CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL 2017
Day 3 – Thursday 16 March
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Picture of the Day
The Stayers’ Hurdle (Grade 1): The winner
returns – Nichols Canyon trained by
Willie Mullins and ridden by Ruby Walsh I was up early again, at 05:00 today … but an
improvement on Wednesday’s even earlier time! When I went to breakfast today, I decided to book
my accommodation for next year – stipulating that I’d like a room on the
ground or first floor. Evidently there
are two slightly larger rooms, in the Lodge as opposed to The Cottage, so I
was booked into one of these. I still enjoy driving along the A40 between the
Minster Lovell roundabout and Cheltenham, so it seems a good idea to book
into somewhere familiar. Eynsham Hall is less than 35 miles from Cheltenham and my
night driving vision seems to have improved this
year, so heading back in the dark is not so much of an issue. I’m fairly
confident once more, provided it’s not raining too hard! Breakfast today was a bowl of muesli, plus a
cooked breakfast of three rashers of bacon, a fried tomato, scrambled egg and
a giant mushroom, plus two yoghurts, and a croissant! And a pot of coffee, enough to make 3 cups
thereof. By this stage, I was positively laid back and
didn’t leave for Cheltenham until 08:40; it was dampening in the air in
Oxfordshire. I stopped in the drive to
take a photo, for posterity, of the Hall. Having arrived on the outskirts of Cheltenham, I
decided to explore an alternative route to Greenway Lane; the lane is
well-used and in need of repair so I wondered if there was a better way. This meant turning right to drive along Glenfall Way; I wasn’t surprised to find a primary school
along this route, as it is seems to be well travelled during the
rush-hour. The route proved to be very windy and narrow,
especially Mill Lane. It was okay, but
Greenway Lane was far better, despite its poor road surface and two traffic
calming chicanes! Mill Lane joins Harp
Hill, so my route to the racecourse was the same as usual. I had to stop at
the top of said hill briefly, as I’d forgotten to place my parking docket to
hand; it was still in my handbag. I arrived at 09:50 and was directed to park in
almost the same place as on Tuesday, facing down the hill, rather than up as
on Wednesday. Cheltenham was dry, all
day, but cloudy. Once the gates had opened, it was the same
routine as always; a trip to the loo, prior to buying a bottle of water and
then heading to the steppings above the Winners’
Enclosure. A number of jockey changes were announced quite
early on. Notably, Wayne Hutchinson would now be riding Uxizandre
in the Ryanair Chase, and Sam Twiston-Davies
would be aboard Bouvreuil in the Plate Handicap
Chase. I was definitely relieved about
the former, as I felt Uxizandre was now in safe
hands! Today, Martin Kelly’s guests were Rupert Bell,
Noel Fehily, Sun Bets’ Steve Jones (aka Templegate), and also Bryan Cooper. Yet again I headed down to the course-side rails
early, to reserve my place. The favourite for the first race was Yorkhill, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Ruby
Walsh; price 6-4. The favourite duly won, although the gallant Top
Notch did keep the winning distance to one length at the line.
The favourite for the Pertemps
Handicap Hurdle was the Neil Mulholland-trained Impulsive Star, ridden by Mr
Sam Waley-Cohen.
The race was won by the Patrick G Kelly-trained
Presenting Percy, ridden by Davy Russell, with Fergal O’Brien’s Barney Dwan as runner-up.
I had one runner of interest in the race – The Tourard Man trained by Alan King and ridden by Kevin
Dowling; the horse had finished 3rd in the 2015 renewal when ridden by Wayne
Hutchinson. I’d placed a £10 each-way
bet on him that day and won back around £28.
He hadn’t managed to qualify last year, and this year he was a 66-1
shot. It did cross my mind to place another each-way bet … but I let my head
rule my heart … and he finished 4th today, so I would have won again at even
better odds. Damn!
The third race of the day was the Ryanair Chase. The
favourite was Un De Sceaux, trained by Willie
Mullins and ridden by Ruby Walsh. He
duly obliged as the 7-4 favourite. My runner of interest, the Alan King-trained Uxizandre completed in a disappointing 7th position.
The feature race today was the Stayers’ Hurdle; there was a pre-race parade. The favourite was Unowhatimeanharry
trained by Harry Fry and ridden by Noel Fehily;
price 5-6. Ruby Walsh gave Nichols Canyon one of his trade
mark rides, to collar the very gallant Lil Rockerfeller
on the run-in to claim the prize. The trainer of the runner-up, Neil King,
was absolutely delighted with his charge as he headed out to greet him on the
horse-walk in front of the grandstands. In contrast, it was just another day at the
office for Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh, sadly.
I headed across to the centre of the racecourse
to watch the next race; I was getting a little bored with the scenery, in
which Ruby Walsh seemed to be featuring heavily today. Besides, my legs were beginning to seize
up! The favourite for the Plate was last year’s Coral
Cup winner, Diamond King, trained by Gordon Elliott and ridden by Davy
Russell; price 5-1. I was interested to see Pinkie Brown in the flesh! The race was won by Road To Respect, trained by
Noel Meade and ridden by Bryan Cooper; another winner for the Gigginstown Stud.
Thomas Crapper ran a good race at the Festival yet again; he finished
4th today.
I headed back to the grandstand-side of the
course following the race, and then went to the Pre-Parade Ring. The race favourite for the next was the Willie
Mullins-trained Let’s Dance, ridden by Ruby Walsh; price 11-8. There was a runner of interest in this race, the
Alan King-trained Dusky Legend ridden by Wayne Hutchinson; she’d finished 2nd
to Limini last year. Horses can run in a novice event for two
years, provided they don’t win a race during the initial one. Let’s Dance duly obliged and Dusky Legend
completed in 3rd place. The Alan King
runner is owned by Mr and Mrs Kelvin-Hughes, owners of the Trull House Stud and sponsors of this race. Alan and the owners posed for a ‘personal’ photo in the Winners’
Enclosure after the race. I wonder if
Dusky Legend is off to stud shortly. Sadly one of the Irish runners, Toe The Line,
broke a leg and fell on the flat in front of the grandstands as a result. RIP
With the Irish team 6-0 up on the day, this would
be the final chance for the GB team to prevent a clean-sweep. The race favourite was Squouateur,
trained by Gordon Elliot and ridden by Mr Jamie Codd;
price 5-1. However, the winner was Domesday
Book for trainer Stuart Edmunds and Miss Gina Andrews; a first Festival
winner for both. The horse had been
headed by Pendra, but fought back to win at the
line. The owner of the runner-up, JP
McManus, congratulated the winning trainer once the horses had returned to
the Winners’ Enclosure. The race was marred by a fatal injury to
Hadrian’s Approach, which fell at the 10th fence and injured a foreleg. A sad end for the Kelvin-Hughes-owned horse
which had won Sandown’s prestigious Bet365 Gold Cup a number of years ago.
Despite a final race win for Team GB, it wasn’t
looking good for us, with Ireland having already won enough races to result
in an end-of-Festival draw. And, of course, Ruby Walsh had now won 4 races,
all today; this took him into the lead as regards winners for the Festival so
far. Damn.
To avoid the problems of the horrendous exit
traffic jams of the previous two days, I decided to stay to watch the Tattersalls Horses in Training and Point to Pointers sale
which began at 18:15 in the Winners’ Enclosure; I saw more than half of the
lots go through the sales ring. Gerry Hogan purchased a horse named Minella Mischief on behalf of Mrs Prowting;
the owner was in attendance, as was Hannah Bishop. He’s a point-to-point winner, by Kayf Tara. He is
to be trained by Noel Williams, alongside three of Mrs Prowting’s
homebred horses. As it was 19:40 when I drove out of the gate, I
decided to turn left in order to join the Evesham Road which was now open to
traffic. I headed towards Cheltenham town, continuing straight ahead at the
roundabout outside the main entrance to the racecourse. There was a minor delay as I approached Pittville Park; I turned left to drive along Wellington
Road to reach a roundabout and then onto Pittville
Circus. I then headed along Pittville
Circus Road and turned left at the T-junction with Hewlett Road. This soon
took me to the longabout, before I headed up Harp
Hill, turned into Greenway Lane and reached the Six Ways junction. It just
wouldn’t be Festival week without driving along Pittville
Circus Road at least once! Besides, I
think my future retirement flat may be situated in the vicinity too!!! And it’s also within walking distance of the
racecourse. I arrived back at Eynsham
Hall at 20:40, just in time to see the end of the penultimate episode of the
Great Pottery Throw Down. I fancy
doing a bit of pottery … I know it’s mucky … but I’m currently feeling
creative! |
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