And just like that the 2022 Cheltenham festival is over and I'm suffering the Sunday blues - like many other racing fans - at the prospect of returning back to the day job! Like everybody else I couldn't wait to get back to Cheltenham for the festival after COVID put a stop to fans attending the meeting in 2021 and I loved every second of it. I was at Cheltenham for Tuesday's and Thursday's racing and I think it has been my favourite festival since I started attending the in 2011, for a variety of reasons.
As a result I decided I wanted to write about the festival on the whole and talk about the highs of the week as well as the lows but also mention some horses to keep onside going forwards into the end of the season and highlight the best performances this week.
Festival Highs
Where better to begin than with the Gold Cup winning jockey, horse and trainer? Rachel Blackmore just continues to dominate headlines and this week on both HONEYSUCKLE and A PLUS TARD. Both trained by County Waterford based trainer Henry De Bromhead who for the second year running has won the Champion Hurdle with HONESUCKLE but has also had a Gold Cup 1-2 for the second consecutive year, this time around with the 2021 reverse.
Henry De Bromhead also trained the 2021 Grand National winner after his Cheltenham feat. No prizes for guessing who rode Minella Times to victory! Can they do it again?
While on the topic of Rachel Blackmore and Henry De Bromhead, HONEYSUCKLE won her 2nd Champion Hurdle in fine style. While it may not have been the strongest renewal of the race, it doesn't take away the ease with which she disposed of he rivals under another trademark Rachel Blackmore ride. The atmosphere around the parade ring post-race was incredible and the reception which HONEYSUCKLE and Blackmore received when returning left me with goosebumps.
Sticking with the ladies, I have to mention Venetia Williams and what a week she had. Her horses have been running out of their skin this week. Her festival didn't get off to the best of starts having seen her Arkle runner BRAVE SEASCA fall at the 4th fence however she left Cheltenham with wins in the Brown Advisory Novice Chase and the Kim Muir amateur handicap chase courtesy of L'HOMME PRESSE ridden by Charlie Deutsch and CHAMBARD who was ridden by Lucy Turner. Williams then hit the woodwork with FUNAMBOLE SIVOLA (Champion Chase), FRERO BANBOU(Grand Annual), DIDERO VALLIS(Kim Muir) and PINK LEGEND(Mares Chase).
Overall Venetia Williams leaves Cheltenham with form figures of F1623431552 which is more impressive when you consider 6 of those races were grade 1 contests and one '3' in her form was behind her own horse which won the Grand Annual.
A bittersweet high this week was seeing dual-grand national winning hero and people's champion TIGER ROLL narrowly beaten in what was his last race before being retired. DELTA WORK clearly hadn't read the script for the race! On a serious note though, it was a superb performance by TIGER ROLL as well as DELTA WORK, who tracked the former throughout the majority of the race and was then produced in perfect timing by Jack Kennedy to win. It was great to see both horses paraded into the winner enclosure side by side after the race for them both to receive a beautiful reception from the crowd.
On a personal note, FACILE VEGA winning the Champion Bumper was a real high point for me. Like mother, like son, FACILE VEGA powered home up the hill in the famous red and blue colours that his mother - QUEVEGA - carried home to victory on just the six consecutive festival appearances in the mares hurdle - no big deal! When she was in foal to WALK IN THE PARK I simply couldn't wait to see her offspring on a racetrack, especially given his sires relations to the likes of DOUVAN and MIN.
A final festival high for me came on Thursday after FLOORING PORTER won the stayers hurdle. I will come on to Danny Mullins and the Flooring Porter syndicate later but what really filled me with joy in the parade ring post-race was the reception that Andrew Gemmell received from the crowd and the smile on his face after the cheering and applause for both himself and PAISLEY PARK.
Festival Lows
The obvious low points for this week were racing's loss of GINTO, BORN PATRIOT, SHALLWEHAVEONEMORE and MINDSMADEUP. My thoughts go out to all owners and connections, especially the stable staff who dedicate their lives to looking after these horses.
Another low point this week has to be Gordon Elliot's return, having only achieved two winners thanks to COMMANDER OF FLEET and DELTA WORK. This is by no means slight on Gordon Elliot, but just goes to prove the competitive nature of the racing at Cheltenham Festival. Between the Willie Mullins domination and an improved performance by UK trainers in comparison to last year, the winners have been harder to come by and he has hit the crossbar more than he'd have liked with a total of seven 2nd place finishes and four 3rd place finishes.
The Turners Novices Chase turned out one of the biggest sighs of relief of the week from the bookmakers, with GALOPIN DES CHAMPS coming down after jumping the final fence, at which he knuckled on landing, paving the way for BOB OLINGER - who was 12 lengths down - to pick up the pieces under Rachel Blackmore. We've seen on numerous occasions what BOB OLINGER is capable of, and he put in what was probably his best round of jumping over fences, yet was still cosily beaten by GALOPIN DES CHAMPS. I think Willie Mullins may well have another freak of nature at his disposal.
As a result of the heavy rainfall on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning numerous horses were withdrawn due to not getting their ground conditions. The highest profile victim of said rainfall was Paul Nicholls' BRAVEMANSGAME who was due to run in the Brown Advisory Novices Chase. This meant that we did not get to see the antepost favourite line up for a clash against rivals L'HOMEE PRESSE and AHOY SENOR.
My view on the withdrawal of BRAVEMANSGAME is that in hindsight it will have worked in his favour. While he jumps like a stag, I don't think he relished the hill in 2021 quite like we knew AHOY SENOR and L"HOMME press would and I'm not sure that a slog in that ground would have done him any favours. I do think that a trip to Aintree would be more up his street on a track that will play to his strengths.
Another victim of the heavy ground on Wednesday was SHISHKIN. While he lined up for the race, it was clear from the second that they jumped off that he did not get going at all. Nico De Boinville absolutely made the right decision to pull SHISHKIN up. It was a shame that racing fans did not get to see Ascot rematch with CHACUN POUR SOI (who unseated Patrick Mullins at the 9th fence) added to the mix.
Performances of the week
I will be covering in more detail my thoughts on the best performances of the Cheltenham festival later this week, but for now, I have listed those that impressed me the most.
Champion hurdle: Constitution hill
Ballymore: Ser Gerhard
Stayers hurdle: Flooring Porter & Danny Mullins
Foxhunters chase : Billaway & Patrick Mullins
Ryanair chase: Allaho
Brown Advisory Novice Chase: L'homme Presse & Charlie Deutsch
Gold cup: A plus tard & Rachel Blackmore
Horses to takeaway
There are four horses which stick in my mind at the time of writing this post to keep onside and follow for the remainder of the season and into the next. I will be writing another post over the next week with other horses to take from the festival.
Granted, a couple of these a quite obvious, but noteworthy nontheless:
GALOPIN DES CHAMPS: As I said, a couple of these would be obvious, but I really think we are looking at a horse here who could dominate the gold cup scene, he is that good. To do what he did to Bob Olinger with relative ease and without really getting out of second gear was simply stunning. There has been talk of him returning back to 2 miles but I really hope that won't be the case.
MRS MILNER: Maybe I'm being biased here after backing Mrs Milner for the Pertemps at the 2021 festival and basically paying for my garden refurb, but I think it is fair to say that there is still a very good mare at Paul Nolan's disposal. After her Cheltenham win, she put away until this season when she returned with a win in a listed mares hurdle at Limerick. She was then sent over to Newbury in November to contest the grade 2 long walk hurdle where she travelled very well throughout before fading 2 furlongs out after being asked for a finish and weakening to finish 4th behind Thomas Darby, On The Blind Side and Paisley Park. As a result, I feel as though she was a bit of a forgotten horse and/or underestimated going into Cheltenham.
In the mares hurdle, she travelled superbly throughout before being badly hampered by the market leader Tellmesomethinggirl who fell just in front when 2 out. Mrs Milner then hung slightly left and bumped into a rival before finishing off her race up the hill powerfully and placing in 3rd. I truly think that with better luck in running Mrs Milner would have won that race. That said, Tellmesomethingirl was also cruising at the time and had Rachel Blackmore's mount stayed on her feet then Mrs Milner may have had to have settled for 2nd place. In summary, there is clearly a smart horse there and she is still a 7-y-o so there are plenty more good days to be had for Mrs Milner and Paul Nolan.
AMERICAN MIKE: Another horse with a big profile for Gordon Elliot who is highly regarded by connections and was highly touted by Jamie Codd on the Cheltenham preview circuit prior to the festival meeting. He was comfortably beaten by the impressive son of Quevega, Facile Vega, in the Champion Bumper on Wednesday. He travelled out wide in mid-division and was delivered nicely by Codd but wasn't going to beat the winner, he was however easily best of the rest. This is clearly one for the future and should take to fences like a duck to water, but before then I think he shapes like a Ballymore horse for the 2023 season and I would be surprised to see him targeted at the Supreme with more emphasis on speed than stamina.
IL ETAIT TEMPS: It doesn't take a genius to know that Il etait temps was pulling quadruple the whole way around in the Triumph hurdle, pretty much from the second they jumped off until they jumped the last. If Willie Mullins and his team can tap into this horses mind and get him to settle in his races then they have another potential star on their hands. Given that Il etait temps is a juvenile and has only had 2 starts under Willie Mullins, it's fair to say that there is a lot of improvement to come from the grey and he is one that I am very much excited about.
Willie Mullins threw him into a grade one on his first start for the trainer, which tells him he is highly thought of by connections. He ran rather green on his stable debut that day but had an impressive turn off when asked the question before running out of gas. It looked very much like he needed the run that day. He briefly displayed that turn of foot again at Cheltenham but had nothing in the tank after pulling the whole way around. It will be interesting to see what Mullins has planned for this Juvenile.
With the 2022 Cheltenham festival over I'm now looking towards Aintree and Punchestown however, like most of us, my countdown to the 2023 Cheltenham festival has already begun and already I can't wait to be back at Cheltenham, hopefully next month!
Thanks for reading,
James
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