Well its the Saturday following the best 4 days of jumps racing of the year for me and what a festival Cheltenham was this year. We saw some great performances, returning Champions, new Champions and some incredibly close finishes - all in 4 days work for Presbury Park! From a personal point of view I loved my first visit to the home of jumps racing, I went on the Tuesday and while it wasn't a huge success in terms of punting (had a couple of e/w pokes land) it was a fantastic day out and great to see Quevega continue her winning run.
The Champion Hurdle was a huge shock, I saw Jezki drift out to 10/1 on course and didn't even consider having a bean on him. I was hugely behind Our Conor and had a bit on the Fly just so I could join in the celebrations if the wonderful hurdler could win a 3rd Champion Hurdle. Midway through the race and the writing was on the wall. There was the hugely sad news of Our Conor's demise and thoughts go out to all involved with the horse, while My Tent Or Yours was travelling like an absolute dream...I knew the fate of my money but couldn't have seen the winner not being MTOY's. However Jezki was delivered in the home straight to take the glory and Barry Geraghty was celebrating a dream of a spare ride! As an afterthought to this race I'd love to see MTOY go over a fence in his career, hopefully it would stop him being so keen as he was pulling McCoy's arms out early doors in the race,
We then saw the wondermare Quevega win the Mares hurdle, but not without a scare or two from her stablemate in the home straight before she managed to assert late on. I wonder if Willie Mullins will try for a seventh win next year or draw stumps on this wonderful horse's career. It really is some achievement getting a horse to the festival 6 years in a row, let alone winning with it, and make no mistake about it this is a wonderful training feat from the Irish Champion trainer.
Before all this we saw a great front running ride from the masterful Ruby Walsh on Vautour in the Supreme Novices hurdle, where he lead from pillar to post, kicking on as they rounded the home turn and to be honest nothing else was allowed to get into the race. Vautour looks to have some future when he goes over a fence, interestingly Mullin's said that Vautour was in a 'different league' to his Neptune winner Faugheen and he will be one of the brightest stars of next season make no mistake. This was also an absolute classic Walsh front running ride, similar to the one he gave Champagne Fever in last years renewal, and it was no surprise to see Ruby crowned top jockey at the festival again this year, even after his crashing fall and resulting injury on the final day. Injuries to Ruby, Cooper, Jacobs and co all serve as a reminder of what tremendously brave sportspeople jockeys are and the work the Injured Jockeys Fund do should not be forgotten. Hats off to them and we wish the jockeys injured at Cheltenham to quickest of recoveries.
A final mention on Tuesday must go to Western Warhorse, a shock 33/1 winner of the Arkle. A huge well done if you managed to pick this one! It looked like Walsh was going to replicate his ride in the first in this race as Champagne Fever was leading late on, only for Tom Scudamore to show perfect timing to produce his mount to take the lead literally on the line and win this race for the Pipe yard who enjoyed a great festival this year. Trifolum was jumping well, even with the burden of my cash on him, but never looked like winning when we got into the business stage of the race. Rock on Ruby's jumping went to pot here, how Fehily stayed on to complete this race is beyond me, and I'm not sure where Fry will go from here with him. The only thing I can think of is a trip to Yogi Breisner to see if the schooling master can work his magic!
Literally the only negative to my day at Cheltenham was the wait either side of the car park! It took a good hour to get in and out of the official car park, maybe next year I'll have some successful punts leading up to the festival and be able to ride in on a helicopter! That really was the definition of arriving in style but would be a touch beyond my budget for the day!
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