Cheltenham Festival

In the wake of bumper attendance at the first post-Covid Cheltenham Festival in 2022, Jockey Club Racecourses, which owns Cheltenham, limited daily attendance to 68,500 in 2023. However, that limit was reached just once, on Gold Cup Day, and overall attendance was down by 39,027 compared with the previous year. Sparse crowds did little to detract from the quality of the on-course action, or continued Irish dominance, which saw the visitors win the Prestbury Cup 18-10, as they had done in 2022, and Willie Mullins and Paul Townend defend their leading trainer and jockey titles.

With the winner in 2021 and 2022, Honeysuckle, trained by Henry de Bromhead, redirected to the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle (which she won for the second time), there was a ‘changing of the guard’ in the Champion Hurdle. Having already won the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle and the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park, Constitution Hill, trained by Nicky Henderson, was sent off at prohibitive odds of 4/11 to complete the Triple Crown of Hurdling; he did so impressively, coming home nine lengths ahead of State Man, trained by Willie Mullins.

The leading trainer and jockey at the meeting combined to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup for the third time in five years, this time with the seven-year-old Galopin Des Champs, in the yellow and brown quartered colours of Mrs. Audrey Turley. Winner of the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle in 2021, Galopin Des Champs had fallen at the final fence, with the race at his mercy, in the Golden Miller Novices’ Chase on his return to the Cheltenham Festival in 2022.

However, he made no such mistake when winning his next three starts over fences, all at Grade 1 level, and was consequently sent off 7/5 favourite for the Gold Cup, ahead of the King George VI Chase winner, Bravemansgame. Indeed, it was the latter who proved his main danger, but once he took the lead at the final fence Galopin Des Champs never looked in danger of defeat and crossed the line seven lengths ahead, with a further six and half lengths back to the third horse, Conflated.

The 2022 Cheltenham Festival saw the return of spectators for the first time since 2020 and tickets sold out on all four days, with aggregate attendance reaching a record 280,627. Irish dominance continued unabated, all the same, with the visitors winning the Prestbury Cup 18-10, Willie Mullins becoming leading trainer for the ninth time in his career, with a record 10 winners, and Paul Townend becoming leading jockey for the second time, with five winners.

Indeed, Mullins and Townend won two of the ‘feature’ races, the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Ryanair Chase, courtesy of Energumene and Allaho, respectively, and the other three all went to Irish-trained horses. Honeysuckle, trained by Henry de Bromhead, won the Champion Hurdle for the second year running, Flooring Porter, trained by Gavin Cromwell, also defended his title in the Stayers’ Hurdle and A Plus Tard, also trained by De Bromhead, won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Domestic trainers with cause to celebrate included Herefordshire handler Venetia Williams, who saddled L’Homme Presse to win the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, under Charlie Deutsch, and Chambard to win the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup, under Lucy Turner. Subsequent Grand National winner Corach Rambler, trained by Lucinda Russell, aslo warmed up for Aintree with a narrow victory in the Festival Trophy Handicap Chase.

An individual record of 73,875 spectators were in attendance to witness history in the making in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. County Waterford trainer Henry de Bromhead once again saddled the first two horses home but, in reversal of the 2021 result, A Plus Tard, who was sent off favourite, ran on strongly in the closing stages to beat stable companion, and reigning champion, Minella Indo, by 15 lengths. The winner was ridden by stable jockey Rachael Blackmore who, to add to her numerous traiblazing achievements, became the first woman to win the ‘Blue Riband’ event at the Cheltenham Festival. Reflecting on her historic victory, Blackmore said, “You can never dream too big; this is something I never thought would be possible.”

The previous years  Cheltenham Festival, which concluded on March 13, 2020, was the last major sporting event to be staged in the United Kingdom before the first national lockdown due to Covid-19. With a further national lockdown in England taking legal effect on January 5, 2021, the 2021 Cheltenham took place behind closed doors, with no owners or spectators admitted to the course.

Spectators or not, at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival the week belonged to the Irish, who won the Prestbury Cup by an eye-watering 23-5 in what was dubbed a ‘greenwash’ by the popular press. Uniquely, Henry de Bromhead won the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Cheltenham Gold Cup. His stable jockey, the trailblazing Rachael Blackmore, started the week by becoming the first woman to win the Champion Hurdle and, a further five winners later, ended it by becoming the first woman to win the Ruby Walsh Trophy, presented to the leading jockey at the meeting.

Rachael Blackmore also finished second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup on A Plus Tard, trained by Henry de Bromhead. The race was won by his lesser-fancied stable companion Minella Indo, ridden by Jack Kennedy, who led over the final fence and was always holding the runner-up, eventually winning by a length and a quarter. The 2019 and 2020 winner, Al Boum Photo, again ran well in third place, five and a half lengths behind the winner and the first three finished 24 lengths clear of the 2018 winner, Native River.

Following the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Henry de Bromhead, with six winners, look destined to win the leading trainer award for the first time in his career. However, in the last three races of the meeting, Willie Mullins saddled Billaway to finish second in the St. James’s Place Hunters’ Chase, Colreevy and Elimay to fill the first two places in the Liberthine Mares’ Chase and Galopin Des Champs to win the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle. He, too, finished the meeting with six winners and wrested the trainers’ title from the County Waterford man by virtue of having saddled more placed horses during the week.

The 2020 Cheltenham Festival was one of the most controversial in recent years, not because of events on the racecourse, but because it was staged during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Cheltenham Gold Cup, for example, was witnessed by 68,500 on-course spectators on March 13, 2020, just ten days before then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced national lockdown measures in the United Kingdom, which legally came into force on March 26. Despite accusations that the Cheltenham Festival was a ‘super spreader’ incident, the Jockey Club, which owns Cheltenham Racecourse, insisted that the decision to proceed with the four-day event was in line with the unequivocal government guidance at the time.

Politics aside, the Prestbury Cup went, once again, to Ireland by a score of 17-10, with Easysland, saddled by David Cottin, providing a rare French-trained Festival winner in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase. Willie Mullins was leading trainer with seven winners and Paul Townend with five, but the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and Stayers’ Hurdle all went the way of British-trained horses, namely Epatante, trained by Nicky Henderson, Politologue, trained by Paul Nicholls, and Lisnagar Oscar, trained by Rebecca Curtis.

Fittingly, perhaps, the Cheltenham Gold Cup was won, for the second year running, by Al Boum Photo, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Paul Townend. Winner of the Savills Chase at Tramore on New Year’s Day, as he had been in 2018/19, the reigning champion was sent off 100/30 favourite for his title defence, but had to work significantly harder than he had the previous year. At the top of the hill, he disputed the lead, but was narrowly headed by Lostinthetranslation between the final two fences, before regaining the lead soon after the last. In the closing stages, he was all out to hold the challenge of 5/1 second favourite Santini, who stayed on well close home to get within a neck of the winner at the finishing line. Lostintranslation finished a valiant third, a further length and a quarter behind and just a neck in front of the fourth horse, Monalee.

The 2019 Cheltenham Festival provided brief respite for British trainers from the Irish onslaught, with the Prestbury Cup, for once, ending in a 14-14 draw. County Carlow trainer Willie Mullins was, nonetheless, leading trainer for the sixth time in his career with four winners, but Hampshire-born Nico de Boinville, who rode three winners, became the first Englishman to win the leading jockey award since Robert Thornton, back in 2007.

De Boinville won the Coral Cup, the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Triumph Hurdle on William Henry, Altior and Pentland Hills, all trained by Nicky Henderson. Elsewhere, the Ryanair Chase and the Stayers’ Hurdle stayed at home, courtesy of Frodon, trained by Paul Nicholls, and Paisley Park, trained by Emma Lavelle, respectively. The Champion Hurdle, though, was won in impressive style by the ill-fated Espoir D’Allen, trained by Gavin Cromwell in County Meath, on what proved to be his last racecourse appearance.

In an effort to break his hoodoo in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, in which he had previously saddled the runner-up on no fewer than six occasions, Willie Mullins saddled four of the 16 runners. However, his challenge started badly when Kemboy, the best-fancied of his quartet, landed awkwardedly and unseated jockey Danny Mullins at the very first fence. Indeed, events took further turns for the worse throughout the first circuit; Bellshill, ridden by Ruby Walsh, made an appalling blunder at the fifth fence and, following further mistakes, was soon pulled up, while stable companion Invitation Only fell, fatally, when disputing the lead at the tenth fence.

Thus, Al Boum Photo, in the black and yellow colours of Joe and Marie Donnelly, was the only Mullins-trained runner left in the race after halfway. Nevertheless, the seven-year-old led turning for home and stayed on strongly from the final fence to beat Anibale Fly by two and a half lengths. Mullins said afterwards, “I had probably resigned myself to never winning a Gold Cup, so I didn’t really obsess about it or get too disappointed about it.”