Cheltenham Festival 2013

The 2013 Cheltenham Festival was staged between Tuesday, March 12 and Friday, March 15, 2013, but the start of racing on the opening day was delayed by 35 minutes due to overnight frost and the Cross Country Chase was postponed by 48 hours, leaving six, rather than seven, races on day one. Following the British domination in 2012, Irish trainers redressed the balance, to some extent, with victory for Alderwood, trained by Willie Mullins, in the closing Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase, making the final score 14-13 in favour of the home team.

Indeed, Mullins, who saddled five winners during the four days, wrested the leading trainer award back from Nicky Henderson and Ruby Walsh, who rode four, did likewise with the leading jockey award from Barry Geraghty. Nevertheless, Henderson enjoyed a fine Festival, with four winners, including Sprinter Sacre in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Bobs Worth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, both ridden by Geraghty.

Of the other three ‘feature’ races, the Champion Hurdle, the Ryanair Chase and the World Hurdle, two went to Ireland. Hurricane Fly, trained by Mullins and ridden by Walsh, regained the two-mile hurdling championship, having finished third, as defending champion, in 2012, while Solwhit, trained by Charles Byrnes and ridden by Paul Carberry, won the World Hurdle. In between times, Cue Card, trained by Colin Tizzard and ridden by his son, Joe, struck a blow for Britain with a commanding nine-length victory over the Irish-trained favourite, First Lieutenant, in the Ryanair Chase.

Tragically, the 2012 Cheltenham Festival, as a whole, was overshadowed by serious injury to leading Irish amateur jockey John Thomas ‘J.T.’ McNamara. McNamara fractured two vertebrae in his neck in a horrific first-fence fall from Galaxy Rock in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup, which left him paralysed from the neck down. He did on July 26, 2016, aged just 41, after suffering complications.