Cheltenham Legends

For racing fans this is surely one of the most exciting times of the year. The Cheltenham Festival, taking place this year from 13th – 16th March 2018, bring together the best of the best in a feast of top class (several group 1 races) horse racing action. Everyone who’s anyone in the racing world from owners to trainers and jockey’s to horses will be there. Winning some of the most prestigious Cheltenham Festival races, such as the Cheltenham Gold Cup gets your name fast-tracked to the history books. Its an accolade every owner, trainer of jockey wants on their resume.

To celebrate Cheltenham I’ve detailed the running order of races below. Click through for a brief explanation of each race as well as recent history and predictions / tips for this year’s Cheltenham Festival races!

– Cheltenham Festival 2018 Races –

 

Tuesday

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle

Arkle Challenge Trophy

Festival Trophy Handicap Chase

Champion Hurdle

David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle

National Hunt Challenge Cup

Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap Chase

 

Wednesday

Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle

RSA Chase

Queen Mother Champion Chase

Coral Cup

Cross Country Chase

Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle

Champion Bumper

 

Thursday

Golden Miller Novices’ Chase

Pertemps Final

Festival Trophy

Stayers’ Hurdle

Mildmay of Flete Challenge Cup

Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup

Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle

 

Friday

Triumph Hurdle

County Handicap Hurdle

Spa Novices’ Hurdle

Cheltenham Gold Cup

Foxhunter Chase

Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle

Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase

 

Bobs Worth ended his racing career by finishing third, as an 11-year-old, in the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2016, but is better known as one of a select band of horses – and the first since Flyingbolt in 1966 – to won three different races at the Festival. The beautifully bred son of Bob Back, out of a King’s Theatre mare, arrived at his first Festival, in 2011, with some solid course and distance form. He had won twice over 2 miles 4½ furlongs on the New Course already that year and duly started 15/8 favourite for the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, which he won by 2¼ lengths from stable companion Mossley.

 

Sent over fences the following season by trainer Nicky Henderson, the 7-year-old faced Grand Crus – who’d beaten him 5¼ lengths, at level weights, at Kempton on Boxing Day – in the 2012 RSA Chase, but reversed the form, to the tune of 23¼ lengths, for his second Festival win. After readily winning the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on his reappearance the following December, Bobs Worth started favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Despite being hampered by the fall of Silviniaco Conti at the third last fence, he finished strongly, drawing away in the closing stages to win by 8 lengths. Regular partner Barry Geraghty – who’d actually owned him as a youngster – said of him, “I’m glad Nicky bought him as I’m the one on board every time he wins.”

We are now just a few weeks away from the biggest event of the National Hunt season and excitement is reaching a fever pitch among punters.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup has long been the most prestigious race in the calendar and it always serves up an exhilarating spectacle. It is run over 3 miles 2½ furlongs at Cheltenham Racecourse, taking in 22 fences, and represents a real endurance test. The Gold Cup carries a prize purse of £625,000, and marks the high point of the most important festival of the season, so it always attracts a superstar field. They bid to join the likes of Arkle, Best Mate and Golden Miller in the history books by achieving legendary status. Here are the leading contenders for glory this year:

 

Might Bite

If you check out the horse racing spread betting at Sporting Index you will see that Might Bite is the frontrunner. He romped to victory in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day, which is the crown jewel in the winter jumps events. It is an important race to win in its own right, but the King George also serves as an excellent barometer for Gold Cup success.

 

Best Mate, Kauto Star and Long Run all won the King George and then went on to claim the Gold Cup in recent years. Boxing Day was the last time we saw Might Bite and the victory extended his winning run to five races. He likes Cheltenham, as he won the RSA Chase in dramatic fashion here last week, so his favourite tag is understandable. Trainer Nicky Henderson won this Blue Riband event in 2013 with Bobs Worth and he knows he has another superstar on his hands here. “He has been three miles round Cheltenham and he has got up the hill,” said Henderson. “I see no reason why he won’t get it. It’s not much further and he is another year stronger.”

 

 

Native River

 

Colin Tizzard’s eight-year-old chestnut gelding won the Grade 2 Denman Chase at Newbury in comfortable fashion on February 10 and instantly became the second favourite for the Gold Cup. He finished second in the Gold Cup last year, and this month’s victory is his only race since then. He has won four of his last five races and beaten some impressive chasers, and Tizzard believes he has got his big race preparation “dead right” ahead of next month’s showpiece. He will be extremely fresh and well-rested for the big race and could really threaten as they charge up the final hill.

 

Sizing John

Last year’s champion returns to defend his crown and he is currently third in the betting. Sizing John relished a step up in trip last season and went on to win a treble of Gold Cups at Leopardstown, Punchestown and Cheltenham. His performance at Cheltenham last year was sensational as he surged clear of Native River and won it by 2 3/4 lengths under Robbie Power.

 

Heading into the current season, Jessica Harrington’s Sizing John was seen as the one to beat, and he returned to action with a fantastic win in the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown. However, he flopped in the Christmas Chase at Leopardstown on December 28, where he finished seventh, well behind the winner, Road To Respect. The vet described him as “clinically abnormal” after the race and he has not been since. If he recaptures the magic of last season he will have a great chance of winning another Gold Cup, but that is a big if right now.

 

Our Duke

 

Sizing John’s stablemate Our Duke is next in the betting and jockey Robbie Power said choosing which one to ride in the Gold Cup was extremely difficult. He likened it to Ruby Walsh having to choose between defending champion Kauto Star and the legendary Denman ahead of the 2008 Gold Cup. Walsh went for Kauto Star, and Denman defeated him. Power opted to remain on board Sizing John, but conceded that Our Duke could well dethrone him. The jockey has been on Our Duke during all 10 of his runs, and he has delivered some superb performances, including victory in the Grade 2 Red Mills Chase this month. He is attracting a lot of ante post action and is likely to be in the mix at the end of this race.

 

The Rest

The field is studded with superstar talent and there are plenty of longer shots to look out for. Definitely Red, a 16/1 shot, has won two Grade 2 contests in a row ahead of the Gold Cup and has the legs to threaten here. Road To Respect conquered Sizing John in December and looks an interesting option, while Total Recall and Killultagh Vic are both strong runners. Further down the field, last year’s beaten favourite Djakadam stands out at 40/1, while the legendary Cue Card is another intriguing shout at 33/1.

Over five decades have passed since Arkle beat Dormant by 30 lengths to win his third Cheltenham Gold Cup, but he remains the yardstick by which all National Hunt horses, especially steeplechasers, are measured. His remarkable Timeform of 212 – 30lb superior to that of Best Mate, the only other horse since 1966 to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times – has rightly been questioned in recent years. However, as jockey Ruby Walsh said, “Ratings are only people’s opinions”, and the general opinion is that Arkle is the foremost steeplechaser in the history of National Hunt racing.

 

Owned by Anne, Duchess of Westminster, trained by Tom Dreaper and ridden by Pat Taafe, Arkle not only won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in three successive years, but the King George VI Chase, the Irish Grand National, the Hennessy Gold Cup (twice), the Whitbread Gold Cup and a further 14 of his 26 races over fences. Perhaps his defining moment came in the Gallaher Gold Cup in 1965 when, carrying 12st 7lb, he beat Rondetto by 20 lengths, conceding 26lb. Rondetto had previously won the Festival Trophy Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham under 11st 10lb, so he was no slouch. The race time, 17 seconds faster than the previous course record, has yet to be surpassed in 50 years. According to the Sporting Life, “there never was such a day and no one present will ever forget the experience”.

Unfortunately, Arkle was to run his last race in the King George VI in 1966, during which he fractured the large bone in his foot, known as the pedal bone, but still finished second, beaten half a length. Despite initial optimism about his injury, Arkle was officially retired in 1968 and spent the rest of life at Bryanstown, Co. Kildare, a 700-acre estate belonging to his owner, where he was euthanised two years later after suffering crippling arthritis.

A true Cheltenham legend – phenomenon, wonder, call him what you will – the horse popularly known as ‘Himself’ is commemorated with statue overlooking the parade ring at Prestbury Park and his skeleton is on display at the Irish National Stud in Co. Kildare.