Cheltenham ready for starter’s orders but shadow of Brexit looms large | Greg Wood

The Festival is often an escape from politics but the ramifications for racing mean events in Westminster on Tuesday will be keenly monitored

For a good part of its nearly 100-year existence, the first day of the Cheltenham Festival was also Budget Day in parliament, much to the annoyance of racing-minded MPs who were forced to listen to the Chancellor while the serious action unfolded elsewhere. At Cheltenham, meanwhile, racegoers could cheerfully cut themselves off from politics for an afternoon, in the days before wifi and smartphones at least, save for the occasional whisper about a penny off income tax or 2p on beer.

Whether it will be as easy to block it all out on Tuesday afternoon must be open to doubt. Attention is likely to be gripped by an unfolding drama drenched with uncertainty and wild plot twists, where no one can say for sure what the ultimate result will be. And yes, it’s the Cheltenham Festival as well – the last, in theory at least, before Brexit is upon us on 29 March.

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