The history of the Cheltenham Festival is littered with hard luck stories of horses that, through mistakes, poor judgement or just plain misfortune, managed to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.
One of the unluckiest losers of recent times was Oscar Delta, ridden by 18-year-old amateur Jane Mangan, in the Foxhunter Chase in 2013. Having taken a 4-length lead over the favourite, Salisfy, at the second-last fence, Oscar jumped the final fence in front and was maintaining the advantage as he set off up the famous Cheltenham hill. However, about 150 yards from the winning post, the 10-year-old jinked inexplicably to his left, through a length of tape stretched across a gap in the running rail, and unseated his teenage jockey. Salsify swept by to win, unchallenged, by 20 lengths, leaving Mangan in tears.
Of course, unlucky losers are by no means the preserve of amateur riders, as amply demonstrated by Ruby Walsh – by far the most successful jockey in the history of the Cheltenham Festival – in the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle on Annie Power in 2015. Following the victories of Douvan, Un De Sceaux and Faugheen – all hot favourites, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Walsh – earlier in the day, Annie Power lined up at prohibitive odds of 1/2, with bookmakers facing an estimated liability of between £50 million and £100 million in the event that she won. Annie Power travelled well throughout the race and took the lead at the second-last flight, but took off too soon at the final flight, hit the top bar on the way down and crashed to the ground.
Occasionally, redemption awaits for a hapless loser – Annie Power, for example, returned to Cheltenham to win the Champion Hurdle in 2016 – but other horses are just, well, unlucky. Tied Cottage, trained by Dan Moore and ridden by Tommy Carberry, made all the running in the 1979 Gold Cup until pitching on landing, and falling, after the final fence, handing the race to the ill-fated Alverton. Twelve months later, he again made all the running, beating Master Smudge by 8 lengths, only to be later disqualified after testing positive for theobromine, a banned substance, believed to have come from a contaminated batch of feed.