entries gets the nod to attempt to follow Burdett Road – last year’s Champion Hurdle runner-up – and East India Dock, who went on to be beaten less than a length in the Triumph Hurdle having set off as the 5-4 favourite.

Sign up to The RecapThe best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s actionafter newsletter promotionHuntingdon 12.21 Fern Hill 12.51 Keep It Cool 1.26 Lady Tadita 2.01 Rip Wheeler  2.

36 Dickens 3.11 Kingston Sunflower (nap) 3.46 Crystal Jet Lingfield 12.42 Korkoran 1.17 I’m Your Buckaroo 1.

52 Ikarak 2,27 Golden Ambition 3,02 Silver Thorn 3,37 Princess Keri (nb) Hereford 1,00 Race To Base 1.

35 Only One Blue 2.10 Kit’s Coty 2.45 Mix Of Clover 3.20 Lunar Power 3.55 Graecia The feature event on Saturday is quite simply one of those races that tend to get inside a punter’s head at an early stage in their betting career and never entirely move out.

It has been staged under many banners since Mackeson – an alcohol brand so ancient it was once marketed as a drink that could be good for your health – dropped its sponsorship after 35 years in 1995.Its status as the first big handicap chase of the winter campaign has never been in doubt, however, and this year’s running of the Paddy Power Gold Cup will be the only race on many minds on Saturday morning.The memory of many winners tends to fade with time, but most punters of a certain age, I suspect, would be able to glance down the list of this race’s winners and recall which ones they were on.In theory, the 2025-26 jumps season started in early May, For practical and, perhaps more importantly, spiritual purposes, it will begin when the field sets off for the conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle at 1.10pm on Friday.

Every rare afternoon of action below Cleeve Hill will be one to anticipate and cherish,
foodSee all
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Helen Goh’s recipe for pear, chocolate and hazelnut torte | The sweet spot

Unlike lighter, flour-based cakes, tortes are traditionally rich and dense. Often made with ground nuts instead of flour, this gives them a fudgy, moist texture. Here, ripe pears sink gently into a dark chocolate and hazelnut batter, with the flavours of vanilla, almond and cardamom subtly enhancing the depth of the chocolate and teasing out the fruit’s perfume.Prep 10 min Cook 1 hr 15 min, plus cooling Serves 8-10150g blanched hazelnuts 200g dark chocolate (about 70% cocoa), roughly chopped150g unsalted butter, cubed150g soft brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract ½ tsp almond extract 4 large eggs, separated¼ tsp fine sea salt ¾ tsp ground cardamom (from the seeds of 12-18 pods)2 small ripe pears (conference, williams), peeled, quartered and cored To finishIcing sugar, for dusting Creme fraiche or ice-cream, to serveHeat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5, and line the base and sides of a 23cm springform cake tin with baking paper.Put the hazelnuts on a small baking tray and toast in the oven for five to eight minutes, until light golden and fragrant

4 days ago
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More than a third of whisky drinkers are female. Time for the industry to wake up to women

Why wait for International Women’s Day to celebrate women? A commemorative day is a good excuse, true, but we don’t need to wait to recognise the contributions of female and female-identifying individuals to the drinks industry. Right? Right.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more

4 days ago
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Jimi Famurewa’s recipe for Marmite and leek homity pie

The first time I encountered homity pie was in a disused train carriage. It was Deptford market in the late 2000s: a reliably chaotic, noisy morass of jostling bodies, the wafted smell of sweating burger onions and a vast section where the “stalls” generally comprised gatherings of orphaned trainers, boxy VHS players and other random house-clearance items dumped on to lengths of tarpaulin. I was an eager but gastronomically green 25-year-old in my first proper flatshare and this ragtag locus of trade became an early site of core dining memories. I thoughtfully appraised very ordinary vegetables, channelling Rick Stein in Gascony; bought warm, hectically seeded granary loaves from the Percy Ingle bakery; ate average pub Thai, better kerbside rotisserie chicken; and generally tried, with limited success, to ignore the creeping sense that I had settled in a part of town that wanted for some structure or culinary vitality.It was this atmosphere of cultural nascence into which the Deptford Project trundled

5 days ago
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$1.50 mangoes: Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for November

Kensington Pride, Calypso and Honey Gold mangoes are the juiciest of the crop right now – but avoid potatoes until prices come back downGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailHot weather in the Northern Territory has been favourable for summer’s golden child.“Everyone should be eating mangoes right now,” says Josh Flamminio, co-owner of Galluzzo Fruiterers in Sydney.The mango abundance will continue throughout the month and will only get better as supply from Queensland increases. Flamminio is selling larger premium mangoes for $2.50 to $3 each, and smaller-sized ones for $1

5 days ago
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How to turn the dregs of a tin of golden syrup into a delectable toffee sauce – recipe | Waste not

Lyle’s golden syrup comes in the most ornate and nostalgic of tins, but the syrup inside often proves almost impossible to extract entirely. Turn what might otherwise be wasted into this luxurious toffee sauce to savour on Bonfire Night, especially when drizzled generously over cinnamon baked apples with scoops of vanilla ice-cream.Apples transform beautifully when baked, turning this hyper-seasonal fruit into a super-simple yet decadent dessert. I prefer cox or braeburn varieties (ie, something not too large), so you can serve one apple per person.Gordon Ramsay’s recipes are my go-to for traditional techniques that deliver reliable results

5 days ago
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Mirepoix kimchi and vegetarian umami chilli: Kenji Morimoto’s recipes for cooking with homemade ferments

Cooking with ferments brings a tremendous amount of flavour to whatever you’re making, and it’s a great way to showcase how an ingredient evolves through the application of heat. The idea of combining a Korean preservation method with a French technique is exactly what I love about creativity in the kitchen. This mirepoix kimchi is not just a fun ferment to dot on savoury oatmeal or eat alongside cheese, but it also acts as the backbone for a plant-based, umami-filled chilli.This versatile, umami-rich paste is a twist on the classic mirepoix and can be used to add a hit of flavour to everything from soups to marinades, or even enjoyed as is.Prep 10 min Ferment 2 weeks+ Makes 500ml jar150g carrot 150g white onion 150g celery 13½g salt (or 3% of the total weight of the first three ingredients)½ tbsp red miso, or fish sauce½ tbsp sugar 15g gochugaru chilli flakesRoughly chop the vegetables (there is no need to peel the carrots if they have been rinsed), then put them in a food processor

6 days ago
politicsSee all
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Billionaire Tory donor gives £200,000 to Reform UK

about 11 hours ago
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Lady Howells of St Davids obituary

1 day ago
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Can Nigel Farage emulate success enjoyed by Italy’s far-right Giorgia Meloni?

1 day ago
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King Charles and senior politicians lead UK Remembrance Sunday service at Cenotaph – as it happened

1 day ago
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AI-powered nimbyism could grind UK planning system to a halt, experts warn

1 day ago
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Developers met ministers dozens of times over planning bill while ecologists were shut out

1 day ago