PART I
DIARY – CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL 2013
DAY ONE
FEATURING THE CHAMPION HURDLE
TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013
Simonsig returns having won the Arkle Challenge Trophy Chase (Grade 1) I’d been racing once in January, to Kempton Park;
once in February, also to Kempton Park; and once in March, to Newbury. And I was very much looking forward to
spending four days at the Cheltenham Festival, despite the Alan King yard not
expecting to have as many runners as in recent years; many of the top notch
horses having been sidelined due to injury this season. Everything was going well until Monday 04 March,
when Choc had two rides at Southwell. His first was aboard Awesome Bella who
finished 6th in Handicap Hurdle run at 16:15; his second ride was aboard Our Phylli Vera in the two mile Handicap Hurdle run at
16:50. The mare was travelling well,
if a little keen, before falling three out in the fixed brush race. Unfortunately, when she departed, she fell
into the path of Lilac Belle, bringing her down too; as a result Choc took a
crunching fall. In the immediate aftermath of the incident it
appeared that Choc had escaped serious injury for, although very sore, he’d
eventually walked to the ambulance and had been taken back to the Weighing Room. Feeling under the weather, colleague Gerard
Tumelty had driven him home that evening. However, the pain had got worse that night and
Choc decided to get his injuries checked out ... only to discover that he’d
fractured three vertebrae and re-broken his upper right arm; the plate
inserted in the limb in December 2011 had kept the bone aligned but it was
confirmed as broken. It took a while
for the news to filter through, as Choc was initially seeking a second opinion
in the vain hope that he’d be fit to ride at the Cheltenham Festival the
following week. Having finally accepted the inevitable, Choc
tweeted the news on Wednesday morning and it was published in an online
article shortly afterwards. I knew
that he’d missed a booked ride on Tuesday, so was continuing to check the
racing websites for reassurance that everything was fine, only to discover
the devastating news shortly before lunchtime, when I had a very brief look
during a break at work. Choc would miss the Festival for the first time since
the beginning of his career, as amateur and professional (although there was
no Festival in 2001 due to a foot and mouth outbreak). And I’d be travelling to Cheltenham each
day, a 200 mile round trip, without my favourite jockey anywhere to be seen; although
I was hoping he might spend some time at the Festival, as a ‘spectator’. It also ruled him out of the Aintree
Festival staged 04 to 06 April this year for which, for the first time, I’d
bought a ticket for each of the three days ... bad luck for everyone then. Having paid out over £700 in addition to the
annual ‘service scheme’ payment of
around £200 for my car in February, my plans for a new laptop, and anything
else for that matter, had been put on hold.
However, having read the news, I decided it was time to invest in a
smart-phone to keep up-to-date with news at all times of the day, rather than
continuing to rely solely on an internet connection via a computer. Nothing grand, just a bog-standard android
phone, but enough to keep me in touch with twitter 24 hours a day if
necessary. Following my trip to Newbury, I had noticed that
the inner corner of my right lower eyelid was sore ... by midweek I had a
developed a stye.
Very attractive ... NOT. This
was the second time within 18 months this had occurred, and I believe the
source of the problem is the dry eye syndrome which I’ve developed during the
past two or three years. Dry eye
doesn’t affect me during the day, when I’m continually blinking; solely when
I wake up, either during the night or in the morning. My right eye is badly affected, but not my
left. Fortunately following treatment with one of the GoldenEye products and bathing it with warm water, the stye burst and the swelling reduced. Whether I would wear contact lenses the following
week would depend on how the eyelid recovered; but the worst part is that the
redness between the lashes and the eye (and inside the eyelid too) takes
months to disappear. And, yes, I know the syndrome is exacerbated by
prolonged spells spent staring at a computer screen ... so I haven’t got much
hope on that front! Confirmed by the
fact that the dryness wasn’t so noticeable whilst I was on leave to attend
the Cheltenham Festival. I’ve bypassed Sandown races on the Saturday
before the Festival for a couple of years now, so Choc’s
absence didn’t affect my plans. I also
book the day before the Festival (Monday) as leave from work too; apart from
walking down to the local supermarket to get a few emergency items and a copy
of the Racing Post, and a second walk to the local bank to pay a credit card
bill and a shop to buy an 18th birthday card for my nephew, I spent the day
at home. It was therefore all systems go by the time I
turned in at 21:30; my alarm clock set for 04:30 the following morning. Although, as Choc had confirmed via twitter
that he had an appointment the following day with a specialist regarding his
injuries so definitely wouldn’t be able to attend Cheltenham, at this stage I
could have oh so easily called time on my Tuesday journey! Choc would later tweet to ask if anyone
knew of a good pub in Cardiff where he could watch the racing – so presumably
his appointment had been in Cardiff. The alarm sounded as set ... I hate it when it
wakes me from slumber rather than already being awake. I showered, washed and dried my hair; then
ate a breakfast of Weetabix and two slices of toast
and butter. After that I applied my
make-up ... still not feeling 100% committed to my trip. With far laid wardrobe plans already re-written,
Tuesday’s outfit was a black thermal vest, grey bird-print thermal
long-sleeved vest, cream thermal long-sleeved vest, purple long-sleeved
t-shirt, damson coloured v-neck sweater, new purple fleece, purple
frill-edged cardigan, black gillet and green
heavyweight Cotton Traders fleece.
Also grey 40 denier tights, brown leggings and a heather shades M
& S skirt. My M & S
horse-print snood, berry shade Sirdar Snowball
scarf, M & S waterproof Thinsulate boots, Thinsulate gloves, wrist-warmers, dappy
hat, and mauve Fired Earth pendant.
This was topped off with my black faux sheepskin coat, as opposed to
my black faux sheepskin jacket, as the Cotton Traders fleece fits under this
one! As Choc was not due to be at
Cheltenham today, I wore my glasses rather than contact lenses. You may think that I was slightly overdoing the
layers ... but RUK’s Ollie Bell had reported from Cheltenham the previous day
and the temperature including wind-chill factor was minus eleven. I’m sure that one day I’ll experience a
warm Spring-like day at the Festival ... but it wouldn’t be this year! It would turn out to be the coldest I’d
experienced to date and, without Choc, depressing too. There didn’t seem much urgency in my demeanour to
depart for Cheltenham either; according to the clock in my car it was
06:38. I decided to drive around the
ring-road to exit from St Albans, my journey taking me through Hemel
Hempstead, where I joined the A41 bypass road and headed to Aylesbury. There were flurries of snow as I drove
along this stretch of the road, it being in the Chilterns; I did contemplate
turning back. It was around 07:15 as I arrived at the outskirts
of Aylesbury, traffic heading in the opposite direction was already queuing
up to leave the town. My route took me
around their ring-road before I rejoined the A41 once more and headed through
the new housing development on its western outskirts. The road passes through Waddesdon
and onwards to Bicester, where a large new housing
development is being constructed to the west of the town. A new Premier Inn has been built at the
junction where the A41 turns south-westwards to meet the M40. There is usually a tailback of traffic from the
motorway junction and today was no different; after a number of traffic light
changes I finally drove around the roundabout and began my journey down the
A34 towards Oxford. I encountered
further slow moving traffic, this time caused by three lanes merging into
two; combined with vehicles entering the flow from a country road to the
left. Further doubts crept into my
mind ... should I turn back? Once again I survived this ‘low’ moment and soon exited the A34 at the Peartree
Interchange. It has to be said that
this always proves to be the biggest bottle-neck in my journey, because it
coincides with the beginning of the Oxford rush-hour. Although I hadn’t arrived at the junction
quite as early as hoped, there were no vehicles queued around and blocking
the roundabout itself, so I was able to enter the short stretch of A44 and
almost reach the first set of traffic lights before joining the back of the
queue. It’s then stop start stop start to the roundabout
at the far end, where a right turn takes me onto the A40 and a journey across
the Cotswolds to Cheltenham. There is
a set of traffic lights, then a roundabout and a second set of traffic lights
before the dual carriageway of the Witney bypass commences; I got caught by
both sets today. The traffic flow
heading west was quiet, in fact quieter than I can ever remember at this time
of the morning on a weekday! There were further snow flurries experienced as I
drove between Burford and Cheltenham. A small sign had been placed beside the
short dual-carriageway section heading down to Andoversford;
an arrow pointing to the left, instructing visitors of the way to Kim
Bailey’s yard! As I was running later than usual, the queue of
traffic heading into Cheltenham on the A40 stretched all the way back to East
End. Upon reaching the Six Ways
junction, I had the option to turn right and travel up Greenway Lane but, on
this occasion, I continued along the A40 and turned right into Hales Road
instead. As always, my route took me around the ‘longabout’
and past the entrance to a supermarket before I turned right and headed up
Bouncers Lane. It can take a while to
negotiate the dual mini-roundabouts at the far end, as the traffic heading
out of Prestbury (thus from the right) is often
incessant! I entered Tatchley Lane, and this soon leads into New Barn
Lane. In the final episode of ‘Planners’ on BBC2, one of the developments seeking planning
permission was to build on Starvehall Farm in New
Barn Lane, Cheltenham. Sadly, the
plans were passed and new homes are to be built on the fields, plus on part
of the adjoining playing field. I felt
very sorry for the tenant farmer who’d lived there for 40 years; he grazed
horses and Dexter cattle on the land.
It also provided ‘private’
off-site parking during the Cheltenham Festival. Having driven around the roundabout outside the
racecourse and headed into Swindon Lane, I turned right and entered the car
park, showing my parking pass to gain entry; it was 09:20. I was parked in the bottom field, high up on the
hill today; on the back of a double-row, so needed to reverse to leave, if
the car in front had not departed by then.
Each year the parking arrangements seem to change, last year the hill
parking was filled first, with later arrivals parking on the flat area of the
field. This year the latter area was
reserved for staff parking. As a
precaution, I left my car in reverse gear.
I decided to tune into Cheltenham Festival radio;
and ate two cheese rolls which I brought with me. After all, I had eaten breakfast four hours
ago! Having put on a few more layers
of clothing, I set off to join the queue at the turnstiles. Whilst waiting in the queue towards the Six Ways
junction I’d tuned into the local radio station (not Cheltenham Festival
radio) and discovered that the inspection had been put back until 10:30
although, of course, this turned out to be okay; an announcement being made
shortly before the turnstiles opened.
That was a relief, as I didn’t fancy driving 100 miles home without
seeing any racing, although, come to think of it, racing was abandoned the
day I walked the course with Choc. But,
of course, that was more than enough to make my day complete on that
occasion! Today, however, the Cross-country course was not
so fortunate, a later inspection would discover that parts of the course were
still frozen; an announcement was then made that the organisers hoped to run
it as the 7th race on Thursday, with the Charity race being moved back to be
the 8th race that day. This being the
case, today’s first race was rescheduled to take place at 14:05 instead of
13:30, with the three subsequent races all being pushed back too. This meant the Champion Hurdle would be run
at 16:00. The Cross-Country race would
have been Race 5; Races 6 and 7 were run at their originally scheduled
times. Here
is the official notification regarding the fate of the cross country race on
today’s card: Following
concerns by the Racecourse Executive that the frost was still in parts of the
track on the cross country course the Stewards inspected the course, together
with the jockeys, Paul Carberry, Nina Carberry and James Reveley, a
representative of the Racecourse Executive, the Inspector of Courses, the
senior Veterinary Officer and the Clerk of the Course. They were all
unanimous that the track was unsafe to race on. At 10:30 the gates opened. The turnstile barcode ‘reader’ wasn’t working properly on the lane I’d chosen and there
was a slight delay as one of the stewards manually operated it to permit the
customers to enter. My first task was
a visit to the loo ... followed by a visit to the kiosk on the concourse
where I purchased a race-card for £3.00.
It was still very cold today, especially for
standing around. Yet, despite this, I walked over the Winners’ Enclosure area
to wait around for something ... anything in fact ... to happen! Whilst I was nearby, I heard the
maintenance staff discussing the fact that they had a problem with frozen
pipes which might prevent them filling up buckets of water for the horses
post race. However, their contingency
plan was a blow-torch! It was also
announced that Lester Piggott and Sir Peter O’Sullevan
would be carrying out signings today, at the Cheltenham Bookshop on the
nearby concourse. As the morning progressed, I decided to relocate
to the steppings opposite the Winners’ podium ahead
of the ‘Paddocks Interview’
presentation due to begin at 12:15.
Whilst waiting here I was party to the annual briefing of
photographers; the rules and regulations being clearly outlined to them. Especially important after last year’s ‘Wishfull
Thinking incident’ on the second day of the Festival. It was so cold, I had to finally resort to
wearing my pink/black/white dappy hat; although the
upside is that it hides my horrible grey hair! Eventually 12:15 arrived and, with Ian Carnaby and Jonathan Powell having both retired from their
presentation roles of previous years, Alastair Down and Martin Kelly did the
honours today and for the remainder of the week. Their first guest today was Irish-based jockey
Robbie Power; his rides today being Jezki in the
Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Bostons Angel in the
Cross-Country (yet to be postponed until Thursday); he thought his best
chance of the week would be Jetson in Thursday’s Pertemps final. The next guest was Brian Kavanagh,
Horse Racing Ireland’s CEO; the Festival has around 10,000 Irish visitors
each day. He imparted the fact that twice as many thoroughbreds are
bred in Ireland than in the UK. He
tipped Hurricane Fly and Quevega as likely winners
and was hoping for more than the 5 Irish victories of 2012. Trainer
Willie Mullins was expected to field a very strong team, with around 42
runners at this year’s Festival. Next up was trainer Harry Fry. His Champion Hurdle hope and 2012 winner,
Rock On Ruby, would be wearing first-time blinkers today and his trainer
didn’t expect him to front run. The OLBG sponsored horsebox was then driven
around the Parade Ring – rather pointless and a nuisance to those in the
vicinity – to advertise their sponsorship of the ‘Mare Of The Month’ award; the Harry Fry-trained Violin Davis was
the recipient for February. Trainer Donald McCain was the next to be
interviewed; he was concerned that his Champion Hurdle representative Cinders
and Ashes wouldn’t have the right ground today. He then spoke about his Arkle
runner, Overturn, a crowd favourite.
Also Our Mick, who was due to run in the JLT Specialty Handicap Chase
having been placed third last year when a novice; Donald said he’s bigger and
stronger this year and should have an excellent chance. Jockey Daryl Jacob was their next guest; he was
due to ride Dodging Bullets in the Supreme Novices’ and Zarkandar
in the Champion Hurdle today. Although
hopeful of good run from the latter, he realised that Hurricane Fly would be
very difficult to beat. He would also
partner Swincombe Flame in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle;
she needed the runners to go a good gallop during the race but was rated 40
pounds behind the Irish star Quevega. However, connections were hoping to ‘nick’ some prize money. Daryl thought the pick of his rides today
would be Dodging Bullets. It was pointed out that Quevega
would equal Golden Miller’s Cheltenham Festival record if she won again
today. It was then time for the Retraining Of Racehorses
(ROR) Parade of Stars, with ex-jockey Colin Brown presenting. Alastair Down cracked a joke about one of
the horses – Carefree Flapper – he said he’d never heard of her but he would
definitely like to meet her! The horses taking part were Denman (Team
Chasing), Something Wells (Hunting), Comply Or Die (Hunting), Looks Like
Trouble (Hunting), Inishmor (Eventing),
the ex-Martin Keighley trained Deep Reflection (Dressage), Inchloss and Carefree Flapper (Horseball). They paraded a number of times around the
Paddock and, later on, would canter up the horse-walk in front of the stands,
returning down the turf prior to the first race. Clare Balding and Mick Fitzgerald were presenting
for Channel 4 today; their ‘enclosure’
was situated behind the Winners’ podium. Shortly after seeing the horses arrive in the
Parade Ring ahead of the first race, I decided it was time to set off to find
a good vantage point beside the course-side rails. My heather shades long skirt can be very
annoying … as I have a tendency to tread on the hem when climbing stairs, and
also steps like those around the Winners’ Enclosure! As it turned out, I was a little late in leaving
the Parade Ring area, so I missed out on finding a spot at the very front
prior to the first race; however I did manage to obtain my chosen position by
the time the winning horse returned, as everyone had set off for either the
Winners’ Enclosure ... or to purchase food and/or refreshments. It was freezing cold, the women close by
suggested that perhaps everyone should huddle like penguins to keep
warm. You will know exactly what they
mean if you watched the Emperor penguins who starred in BBC1’s ‘Spy In the Huddle’ series recently. A section of the turf on the Members’ lawn had
been replaced; it was far greener and lush than the area surrounding it. I recall the lawn had been fenced off for
one of the earlier fixtures to help the area ‘bed-in’. With no decisions to make this year regarding
where to be to get the best view of Choc(!), I would remain at the freezing
cold course-side rails until after the final race of the day. It was soon time for the first race of the
Festival; the horses cantering up the all-weather horse-walk in front of the
grandstand before heading back down the turf and re-entering the all-weather
strip to continue their journey to the starting gate at the far end of the
home straight. There were only 12
runners in this year’s renewal, the smallest field for many years. Having
been circling within the enclosure to the inside of the course, the horses
began to walk out onto the track once the Starter was ready for the off. Ruby Walsh led them out at a sedate walk,
aboard the grey Champagne Fever, stable companion Pique Sous
also a grey, was on his toes to the outside of the runners; AP McCoy aboard
the JP McManus owned My Tent Of Yours, together with Un Atout
lined up just behind Ruby’s mount. The
favourite for this race was My Tent Or Yours at 15-8. The runners broke into a gallop,
the famous Cheltenham roar surrounded me; the 2013 Festival was underway ...
They
were off. Ears pricked, Champagne
Fever headed over the first flight, pursued by Un Atout;
My Tent Or Yours travelled to the inside of Cheltenian,
with Jezki sporting the second colours of JP
McManus, followed by River Maigue, Pique Sous, Cause Of Causes, Puffin Billy, Ostentation, Dodging
Bullets and Fire King. Ruby
was setting a good pace, ahead of Un Atout by a
couple of lengths, with the remaining runners soon strung out behind him; Cheltenian, Jezki and Pique Sous taking a strong hold. Champagne Fever appeared to be enjoying his
front running role, as he always does; the horses soon heading up past the
stands to set out on one complete circuit. The
pace steadied as the runners headed away from the stands, Un Atout still following on the heels of the leader, the
others now bunched up behind them. Cheltenian and My Tent Or Yours disputed third position,
from River Maigue, Jezki,
Dodging Bullets improving on the outside of the field, Cause Of Causes, Pique
Sous, Puffin Billy, Fire King and Ostentation; the
latter two out of their depth in this company. Champagne
Fever, still ears pricked, continued to lead as the runners started their
journey down the back straight. My
Tent Or Yours remained noticeably keen in behind the two leaders. Cheltenian
trailed a leg through the next flight, the third, and briefly lost a little
ground. Ostentation and Fire King soon
lost touch with the main group; the former making an error at the fourth
hurdle. There
was no change at the head of affairs as the runners cleared the flight before
the top of the hill, Un Atout still close on the
leader’s tail, Cheltenian, My Tent Or Yours,
Dodging Bullets and Jezki travelling well; River Maigue, Pique Sous, Puffin
Billy and Cause Of Causes less so. Down
the hill they galloped, Ruby still cutting out the running aboard Champagne
Fever; all bar two still in touch, although Cause Of Causes was being
noticeably ridden along. Champagne
Fever hit the top of the third last flight, Un Atout
flattened the adjacent panel, and a number of the runners in behind hit the
already damaged obstacle too. Heading
to the penultimate flight, the protagonists sorted themselves out from the ‘also rans’,
with Champagne Fever giving up the lead to no-one, Un Atout
still close behind him, the two JP McManus representatives on their
coat-tails and Puffin Billy making up ground through beaten runners. But the latter made an error at this
flight, soon losing ground on the leading four as a result. Turning
into the home straight, Ruby had become animated aboard his mount, and it
looked as though AP McCoy only had to push to button for My Tent Or Yours to
overtake him; Un Atout was just beginning to struggle,
with Jezki in fourth position also about to make
his challenge. In
fact My Tent Or Yours was fractionally ahead as they jumped the final flight,
but Champagne Fever still had more to give and rallied under a strong drive
from Ruby, going on to win by ½ a length at the line. Jezki finished a
close third, 2¼ lengths back, having made an error at the last; Un Atout was a further 15 lengths away in 4th, and Puffin
Billy 5th. Typical
... first blood to Ruby Walsh!
The post-race on-course interviews were carried
out by Alice Plunkett for Channel 4 Racing; and on the horse-walkway back by
Derek Thompson for Radio 5 Live. As
mentioned earlier, I remained beside the course-side rails following this race
... but it was very cold! The
disappointing run by the Paul Nicholls’ trained Dodging Bullets, who appeared
to have every chance three out but faded to finish 9th, is explained by the
following report: NEWS FROM
THE STEWARDS’ ROOM FOLLOWING THE RACE: WHY THEY
RAN BADLY Simonsig was the 8-15
favourite for this race.
Then
they were off. There was no surprise
when Overturn set off in the lead; he was followed by Majala,
Arvika Ligeonniere
sporting the same colours as first race winner Champagne Fever, Tap Night, Baily Green, the grey Simonsig
and His Excellency. Simonsig was keen and pulled his way through into second
place having cleared the first fence. Majala hit this and lost ground; he wasn’t fluent at the
second fence either. Barry Geraghty managed to rein-in Simonsig’s
enthusiasm heading towards the next fence, dropping back into third position
behind Arvika Ligeonniere. Heading
up past the stands, with one circuit to go, the order was Overturn, Arvika Ligeonniere, Simonsig, Baily Green, Majala, Tap Night and His Excellency. Although in his customary front running
role, Jason Maguire’s mount was setting a steady pace, rather than a quick
one, the large dark bay Arvika Ligeonniere
soon matching strides as the runners headed down the back straight. Majala, in fifth
position, continued to jump without fluency. Simonsig hit the 9th
fence, just as his jockey Barry Geraghty looked set
to move up to challenge the two leaders.
However, the error didn’t appear to stop him, as he soon overtook
Ruby’s mount and, with a good jump at the final open-ditch, he was almost on
terms with Overturn. Overturn
led the runners down the hill, Simonsig close
behind, Baily Green in third and His Excellency in
fourth. Ruby’s mount had begun to fade
badly and would be pulled up before two out.
However, at this stage he still had an advantage over the trailing Majala and Tap Night.
Just
as Simonsig was cruising up to join Overturn, the
latter blundered at the third last, the grey soon going into the lead as the
Donald McCain runner came under pressure.
Travelling well in third position was Baily
Green. Heading into the final turn,
Barry Geraghty glanced under his right arm to see
where the main danger lay, if any. The
grey held a three length advantage heading over two out, with His Excellency
soon taking third place as Overturn faded.
Having
cleared the last fence, Baily Green continued to
challenge up the run-in, initially closing, but Simonsig
was driven out by his jockey to win by 2¼ lengths. His Excellency claimed 3rd, with Overturn
4th. It
later transpired that, despite winning, Simonsig
had been under the weather on this particular day; a dirty ‘scope’ proving the point.
There
had obviously been a turf repair job carried out on the take-off area of the
second last fence, the outside half being light green in colour as opposed to
the dark green grass of the remainder of the course. This particular obstacle remains of a
temporary nature, having been re-positioned a few seasons ago. The starting gate for the third race of the day
was located between the two fences nearest the stands; meaning that the first
fence jumped is also the 10th fence and the final fence too. This being the case, the horses cantered up
the all-weather strip in front of the stands before heading back down the
turf and entering the all-weather strip for a short distance before exiting
onto the racecourse once more. Knockara
Beau and Tenor Nivernais were kept apart from the other runners whilst they
circled at the start. The favourite
for this race was Our Mick at 13-2. The maximum of 24 runners to describe and keep
tabs on ... this will be fun!
Then
they were off; a number of runners keen to get to the front of the pack. Pete The Feat just got the call over the
first, from the grey Our Mick, Fruity O’Rooney,
Poole Master and Tenor Nivernais. In
mid-field, Merry King made a mistake at this fence. The runners then headed out into the
country, jumping the uphill fence before entering the back straight. Pete
The Feat continued at the head of affairs, from Fruity O’Rooney,
Our Mick, Poole Master and Planet of Sound; Loch Ba,
who was not jumping fluently, brought up the rear. Merry King made another error, this time at
the 5th fence, the first open-ditch.
As the runners negotiated the dog-leg at the far corner of the track,
a number of runners were already not travelling particularly well. The
first casualty was Knockara Beau, who caught his
hind-legs on the second open-ditch; jockey Paddy Brennan was fired over the
horse’s head as his mount’s momentum was suddenly checked. He curled up tight to avoid the hooves of
the proceeding runners as he rolled along ground. Tenor Nivernais also unseated his rider at
this fence. Heading
down the hill on the first occasion, Pete The Feat still led, from Fruity O’Rooney, Planet Of Sound, Poole Master, Tour des Champs,
Tullamore Dew, Our Mick, White Star Line, Monkerty Tunkerty (love that
name!), Golden Chieftain, Midnight Chase, The Package and Nadiya
de La Vega. Turning into the home
straight, near the rear of the field, Loch Ba hit
the first of the two obstacles, giving jockey Dominic Elsworth
no chance of remaining in the saddle.
The
field galloped on towards the 10th fence, Noel Fehily’s
mount still ahead of Fruity O’Rooney, from Planet
of Siound, Tour des Champs, Our Mick, Poole Master,
Golden Chieftain and Nadiya de La Vega; Quantitativeeasing, Summery Justice and Quartz de Thaix were bringing up the rear. Fruity O’Rooney
made an error at the uphill fence, as did Quartz de Thaix;
the latter was soon pulled up. Heading
into the back straight, a group of a dozen or so were still travelling okay;
the remainder could be discounted or had already pulled up or departed! Pete The Feat still had his head in front
jumping the water, Our Mick close to his outside, Poole Master just behind,
with Nadiya de La Vega; Golden Chieftain had
improved his position and was just behind these. Cloudy
Too made a slight error at the next, an open-ditch, his jockey Wayne
Hutchinson reaching down to adjust his nearside iron. The field reached the top of the hill
without any mishaps and were soon turning the far corner; Pete The Feat
continued to hold a narrow advantage, over Our Mick and Poole Master. The grey took the lead as the runners cleared
three out, Golden Chieftain and White Star Line soon his nearest pursuers,
with Fruity O’Rooney being driven along to their
inside, then the fading Pete The Feat, followed by Tullamore
Dew. Golden
Chieftain continued to make progress; turning into the home straight he led
narrowly from Our Mick, with White Star Line a clear third, and Tullamore Dew behind him.
The Colin Tizzard bottom weight was a length
ahead jumping two out; young Brendan Powell Junior’s mount had increased his
lead to three lengths at the last and then drew well clear on the run to the
line; the winning distance 10 lengths. Our
Mick completed in 2nd, with White Star Line in 3rd and Tullamore
Dew 4th. Another good run in this
event from Fruity O’Rooney who finished 5th this
year, having finished 2nd in this race last year, with the staying on Nuts N
Bolts completing in 6th. Having
crossed the line, quick to congratulate the jockey were fellow riders Tom
Cannon and William Kennedy.
NEWS FROM
THE STEWARDS’ ROOM FOLLOWING THE RACE: WHY THEY
RAN BADLY |