Cheltenham Festival

Friday, March 15, 2019 proved to be a red-letter day for the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival, Willie Mullins. Prior to that day, the Closutton maestro had been trying to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup for 20 years but, despite saddling the runner-up on no fewer than six occasions, had never managed to do so. That all changed when Al Boum Photo, the stable third-string, according to the bookmakers, led turning in and stayed on strongly from the final fence to beat Anibale Fly by 2½ lengths and give Mullins his first ever winner of the showpiece event.

Mullins actually saddled four runners, but only Al Boum Photo made it to the finish. Kemboy, ridden by Mullins’ nephew, David, unseated rider at the first fence, Bellshill, ridden by Ruby Walsh, was pulled up early on the second circuit after a series of mistakes and Invitation Only, ridden by Mullins’ son, Patrick, fell fatally at the tenth fence. The latter incident took the shine off a historic victory for Mullins, but he remained philosophical, saying, “I had probably resigned myself to never winning a Gold Cup, so I said I won’t obsess about it or get too disappointed by it.”

The defending champion, Native River, was never really travelling and finished fourth without threatening the leaders, while the favourite Presenting Percy, who finished lame, trailed in eighth of the nine finishers after his saddle slipped. Anibale Fly, who had finished third in 2018, was placed for the second year running and Bristol De Mai, who had finished seventh, improved four places into third. Reflecting on his first victory in the race, winning jockey Paul Townend said, “I got in a beautiful rhythm. When you’re going well, it just seems so simple.”

The 2018 Cheltenham Gold Cup was notable for the fact that, at the time of writing, it was the last renewal to be won by a horse trained on British soil. Indeed, 15 horses went to post, but the race developed into a match between two British-trained runners, Native River and Might Bite, after the leading Irish fancy Our Duke failed to run his race and was pulled up four fences from home.

Might Bite, trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Nico de Boinville, had won his last seven completed starts, including the RSA Chase, Mildmay Chase and King George VI Chase, so looked a worthy, albeit marginal, favourite. Native River, trained by Colin Tizzard and Richard Johnson, on the other hand, had finished a close third in the 2017 Cheltenham Gold Cup on ground faster than ideal and proved his well-being with a facile, 12-length win in the Denman Chase at Newbury on his return to action. On the prevailing soft going, he, too, was strongly fancied to go two places better this time.

Native River made virtually all the running, but was closely attended by Might Bite all the way to the home turn, where the latter drew alongside and appeared to be going much the better of the pair. Indeed, it was but until approaching the final fence that Nico de Boinville asked Might Bite for maximum effort but, on the climb to the finish line, his mount soon came to the end of his tether. Native River was not for passing and stayed on gamely to win by 4½ lengths. Nothing else really featured and, although Anibale Fly finished well for third place, 4 lengths further back, he never posed a threat to the front pair.

Newspaper headlines before and after the 2017 Cheltenham Gold Cup were dominated by two women. The first of them, Lizzie Kelly, rode 40/1 chance Tea For Two, trained by her stepfather Nick Williams and, in so doing, became the first female jockey for 33 years to ride in the ‘Blue Riband’ event. Sadly, her participation was short-lived, as Tea For Two blundered badly and unseated her at just the second fence. Thus, she fared no better than he predecessor, amateur Linda Sheedy, who pulled up 500/1 rank outsider Foxbury in the 1984 renewal won by Burrough Hill Lad.

The other woman was, of course, trainer Jessica Harrington, who, having turned 70 the previous month, celebrated by winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup at the first attempt with Sizing John. “Beginner’s luck,” quipped Harrington afterwards. Owned by Ann and Alan Potts and ridden by Robbie Power, having his first ride in the race, Sizing John arrived at Cheltenham off the back of a narrow, all out win in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown and was sent off 7/1 fourth-favourite, behind Djakadam at 3/1, Native River at 7/2 and Cue Card at 9/2. The latter blotted his copybook for the second year running, falling at the third last, as he had done in 2016.

Native River and Djakadam proved good enough for close third and fourth places, respectively, with the former just pipped for second by the strong-finishing Minella Indo in the final stride. None of that trio really threatened Sizing John., who travelled well throughout, led by 3 lengths at the final fence and stayed on well on the run-in to win by 2¾ lengths.

The 2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup feature just a single-figure field, but produced a 1-2-3-4 for Irish-trained horses, with two of the first three home owned by Gigginstown House Stud. The best-fancied British-trained horse, the 5/2 second-favourite Cue Card, was disputing the lead and travelling well when falling at the third-last fence.

In his absence, victory went to the 9/4 favourite Don Cossack, trained by Gordon Elliott and ridden by Bryan Cooper, both of whom were recording their first victories in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Beaten favourite in the Ryanair Chase at the 2015 Cheltenham Festival, Don Cossack had won all five completed starts since, including the Melling Chase at Aintree and Champion Chase at Down Royal and justified his lofty market position with another convincing victory.

Shaken up after the second-last fence, Don Cossack had the race in safe keeping early on the run-in and only had to be pushed out to beat Djakadam, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Ruby Walsh, by 4½ lengths. Another Mullins-trained runner, Don Poli, ridden by Davy Russell, stayed on from well off the pace to finish third, 10 lengths further behind, without ever posing a threat to the front pair.

Cooper, retained rider for Gigginstown House Stud, who owned both Don Cossack and Don Poli, said afterwards, “Fair play to Gordon [Elliott], he stuck by me. I had the hardest decision and he had him right for today. He never missed a beat.” It turned out that Don Cossack had run his last race; he suffered a leg injury in the April following his Gold Cup triumph and was retired from racing, as a nine-year-old, in January 2017.

Run on going officially described as soft, good to soft in places, after overnight rain, the 2015 renewal of the Cheltenham Gold Cup was notable for several reasons.

Firstly, it was the last to be contested by Sir Anthony McCoy, who was to retire the following month as the most successful National Hunt jockey of all time, with 4,348 winners to his name. McCoy, who won the Gold Cup twice, on Mr. Mulligan in 1997 and Synchronised in 2012, would finish a distant ninth on Carlingford Lough on his final attempt.

Secondly, it was won by Coneygree, trained by Mark Bradstock and ridden by Nico De Boinville, who was making just his fourth start over fences and thus became the first novice to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup since Captain Christy 41 years earlier. As McCoy later commented, “It was an unbelievable performance from a novice chaser. He got them at it early and stuck at it well.”

Unbeaten in his three previous starts over the larger obstacles, including a facile, 30-length victory in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, Coneygree was sent off 7/1 joint-second favourite, alongside subsequent Grand National winner Many Clouds and behind only 3/1 favourite Silviniaco Conti, who had finished a close fourth in the 2014 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Coneygree made all the running, jumping well and, although drifting right on the run-in, stayed on gamely to beat Djakadam by 1½ lengths, with Road To Riches 2 lengths further behind in third place. A barely credulous De Boinville said, “It’s unbelievable; words can’t describe it. He dug deep, but I always knew he had enough left.”