By Emma Berry
Cheltenham's gladiatorial bowl of a racecourse may give England the right to call itself the spiritual home of jump racing, but the opening bout of the sport's four-day spectacular proved to be an Irish benefit. Trainer Willie Mullins has brought a raiding party of some 50 horses to the Cotswolds from his Co. Carlow base, and duly claimed the first four Grade 1 contests of the meeting, including saddling the trifecta in the feature of the day, the Champion Hurdle.
The Festival is famous for the roar that accompanies its opening race, but this year the roar continued throughout the day as first the Supreme Novices' Hurdle fell to Mullins's hot favorite Douvan (Fr) (Walk In The Park {Ire}), who was chased home by his stablemate Shaneshill (Ire) (King's Theatre {Ire}). Douvan's success brought up the third consecutive victory in the race for the trainer, his regular jockey Ruby Walsh and biggest patron, American investment banker Rich Ricci.
The trio was back for more in the Champion Hurdle with Faugheen (Ire) (Germany), who spearheaded the 1-2-3 for the stable that was completed by Arctic Fire (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) and the former dual Champion Hurdler,Hurricane Fly (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), but not before a faultless performance by the breathtaking novice chaser Un De Sceaux (Fr) (Denham Red {Fr}) in the Arkle Trophy.
As the OLBG Mares' Hurdle, newly promoted to Grade 1 status this year, started with another Mullins odds-on shot in the form of the statuesque Shirocco (Ger) mare Annie Power (Ire), bookmakers could be forgiven for planning to run for cover. But, as ever in racing, fate had other ideas. Approaching the last flight in the lead and apparently full of running in the hands of Walsh, 'Annie'–who is also owned by Ricci–plunged at the hurdle, her sickening somersault of a fall eliciting a collective scream from the crowd.
Thankfully, the mare was quickly to her feet and Mullins still had an ace to play, as his second runner in the race, Glens Melody (Ire) (King's Theatre {Ire}), sidestepped the stricken Annie Power and galloped up the stiff hill to victory. The 7-year-old winner, who is to be retired by her owner-breeder Fiona McStay at the end of the season, was second in the race last year which was won by–you guessed it–her stablemate Quevega (Fr) (Robin Des Champs {Fr}). Now retired and in foal to Beat Hollow (GB), Quevega's six straight victories in the Mares' Hurdle mean that in the race's eight-year history it has only ever once fallen to a runner not trained by Mullins.
Ireland's champion jumps trainer, who is inching closer to Nicky Henderson's record of 51 winners at the Festival with his enhanced tally of 37, said of his red-letter day, “It's rare to have four runners on a day like this, let alone four winners. I keep saying to myself, 'enjoy it while it lasts.' You couldn't write a script like that, but I just knew that all the horses were doing everything right. We had no sickness, no virus, no bad weather–it was going scarily well, and I thought coming here it was either going to be a great success or a blow-out.”
With Gordon Elliott's Cause Of Causes (Dynaformer) providing a birthday winner for the most successful owner in the history of the Festival, JP McManus, the annual England vs. Ireland contest that underpins the four days of action is currently firmly in the hands of the visitors, a fact that will delight the many thousands of Irish racegoers who relish the annual pilgrimage across the water to Cheltenham.
There are plenty of National Hunt racing fans who wouldn't dream of attending a Flat meeting, and vice versa, but for the switch-hitters among us, happy in either season, the Cheltenham Festival is not just the culmination of a winter of top-class jumping but the gradual transition to spring and the forthcoming Classics.
The amalgamation of the two codes is best illustrated by a pre-racing trip to the Guinness Village. Even if too much of the black stuff is consumed, it would be nigh-on impossible to collapse in a drunken stupor, so tightly packed is the space between the pop-up bars behind the grandstand. In the heart of the throng of punters and fiddle-players can usually be found any number of Flat trainers and bloodstock agents and this year is no exception, with Tom Goff, Charlie Gordon-Watson, Anthony Stroud, Hugo Palmer and Mick Easterby spotted among the hubbub.
On a sun-drenched spring day, the Gloucestershire track attracted a record first-day attendance of 63,249 racegoers–many of whom will be back for more over the next three days. The great lure of the Festival for jumps owners with deep pockets means that geldings with decent form in the book will routinely change hands for the kind of sums usually only garnered by the most regally-bred Flat yearlings. Boutique National Hunt sales have been the success story within the auction world in Britain and Ireland in recent years to the extent that for the first time last year a select sale was held in the parade ring following racing on the Thursday of the Festival. Auction house Brightwells is repeating the event this year, with 25 young jumpers set to go under the hammer tomorrow. Prior to that, there's plenty to savor on the track, not least the longed-for meeting of the last two winners of the Queen Mother Champion Chase–Sprinter Sacre (Fr)(Network {Ger}) and Sire De Grugy (Fr) (My Risk {Fr}) in today's renewal of the two-mile chasing championship. The scene is set for yet more pulse-quickening, heart-thumping action.
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