PART II
DIARY – CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL 2013
DAY FOUR - FEATURING THE CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP
FRIDAY 15 MARCH 2013
Bobs Worth wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup; the first horse since Flyingbolt to win
three different Cheltenham Festival races in consecutive years Click here to read my Day 4 Diary Part I Our Vinnie having been brought down in the
previous race, jockey Paul Carberry either suffered
a new injury, or aggravated the injury suffered on Tuesday, and was unable to
take up his ride aboard Monbeg Dude in the
following race, the Gold Cup; Sam Twiston-Davies
now deputising for him. I recollect Paul had struggled to walk off the
course when unseated from Mae’s Choice during Tuesday’s Mares’ Hurdle and
he’d missed his ride aboard Bondage in Wednesday’s Coral Cup, and aboard Hilali in the Fred Winter. Paul returned on Thursday to take up his
two engagements, riding Texas Jack in the Jewson Novices’ Chase and winning
the World Hurdle aboard Solwhit. Paul had ridden Hidden Justice in the first race
today, the Triumph Hurdle, and Il Fenomeno in the
County Hurdle. Jeremiah McGrath would
take the now-spare Paul Carberry ride aboard Kid
Cassidy in today’s final race. However, it was good news as regards the rain ...
it had finally stopped! Being the feature event of the day, there was an
on-course pre-race parade. The horses
were led out onto the racecourse, the competitors sorting themselves into
number order before being paraded in front of the stands; Bobs Worth, the
11-4 favourite, leading the way. Two
mounted members of a local hunt preceded the racehorses. Numbers 2 and 9 were missing from the
parade; non-runners Bog Warrior and Sunnyhillboy. The parade having been completed, the horses
cantered down the turf to enter the all-weather strip and travel part way
down it before exiting onto the course.
The Gold Cup starting gate is situated just beyond the second nearest
steeplechase fence and is run over two complete circuits plus two fences and
the run-in. The order in which they
circled at the start suggested that Long Run and The Giant Bolster were likely
to make the running.
Then
they were off. The cheek-pieced Long
Run led them away, from The Giant Bolster, then Silviniaco
Conti against the inside rail, Bobs Worth to his outside and, wider still,
Sir des Champs. Behind Ruby’s mount
was Captain Chris and, at the back of the group, Monbeg
Dude, Wayward Prince and Cape Tribulation.
The leader hit the first but remained ahead. No errors at the second fence, Long Run had
a two lengths advantage over the field as they headed out into the country
for the first time. Heading
down the back straight, Long Run hit the third fence too but he put in a
beautiful leap at the 5th, the first open-ditch. Little change in the order as they
continued towards the dog-leg turn and the far corner; around 10 to 12
lengths covering the field. Silviniaco Conti hit the 9th fence, the one situated just
before the downhill section began.
Wayward Prince was at the back of the field and already appeared to be
travelling less well than his rivals. Into
the home straight again and approaching the next fence, Long Run still led;
Sir des Champs was close up to his outside, then came The Giant Bolster. Silviniaco Conti
was behind these against the rail, with Bobs Worth to his outer. Behind him was Captain Chris, to his inner
Cape Tribulation; Monbeg Dude followed the latter
and Wayward Prince brought up the rear.
Long
Run retained the lead over these two fences, flying the first but not quite
so accurate at the second. The field
headed up around the top bend and out into the country for the final time;
Captain Chris clearly demonstrating his preference to jump out noticeably to
his right as they cleared the next fence.
Wayward Prince and Monbeg Dude were, by this
time, struggling to the rear of the field. The
runners cleared the water-jump, then headed over the open-ditch; Long Run
taking a huge leap over the fence. By
the time the runners had reached the dog-leg turn, a group of six had broken
clear of the remainder, with Cape Tribulation a little adrift of these. The Giant Bolster made an error at the
17th, losing his third place pitch, although Tom Scudamore
soon drove him back up into contention again.
Long Run continued to lead. Sir
des Champs joined Long Run as they cleared the fence at the top of the hill,
4 out. Silviniaco
Conti was cruising along just in behind these, with The Giant Bolster now in
fourth position, and Bobs Worth appearing under a little bit of pressure to
keep up with the leaders. Captain
Chris, in sixth position, continued to lose ground at each fence as he jumped
out to his right. Temporary
disaster struck for Silviniaco Conti jumping three
out, the horse knuckling on landing.
Bobs Worth deftly side stepped the prostrate horse; fortunate not to
be brought down. Heading around the
final turn, Long Run and Sir des Champs disputed the lead, The Giant Bolster
was four lengths behind these and Barry Geraghty’s
mount even further back. At this stage
it looked as though the race was between the first two. But
not only did The Giant Bolster appear on the scene again as they straightened
up, now just a length behind, but so too did Bobs Worth who was eating up the
ground to make his challenge. The
latter was a mere length behind Long Run and Sir des Champs as they jumped
the penultimate fence and was driven out to lead over the last. The
little ‘terrier’ then stuck out his
head and galloped up to the line to win by 7 lengths, having fully stayed the
trip despite the ground conditions.
Sir des Champs claimed second having passed Long Run after the last,
but had been no match for the winner and finished very tired. The Giant Bolster completed in 4th, with
Cape Tribulation 5th, Captain Chris 6th and Wayward Prince 7th. Monbeg Dude was
pulled up before the second last. Bobs
Worth is a fabulous little horse; a wolf in sheep’s clothing! Both Silviniaco
Conti and Ruby Walsh were fine following their mishap.
Bobs
Worth had become the first horse since Flyingbolt
to win three different races in consecutive years at the Festival. The latter having won the Gloucestershire
Hurdle (Division I) 1964, the Cotswold Chase 1965, and the Champion Chase
1966. Having
seen the winning horse walk back down the all-weather track in front of the
grandstand on their way to the Winners’ Enclosure, I was now seeking a change
of scene from the thoroughly yucky, muddy confines of the Members’ lawn. It was time to venture out to the centre of
the racecourse to find a suitable vantage point close to the final fence from
which to view the next race. The
2-1 favourite for this event was Salsify, the 2012
winner. The Foxhunter Chase is the
amateur riders’ equivalent of the Gold Cup; run over the same course and
distance. Having left the Parade Ring,
the competitors cantered up the all-weather strip in front of the grandstand
before returning via the racecourse turf to re-enter the strip and exit onto
the racecourse part way down it.
Then
they were off. Creevytennant
led them away, from Doctor Kingsley, Coombe Hill
and Louis Pasteur. Last away was Salsify ... no surprise there then! The leader had set up a clear advantage by
the time the runners began their journey down the back straight on the first
occasion. However, he nearly came a
cropper at the first of the fences therein when jumping out to his right,
which is a well documented trait of his.
The blinkered Louis Pasteur travelled in second, from Oscar Delta, Coombe Hill (I’ve climbed his namesake a number
of times) and Dante’s Storm. Heading
towards first the dog-leg, then the far corner, the runners were still
travelling as a group, apart from Radetsky March
who was slightly detached; no casualties as yet, although Louis Pasteur
blundered badly at the 8th. All the
horses safely negotiated the tricky fence at the top of the hill, the jockey
aboard Chapoturgeon hailing a cab following an
error at the next obstacle. Heading
up the home straight for the next occasion, Creevytennant
still led the way, despite his preference to jump out to his right; in behind
him was Oscar Delta, Louis Pasteur, Coombe Hill and
Cottage Oak; the latter’s pilot wearing replacement silks as the correct ones
had been left at home! What A Laugh
blundered at the 12th. Heading
out into the country for the final time, there was still no change at the
head of affairs and all the runners were still standing. Travelling down the back straight the
runners began to get strung out in the wake of the leaders; by the far corner
last year’s winner had begun his move to pick off those in front of him. Dante’s Storm was the first faller, 4 out. Heading
down the hill, Oscar Delta assumed the lead, Cottage Oak now in second as the
long-time leader dropped back. The
runners cleared the third last, Salsify soon
looming up to take third position, then second, his jockey checking behind
for any dangers; he appeared to have them all covered. It was time to take
aim at the leader, Oscar Delta, just a couple of lengths ahead of him. However,
the leader had other ideas, his jockey Jane Mangan
had set sail for home and increased their advantage. Salsify came
under pressure as they approached the last, and it appeared that his jockey’s
carefully laid plan had been thwarted.
But after clearing the last the impossible happened as, having reached
the flimsy tape which prevents the runners from carrying on around the turn
thus ensuring they continue to the winning post instead, the leader jinked
when Jane changed her whip-hand from right to left and hit the tape,
unseating his unfortunate rider, leaving Salsify to
collect first prize for the second year running. Not
surprisingly the young Irish girl was distraught having been so close and yet
so far. Colman Sweeney was one lucky
‘son of a bitch’ to have won. The
horse which completed in 2nd was called, appropriately, Divine Intavention!
Cottage Oak completed in 3rd, with the only other finisher Doctor
Kingsley in 4th. That’s
Rhythm fell 2 out; all those still standing had been pulled up.
The
race having been completed, it was time for me to head back across the track,
along with the other spectators who had watched the race from the area in the
centre of the racecourse. As
we were crossing the ‘Old Course’,
we were stopped in our tracks by one of the stewards. A loose horse was heading up the home
straight towards us. It galloped by
and we were soon on our way back to the Member’s lawn area once more. I
returned to my favoured spot beside the course-side rails to watch the two
remaining races. The
9-4 favourite for the next event was Gevrey Chambertin trained, strangely enough, by David Pipe son
of Martin! Martin Keighley had a
runner in this race, Havingotascoobydo. The
starting gate for this event was in the mid-course chute; upon exiting the
horse walkway, the runners cantered across the home straight and headed up
the all-weather track around the top bend.
They then crossed the racecourse to enter the chute; with two flights
to negotiate before the far turn.
Then
they were off. The runners were led
away by Double Ross, followed by one of the greys Stopped Out, then Kells Belle, Act Of Kalanisi
and Constant Contact; at the back of the main group were Edeymi
and Salubrious. For some inexplicable
reason, First Avenue having got slowly into stride was soon completely tailed
off; the horse had won Sandown’s Imperial Cup the previous Saturday in
atrocious going conditions. Turning
into the home straight on the first occasion, the favourite was already being
pushed along to retain his position.
Heading up towards the grandstands, Double Ross continued to dispute
the lead with Stopped Out. They were
followed by Constant Contact, Act Of Kalanisi, Kells Belle, Gevrey Chambertin, Nagpur, Solix, Bathwick Brave, Village Vic, Bridgets
Pet, Paint The Clouds, Ma Filleule, Havingotascoobydo, Harry Hunt, Loch Ard,
Art Professor, Bourne, Edeymi, Make Your Mark,
Toner d’Oudairies, Salubrious and First Avenue; the
latter having closed the gap to 8 or so lengths from around 15 at the far
turn. Double
Ross kicked his way through the flight in front of the stands; the proceeding
runners completing the job he began, the panel now lying flat against the
turf. The field then headed out into
the country for the one and only time, and began their journey along the back
straight. Double Ross and Stopped Out
continued to lead, from Act Of Kalanisi, Constant
Contact and Kells Belle. A runner in midfield flattened one of the
panels in flight six. It
was a clearer round over the next but three departed at flight number eight,
three out, where the weakening Solix fell and
brought down both Bathwick Brave and Edeymi. Around the
far turn, Stopped Out took up the running, Double Ross now in second with Act
Of Kalanisi to his outside and wider still, Kells Belle. As
they headed down the hill, many of the jockeys in the leading group steered
their mounts to the outside of the course, two of the greys Stopped Out and Gevrey Chambertin remaining to
the inside. Having
cleared two out, Double Ross came to the fore once more, Stopped Out now in
second, from Act Of Kalanisi and Bridgets Pet; going best of all and making progress in
behind the leaders was Salubrious. The
Paul Nicholls runner mounted his challenge against the stand-side rails and
took the lead heading towards the last flight; the tiring Bridgets
Pet fell here and Art Professor unseated his jockey where he jumped it
awkwardly. Having
initially battled on after the last, Double Ross then faded as Salubrious
galloped on strongly to the line to win by 7 lengths. The former was caught for 2nd by the
staying on Nagpur, with Make Your Mark claiming
4th. Thirteen of the 23 runners
completed; five pulled-up including Havingotascoobydo,
the others departed along the way. All
the horses were fine following their mishaps.
Finally
Paul Nicholls had trained a winner at this year’s Festival, courtesy of a
fine ride from his nephew Harry Derham for whom it
was a first Cheltenham Festival career winner. WHY THEY
RAN BADLY: It
was now time for the final race of the 2013 Festival; the 3-1 favourite for
this race was Alderwood. One non-runner, Benefficient,
who had won yesterday’s Jewsons Novices’
Chase. Having his second run of the
week was His Excellency, who’d finished 3rd in Tuesday’s Arkle
behind Simonsig. The
race being named in honour of Nicky Henderson’s father, who had been instrumental
in saving the racecourse from developers in the 1960s, the trainer sent out
six of today’s 23 runners. One of
those, Kid Cassidy, set off to the start early due to his very excitable
nature; it is often suggested that the horse has been permanently affected by
his experience at Newbury when he received an electric shock in their Parade
Ring. Two horses died that day as a
result of the incident. There
were two Alan King runners in this event, Oh Crick being ridden by Mr Joshua
Newman as he always is these days, and one of my favourites Kumbeshwar ridden by Wayne Hutchinson. The
race being run over a distance of two miles, the horses cantered up the
all-weather strip in front of the grandstands before returning down the turf
and entering the strip once more to canter to the starting gate at the far
end of the home straight. The
Tom George-trained Rody had been declared to run in
a tongue-tie. Having omitted this, he
was returned to the stable to have it fitted, thus arriving late at the
start.
Having
stood away from the other runners when within the enclosure, Reynard was at the
front of the pack as they approached the tape. Then they were off. The runners were initially led away by the
aforementioned horse, the grey Stagecoach Pearl soon taking up the lead,
closely followed by Shooters Wood and King Edmund. Kumbeshwar travelled
in around 7th position, with Oh Crick a couple of lengths behind him. Kid Cassidy was held up at the rear of the
field. Rody
hit the second fence, but survived. As
they headed up over the third fence, Tetlami came
to join Stagecoach Pearl at the head of affairs; close behind where Shooters
Wood, Gus Macrae, Petit Robin, Kumbeshwar
and King Edmund; Ruby’s mount Ulck Du Lin made an
error here. The
first competitor to depart was Kumbeshwar, he dived
at the fourth fence and took a crashing fall; Marshal Zhukov was unable to
side-step the fallen horse and was brought down. Also affected by this incident were Viva
Colonia, Rody, Tatenen
and Drumshambo, who were all hampered by the two
prostrate horses. Ian Popham was quick to rise but Wayne remained on the turf,
screens quickly erected around him.
Both horses got up and galloped away.
The
remaining runners headed up around the top turn and out into the country for
the one and only time. Tetlami and Stagecoach Pearl continued to cut out the
running from King Edmund, Petit Robin, Shooters Wood, Oiseau
de Nuit, Drumshambo, Gus Macrae, French Opera, Reynard, Tanks For That, Anquetta and Rody; Viva Colonia
was at the rear of the field, Ulck Du Lin just in
front of him. The field continued over
the first in the back straight, then the water-jump with no noticeable
errors. The
horses were spread wide across the track as they crossed the next few fences,
Kid Cassidy travelling the widest of all having made up ground on the
leaders. The novice, Tetlami, led the runners around the dog-leg turn, from
King Edmund, Stagecoach Pearl, Petit Robin, Oiseau
de Nuit, Oh Crick, Drumshambo
and Shooters Wood. All of the runners
safely negotiated the second open-ditch, although a number of them were
struggling to keep up with the main body of the field. The
competitors continued on their journey towards the farthest point of the
track and the 10th fence; the leader fell here, bringing down Stagecoach
Pearl. The inside plastic rail was
dislodged as the runners avoided the faller; hampered were Shooters Wood, His
Excellency, Tanks For That, and Tatenen for a
second time. The struggling Ulck Du Lin was pulled up before this fence. Tetlami having
departed, this left King Edmund, Petit Robin, Drumshambo
and the cruising Kid Cassidy to take over at the head of affairs. In their slipstream, Oh Crick, Oiseau de Nuit, Rody and Parsnip Pete.
The favourite, Alderwood, travelled just
behind the remaining Alan King runner.
His Excellency departed at the next fence, the tricky one at the top
of the hill, when travelling a couple of lengths behind the main group of
runners. The
field headed downhill to what would be the second last fence on this
occasion; markers having been placed atop the final fence
to prevent the competitors from jumping the obstacle, as Wayne Hutchinson was
still being tended on the landing side.
Kid
Cassidy led over the fence, from Petit Robin, Oiseau
du Nuit, Drumshambo and Alderwood; AP McCoy having taken advantage of a
passageway to the inside against the rails.
Heading around the final turn, Jerry McGrath’s mount led the way, from
Alderwood just a length behind, with Petit Robin to
his outside. The two JP McManus
runners began to pull clear of the remainder as they approached the last
fence; AP’s mount just half a length behind as they landed. They
then bypassed the final fence, Alderwood already
having gained the advantage at this point.
Despite Kid Cassidy’s best efforts, AP’s mount gradually drew away to
win by 3¼ lengths at the line. Oiseau de Nuit finished 10
lengths back in 3rd, with Drumshambo 4th and Petit
Robin 5th. Tatenen
stayed on to complete in 6th. It
was the third crashing fall Kumbeshwar had taken
within a year – Punchestown last season and Kempton
Park in early November being the other occasions. I think he’s got a whole lot of brawn but
not a lot of brain, poor old thing!
Although it did initially look bad for Wayne Hutchinson when he was
assisted off the course by the medics; it turned out to be just a bang on the
foot and he’d recovered sufficiently to ride at Kempton Park the following
day.
I
wasn’t in a hurry to get away today; on the final day I always leave my
departure until the majority of cars have exited. I waited until the final prize giving had
been completed, before setting off up the concourse to exit via the main gate
located adjacent to the Centaur building. As
my car was parked in the top field, close to the Evesham Road entry point, it
wasn’t so far to walk today as on the previous three days; not that it is
ever very far away compared to the distance some punters had to walk! It
will be no surprise when I tell you that my boots were very muddy, as was the
hem of my favourite long black skirt.
I wanted to avoid taking mud into my car, which meant not walking on
the muddy grass in my driving shoes. I
keep a 9-litre Really Useful box in the car at all times, ready to put dirty
shoes and boots into but, today, I felt my extraordinarily muddy boots needed
a bigger storage box ... luckily there’s always a red one in the boot of the
car; I retrieved it and placed it in the passenger foot-well. I then sat with my feet sticking out of the
passenger door to take off the boots, carefully placing them in the box. I’d
already hung my soggy coat over the back of the passenger seat, so that it
draped into the rear foot-well. I then
slide across into the driver’s seat. The
good news was that the car which had parked in front of me this morning was
gone ... the bad news was that someone else had parked their car in its
place. Further along my row of cars, a
lady had to ask someone to push her car so that she could reverse out of its
spot; we were on a slope. Great. I decided I’d wait for the driver of the
car in front of me to return and leave, then I’d follow suit as soon as the
traffic had cleared sufficiently. I
decided to change out of my muddy skirt too, putting on a pair of jogging
pants over my treggings to keep warm. I had food to eat – two cheese rolls and a
box of 24 Jaffa cakes; I’d soon polished off the former, followed by 12 of
the latter! The guy returned to his
car and then, unfortunately, decided to spend ages eating food and reading
his newspaper; typical. I waited and I
waited ... as I was not about to step out onto the muddy grass nor put on my
boots again to ask him to move. The
exit roadway had cleared to a trickle of traffic and my car was beginning to
steam up inside by this time. However,
I was able to amuse myself by watching the stewards pushing cars out of the
boggy mud so that their owners could leave!
I was situated close to one of the generator lit floodlights. Eventually
the driver backed out of his space and left.
Yippee, I could go home now! As
there was no problem driving forwards out of my parking space, I reached the
roadway without bother and drove through the gap in the hedge and began the
drive down the hill towards the gate.
My progress was interrupted by a tractor, which must have been pulling
cars out of the quagmire; I stopped to allow a lady driver entering from my
left to leave, her car wheels spinning as she tried to get sufficient grip on
muddy grass. I
recall that on previous years, when leaving late on the final day, I’d been
permitted to turn left into Swindon Lane; this was not the case today. I took a left into Tommy Taylor’s Lane, fortunately much of the traffic had already cleared,
so I was able to drive to within a third of the distance from the far end
before encountering a queue. Once
I’d turned left into St Paul’s Road, my progress was okay, solely being
delayed by cars coming from the opposite direction because parked vehicles
partly blocked the road. Having
crossed the Evesham Road, I headed past the Holst
Museum and then took the left-hand lane to travel up the Prestbury
Road to the roundabout. After
a short delay here, I turned right to travel around Pittville
Circus and into Pittville Circus Road. At the far end I turned left into Hewlett
Road and drove to the ‘longabout’.
From there, I ascended Harp Hill which is horrendously pot-holed ...
no surprise there then ... before taking a right into Greenway Lane, also
badly pot-holed; safely negotiating the two traffic calming chicanes therein. My poor car ... I
arrived at the traffic lights at the Six Ways junction at just the right
time, for they changed to green moments later. It can take some time to clear this
junction as there are five roads entering the junction (the sixth having been
blocked off), each of which has their own traffic lights phase! It was 19:30 and I was finally on my way
home to Hertfordshire. Bye bye Cheltenham for another season; with fingers crossed
for better luck for Choc’s participation in the
2014 renewal. The
downside to leaving late was that darkness had fallen, but at least I wasn’t
in any particular hurry to get home today, being the final day of the
Festival and with no plans for the weekend ... apart from rest and
recuperation! Mind you, with much to
do to update my website, rest was probably what I wouldn’t experience. It
was raining, lightly, as I drove up the escarpment into the Cotswolds. Being mid-evening, there were no delays on
the road; the pot-holes were hard to miss in the dark as usual! As
I approached Burford, the rain began to fall
heavily and would remain like that throughout the remainder of my
journey. I decided to drive at a
sensible speed, in keeping with the weather conditions, along the dual
carriageway of the Witney bypass; unlike many others. The stretch of road between that and the
first set of traffic lights was an absolute nightmare for me; the rain
continued to pelt down, causing much road water which large vehicles heading
in the opposite direction sprayed all over my windscreen. I know old age is a handicap to night
driving, but I didn’t think it would happen quite so soon. It was already bad enough that I found it
extremely difficult to see the curb! As
with all my journeys home this week, my route took me via Oxford’s Northern
bypass to join the M40 at junction 8.
This is when my journey became even more scary as, having driven over
700 miles during the course of the past four days, I could have oh so easily
have dozed off to sleep whilst driving on the motorway. Yawn, yawn, yawn. My motorway journeys on Tuesday and
Wednesday had been okay, but yesterday it had moved into the dangerous
territory due to tiredness, as had today.
I
took the clockwise carriageway having reached the M25 and travelled back to
Hertfordshire; arriving home at 21:35 having foregone the ‘pleasure’ of filling up the petrol
tank at the station next to Junction 20.
My plan was to wait until a week Sunday to do that ... not knowing
that the snow would return in volume the following weekend. Where was Spring? Having
unloaded all my soaking wet clothes from the car, my coat was consigned to
the airing cupboard to dry out; long skirt to an empty washing bowl ready for
the following morning. My handbag was
emptied and also placed in the airing cupboard; the contents strewn in an
armchair. My soggy race-card and badge
left on the table to dry. My muddy
boots remained in their red box, cleaning to take place the following day. I
was too tired and there is no longer a need to log onto my laptop to catch up
on any tweets now that I have a smart-phone so, having eaten a supper of
Spaghetti Bolognese, from M & S and therefore unlikely to contain horse
... I turned in for the night at around 10:45, hopeful of a Saturday morning
lie-in. As it turned out, I awoke just
before 07:00 ... never mind; I got up, as there was work to be done! It
had been very cold all week, my nose had never stopped running (it’s been
worse since my sinus operation) and it was now peeling; anyone not knowing,
would have thought I’d recently had a cold!
In fact I’d not had one since November 2011 ... Although
the 2013 Festival had been very ‘trying’
as a result of Choc’s absence through injury, and
had a very downbeat and disappointing feel to it, not helped by the
horrendously cold weather and Friday’s rain, the following week I booked my
2014 five day holiday to coincide with next year’s event. Obviously I’m a glutton for
punishment. However, I will definitely
need to stay in the area at some point overnight during the week in order to
retain my sanity, and to remain within safety guidelines. The
next time I filled up my car with petrol having not driven anywhere in the
interim, apart from actually back down to the petrol station of course, it
cost £27.60. Here
is a final round-up of the winners ... Ruby Walsh was top jockey with 4
winners; Bryan Cooper and Barry Geraghty rode 3
apiece; AP McCoy 2. Other winning
jockeys were Brendan Powell (Junior ... because I remember Senior riding!),
Mr Sam Waley-Cohen, Mr Patrick Mullins, Sam Twiston-Davies, Davy Russell, Wayne Hutchinson, Davy
Condon, Richie McLernon, Joe Tizzard,
Paul Carberry, Liam Treadwell, Mr Ryan Hatch, Barry
Cash, Mr Colman Sweeney and Harry Derham. Willie Mullins was top trainer with 5
winners; Nicky Henderson trained 4; Nigel Twiston-Davies,
Colin Tizzard and Tony Martin 2 apiece. Other trainers with winners were Jim Culloty, Alan King, Gordon Elliott, Tony Martin, Jonjo O’Neill, Charles Byrnes, Venetia Williams, Peter
Maher, Dessie Hughes, Rebecca Curtis, Paul Nicholls
and Thomas Mullins. It was Ireland 14 UK 13 ... so not
such a good Festival for the home-based team.
The away team was strong this year and the prevailing ground will also
have aided their efforts. The St Patrick’s Derby Charity race
was won by Age of Glory ridden by Brian Bunyan. Although now London-based, the jockey was
born in Kildare Town in Ireland and the horse is also trained in Ireland by
his brother Darren. So we can’t even
claim this event to make it a score-draw! |