Today I’m ‘at Cheltenham’ watching the races in a battered old Barbour. Except I’m nowhere near the West Country – I’m in Benidorm on the Costa Blanca.
You might well be asking, what is going on? The answer is that the entrepreneurial folk at travel company On The Beach have spotted an opportunity.
With ticket prices as much as £200 to attend the real Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire for the famous Cheltenham Festival (held last week), return train tickets from London about £70, plus often rainy weather, it might be more fun and cheaper to watch the event in Spain.
As odd as this may sound, I decided to give it go.
And it works like this. You pay £330 for five nights in a four-star all-inclusive hotel (with unlimited drinks) in Benidorm with return flights and ‘giant screens’ on which to watch the racing. Sunshine is ‘guaranteed’ (though it is, in truth, a little wet when I arrive).
The On The Beach people point out that all you would get at Cheltenham for the same price is entry to four racing days, two pints a day and ‘dodgy British weather’. No accommodation, transport or food.
And it’s not only Cheltenham fans who have ditched the muddy stands for sunloungers. As Caspar Nelson, holiday expert at On The Beach, explains: ‘What started with Cheltenham has quickly become a much bigger trend.
‘When the choice is soggy tweed, 10 degrees and sideways rain at Aintree, or the Grand National poolside in Benidorm with 23-degree sunshine, it’s not exactly a tough call.’
In fact, it’s a bit of a no-brainer – and, as gamblers sometimes like to say, I’m all-in.
Samantha Rea heads to Benidorm, Spain, for cheaper pints and better weather while enjoying the horse racing – thanks to a new all-inclusive package with On The Beach
Bars across Benidorm have erected giant screens for racing fans, who have ditched ‘sideways rain’ at Aintree for Spain’s sunnier skies
Which is how I find myself checking into Villa Espana, within strolling distance of the beach and the infamous Benidorm Strip.
The giant screens are up by the rooftop bar, which is where I make a beeline in time for the day’s first race, the 1.20pm. Here, I soon get chatting to Ian and Liz, from Edinburgh, who are drinking (free) glasses of rose.
Ian, 68, is into horseracing and has been to Aintree for the Grand National 16 years in a row – and he has done ‘Cheltenham in Benidorm’ for four years.
He usually comes with his two adult sons, but this year they could not get time off work.
Liz, 67, who is definitely not a racing fan, says with refreshing honesty: ‘I’m just here for the beer and the nice hotel.’
Ian has put two £13 bets on today (soon to have his first winner at 7-1). Not bad at all.
The races begin, as do the cheers and the groans. The weather has turned for the worse; it’s pouring now – helping us, ironically, to get in true West Country mood.
Then I meet the Dads-and-Lads, aka the Knight family.
Keith Knight, 75, and his brother Alec, 70, are here with Keith’s twin sons James and Charlie, 31, and Alec’s son Spencer, 48. They are from Enfield, north London, and are ‘Cheltenham in Benidorm’ first-timers.
Samantha chats to the ‘Lads and Dads’, aka the Knight family, about their first time coming to Benidorm to watch the races
Keith’s been to Cheltenham a few times and, despite the weather, he is happy he came to Benidorm because it’s cheaper.
James has won £450 on the first race and Spencer a ‘couple of hundred’. They are both in a good mood, though Charlie – looking decidedly glum – has had less luck.
That said, he has an accumulator coming up that could land him £320,000. Of this, Keith says: ‘He’s got more chance of flying to the Moon.’
I t’s certainly a party atmosphere here – and people are talkative. You can’t help making acquaintances. Niki, 57, and Bill, 62, from Kent, have bought the On The Beach all-inclusive package, upgrading their room and extending from five to seven nights, paying £700 each. Niki estimates it would have cost £2,000 for the two of them just to get into Cheltenham for the four-day festival, without factoring in spending money and somewhere to stay.
On a walk down the Strip, I arrive at the legendary Bulldog pub, where I get chatting to Brad, 35, a builder from Essex who is here with a group of 15 to 20 mates following the racing.
He has travelled independently and is staying four nights, spending £230 on flights and a hotel. A round of 15 pints, he tells me authoritatively, is £43. Pints are generally about half UK prices. Brad is aiming to spend ‘as little as possible’ and is currently £70 up on his betting.
Nearby, Patrick, 71, a scaffolder from Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, says: ‘I love Cheltenham, but this is even better.’
He’s a high-roller, having had four bets already with winnings of more than £20,000. ‘It will probably pay my tax bill for the year,’ he says.
While Samantha declines to place a bet, many fans she meets have scored big – with Patrick, 71, winning a grand total of £20,000
Perhaps that is exactly why he loves it so much.
Meanwhile, Sue, 54, a social worker from North Wales – drinking Bacardi Breezers – is more modestly up £80. She says: ‘I don’t mind it [the rain]. I don’t come for the weather, I come for the racing.’
Spoken like a true ‘Cheltenham in Benidorm’-er.
Back at Villa Espana after the last race – they are shown just about everywhere you go – I take in the high-rise skyline that has seen Benidorm nicknamed the ‘Mediterranean Manhattan’.
My trainers are soaked through and my rain-flecked face has mascara running down it. But at least I’ve broken even.
‘Cheltz in Benz’ (as I’ve been privately calling it) has been a blast.
TRAVEL FACTS
Five-night getaways staying at a four-star all-inclusive hotel with flights start from £330pp (onthebeach.co.uk).
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