Cheltenham Festival

There was very little that was normal about last year. A late start to the Flat season, no spectators at the races and the breeze-up sales held after Royal Ascot, which was one of the few early meetings to be held in its traditional slot. An extra twist to the Royal meeting was that one of the dominant trainers of the week was a man better known in jumping circles: Alan King. It is always worth taking note, however, when the master of Barbury Castle sends out a Flat runner,...

Three-time Grand National-winning trainer Gordon Elliott is fully cooperating with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB)'s inquiry into a disputed photo allegedly displaying Elliott sitting on a dead horse, the BBC reported on Sunday. The image, which some believe to be digitally altered, appears to show Elliott making a peace gesture while sitting on a dead horse lying on its side and captioned "new work rider". "I'm aware of a photo circulating on social media," the trainer tweeted late on Saturday night. "The IHRB have been in contact with me...

CHELTENHAM, UK—With a slightly surreal sense of the final day of the Cheltenham Festival providing a last hurrah for racing as know it, at least for now, Al Boum Photo (Fr) (Buck's Boum {Fr}) returned to the scene of his greatest triumph to land back-to-back runnings of the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup. He's not seen often, but when the sleek 8-year-old gelding appears at the races he seldom disappoints and his assured victory sealed a sensational day for Willie Mullins, who saddled the first four winners of the week's finale....

It remains business as usual at the Cheltenham Festival, despite a Premier League football match being postponed on Wednesday because of the coronavirus outbreak. The Premier League announced in the early hours that Manchester City's home fixture against Arsenal would be postponed due to the fact Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis - who has since tested positive for the virus - visited the Gunners for the clubs' Europa League tie on February 27. Marinakis, also the majority owner of Nottingham Forest, met several Arsenal players and staff, the Premier League said...

CHELTENHAM, UK—The green and gold hooped colours of JP McManus have become over the last three decades the silks most readily associated with the Cheltenham Festival and, on top of a ninth Champion Hurdle victory on Tuesday, the owner enjoyed another four wins to cap a memorable birthday week. With 64 Festival victories, McManus has accrued more than double the number of Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown House Stud, his nearest rival on the owners' roll of honour. Involved with him in his first two winners of the day—Champ (Ire) (King's Theatre...

CHELTENHAM, UK—International Women's Day carried over from Sunday to Tuesday for the curtain up of the Cheltenham Festival at which three of the day's four Grade 1 contests were won by mares bred in Ireland, France and Britain. Admittedly, one of those races was restricted to mares only but the Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle provided arguably the contest of the day, between the Willie Mullins-trained favourite Benie Des Dieux (Fr) (Great Pretender {Ire}) and Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}), the headline act in a strong team of jumps mares owned by...

Officials at Cheltenham on Monday said it was "full steam ahead" for the start of the Festival on Tuesday. While confirmed cases of coronavirus in Britain now total over 300, a meeting on Monday between sports governing bodies with broadcasters and government officials to discuss contingency planning concluded that based on the "current scientific advice" there were no reasons to cancel sporting events "as things stand". Cheltenham clerk of the course Simon Claisse said, "Of course these things happen, but we do our bit for the public as a responsible...

There are few areas in which any stallion can topple Galileo (Ire). It was only last year, however, that the champion sire drew level with his erstwhile stud-mate Montjeu (Ire) by number of Derby winners. The two sons of Sadler's Wells now have four apiece—and one Derby-winning paternal grandson each—but Montjeu was much quicker off the mark in this field and, following his death in 2012, he has not been represented by Classic-generation runners at Epsom in the last three years. As the Cheltenham Festival begins its four-day run today,...

More than 270 people have now tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, the Department of Health has announced. As of 9 a.m. on Sunday, 273 people had been diagnosed with Covid-19--an increase of 67 from the 206 cases confirmed at 7 a.m. on Saturday. It represents the largest day-on-day increase in diagnoses. The four-day Cheltenham Festival, is still going ahead as planned and it begins on Tuesday. Meanwhile in Italy, more than a quarter of population has been placed in mandatory quarantine as the Government attempts to stem the...

In a bid to combat the spread of coronavirus, another three race meetings in France will be run without any spectators under orders from the local authorities in the Oise region, which includes Chantilly. Tuesday's meeting at Chantilly was staged behind closed doors this week along with two at nearby Compiegne, and that has now been extended to next week when the racing at Chantilly on Monday, Tuesday and Friday will be run without members of the public being admitted. A statement released by France Galop on Wednesday read, "At...

In an echo of World War II Ministry of Information posters, the message from the British government as of Tuesday was very much 'keep calm and carry on' in light of growing concerns regarding the spread of coronavirus. Health Secretary Matt Hancock, a racing fan whose West Suffolk constituency includes Newmarket, took to the airwaves on Tuesday morning and in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme said, "Today we are still in the contain phase of the plan which is about trying to stop its spread. There are...

The British Horseracing Authority is prepared to act--if the need arises--regarding any potential coronavirus impact on fixtures, including the Cheltenham Festival. BHA chief executive Nick Rust has confirmed an industry steering group is in place to consider the implications of the virus. Rust, speaking on a Betfair podcast, said, "We have an industry group in place that has been and continues to work on the potential impact of the coronavirus on the horse racing industry as a whole. "The BHA executive met with the team at Cheltenham Racecourse on Monday...