The Cheltenham Festival seldom disappoints and last week at Prestbury Park was a case in point.
We entered the four days with a number of high-profile favourites and when Kopek Des Bordes won the first race at 4/6 for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend, it looked as though it would all go as expected and the bookies would go home with empty satchels - how wrong could we be.
The joy of National Hunt racing is that there are obstacles to overcome on the way to victory, whether that be a 3ft 6” hurdle or a 4ft 6” fence, and they present a very unique challenge to horse and rider. In the pressure cooker of the Cheltenham Festival this challenge becomes even greater and it certainly sorts the ‘men out from the boys’. Majborough couldn’t cope with the demands and was beaten in the Arkle Chase at 1/2, it was then time for the girls and Lossiemouth produced an impressive performance to land the Mares’ Hurdle.
The Champion Hurdle was up next and for the last two to three weeks the debate had been about Constitution Hill and Brighterdaysahead. Locally, many a conversation was had as to whether Jeremy Scott’s Golden Ace (pictured) would go for the Mares Hurdle or the Champion. When Lossiemouth was declared for the Mares Hurdle the decision was made to go for the latter, primarily by her owner Ian Gosden.
“Fortune favours the brave” , “Faint heart never won fair lady” I could go on, but when Constitution Hill fell mid-race, Brightdaysahead faltered and State Man fell at the last, the mare powered up the hill to win by 9 lengths to take Hurdling’s Blue Riband under Lorcan Williams. It was an incredible race won by a mare who won her first two hurdle races at Taunton and has done nothing but improve since. The success prompted a quote from the trainer “ As Del Boy says, ‘He who dares, wins, Rodney.” Who can disagree!
Day 1 finished honours even between bookies and punters, however it only went South from there. Final Demand was beaten by the The New Lion, much to the delight of H on H, who had been shouting this horse from the rooftops since his win at Newbury. Ballyburn beaten at 4/7, Jonbon at 5/6, Teahupoo at 7/4, East India Dock at 7/4 and finally Galopin Des Champs at 8/13, all were beaten and made the week one to remember for the bookies and one to forget for the serious punter.
A mention has to go to the Nicholls team for getting Caldwell Potter over the line on the Thursday. The price tag on this horse has made him high profile and it must have given them great delight to successfully plot this race.
It was a tremendous week, emotions ran high on so many occasions and it lived up to it’s name of ‘Jump Racing’s Olympics’ , thankfully we do not have to wait four years for it to happen all over again, only 355 sleeps and counting!
Back locally, Taunton race again on Tuesday..the first race is due off at 2.35 and please check out www.tauntonracecourse.co.uk for the full details and some early bird offers.
For those of you looking to use the courtesy coach service, it will depart from outside platform 5 of Taunton Railway Station 90 minutes before the first race time and return half an hour after the start of the last.
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