Our Cheltenham poll has revealed that a third of respondents admitted to taking a sick day for the Festival.
With the biggest racing event in the world taking place during the week, those with a passion for horse racing and a 9-5 often have a dilemma.
Either: Sneakily watch it at work, on a portable screen, hidden tabs swept away as soon as your boss peers over your shoulder or even in extreme cases (Gold Cup) – a trip to the nearest toilet cubicle.
On the other hand, one route some of the more cheeky racing punters will go down is to not go into work entirely. That’s right – the sickie is alive and well for the Greatest Show on Turf.
When posed with the question: “Have you ever taken a sick day to watch Cheltenham?” – 36% of punters out of a pool size of 1000 said: “Yes”.
With the biggest racing festival in the world taking place between the days of Tuesday and Friday, those with a 9-5 will have a decision to make if they want to catch the live action.
However, if our research is correct – there might just be a few sore heads and dodgy tummies come Tuesday morning.
Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek said: “With punters posed the existential question of whether to troop into work, or bunk off and watch the racing – a sizable portion of people have said that they would pull a sickie.
“With the magnitude of the Festival that comes as no surprise, with the action taking up the most of the working week.
“Our survey responses from 1,000 ardent racing fans indicate that 366 of them would fake an illness in order to watch the racing at home.”
*Oddschecker does not condone taking sick leave from work*
