Like saying farewell to a close friend I was almost wiping away a tear as the last horse crossed the line following the Grand Annual Chase yesterday (Friday), the final day of the Cheltenham Festival.
We wait all year and it is all over in an instant (or so it feels), though we had everything on the final day to remind us why we love and almost hate this sport in equal measures. Jockey Daryl Jacob had a day to remember starting in the first when he looked booked for first place on board favourite Calipto for the Paul Nicholls yard – until a leather snapped leaving him to pretty much hang on and put in the ride of the meeting to get home in fourth place which was impressive – but no good to those whose money sent him off the 11/2 favourite of course.
Depressed as that may have made him, he bounced back as jockeys do to win the next race on board Lac Fontana at 11/1 while my each way bet on Montbazon was landed in third – 20/1 starting price but I got some 33/1 thank you. By now Daryl had suffered good and bad in equal quantities I suppose but fate hadn’t finished with him yet and he was thrown by Port Melon before the next and taken off in an ambulance. After originally being informed it was nothing serious, it now turns out Daryl has a broken knee, leg, and arm and all I can do is join the rest of the racing world in wishing him a speedy recovery after a day he won’t be forgetting for a very long time.
As for the horses, well odds of 10/1 11/1 and 33/1 quickly tell you the bookies were well in front after the first three races, but it looked as though the Gold Cup was a two horse race between the well backed 6/4 favourite Bobs Worth (last year’s winner) and Silviniaco Conti – if only life were so easy. On a day of upsets, Gold Cup winning jockey Jim Culloty, now a trainer, pulled off an upset with Lord Windermere, a frankly unconsidered 20/1 chance who saw off compatriot On His Own (16/1) and The Giant Bolster (14/1), with neither favourite even in the frame – you could hear the silence from the crowd as the front three crossed the line. There was a Stewards enquiry, which could have gone either way after a detour across the track by the winner, but in the end the record books will show that he kept the race and the £327,000 plus prize money of course.
The Foxhunters for amateur jockeys is always a spectacle and this year was no exception as the Irish posted the first three home headed by Tammys Hill at odds of 15/2, though interestingly he was the best horse in the race on official ratings – I just wish I had spotted that before the race and not afterwards. He wasn’t unbacked by any stretch but I think most of the Irish had done their dough on Briars Hill (fell) in the Albert Bartlett, and the cheer was nowhere near as loud as I expected. Two races to go now and the Conditional Jockeys handicap is a race I watch very carefully – if the young pilots can keep their calm here then they may well have a decent future in this game long term. Andreas Guerin had a ride to remember being left at the start (I can’t believe the starter let them go to be fair), before gradually getting his horse back in the race (it must have been difficult not to panic), and running on it to fourth at odds of 33/1, and I shall be watching his career with interest.
To end with, one more handicap and this time over fences, and the Irish made it six wins on the day – and four for Gigginstown Stud – with Savello, at odds of 16/1. As if Michael O’Leary of Ryanair fame needed the cash, the eight year old stayed on far too strongly for all his rivals explaining why trainer Tony Martin sent Ted Veale to the Arkle instead as he had the winner in his yard regardless!
So, at the end of the week what did we all learn I wonder? That jockeys are as tough as teak (get well soon lads), that racing can be a cruel sport as witnessed by those owners whose horses aren’t coming home after Cheltenham, and that pure joy can be represented by a single winner at the greatest show on earth – so, next stop Aintree I suppose, and only 360 days to go until next year’s Cheltenham – personally, I can’t wait!
