AS always, we start the review at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day, where the rearranged Long Walk Hurdle saw Paisley Park gain an emotional victory for connections, while it was all too easy for Constitution Hill in the Christmas Hurdle.
The King George went to Bravemansgame, who produced a career best to come home well clear of Royale Pagaille, justifying Paul Nicholls’ long-held belief that he would win the mid-season championship.
Bravemansgame ran right up to his King George form when runner-up in the Gold Cup, but defeats at Punchestown, Wetherby and Haydock subsequently mean he goes into Christmas with a point to prove. He’s been successful in the week between Christmas and New Year for the past three years, however, so it would be a brave man (pun intended) who writes him off.
At Newbury, Hermes Allen became the third consecutive winner of the Challow Hurdle for Paul Nicholls and Harry Cobden, but the curse on Challow winners in the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham continued, as the gelding joined Bravemansgame and Stage Star in failing to follow up in March.
The new year kicked off at Cheltenham where The Real Whacker (Pat Neville/Sam Twiston-Davies) threw his hat into the ring for the Broadway Novices’ Chase in March with a stylish win in the Dipper Chase and at Sandown Tahmuras continued a good spell for Ditcheat by winning the final running of the Tolworth Hurdle.
There was only brief joy after Iwilldoit landed the Classic Chase at Warwick, as despite Sam Thomas’ gelding being touted for the Grand National, the former Welsh Grand National hero fell foul of the qualifying criteria for Aintree, and the mudlark was officially not experienced enough to run after Thomas failed to find a suitable prep race.
Jamie Snowden was another to rue the strict Aintree criteria when Ga Law failed to qualify for the National after a last fence fall in the SkyBet Chase saw his careful planning upset, leaving both trainers with only the words of Rabbie Burns for comfort.
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
Trials Day at Cheltenham threw up a mix of clues and red herrings for the upcoming festival, with the Champion Chase market thrown into brief panic when Energumene failed to fire at odds-on in the Clarence House Chase, another race rescued from a weather-beleaguered Ascot.
The 14/1 shot Editeur Du Gite made all the running under a superb ride from Niall Houlihan, whose only previous winner over fences in the campaign had come when steering the same horse to a 28/1 success in the Desert Orchid Chase.
Stage Star advertised his Cheltenham credentials by winning the novice handicap chase on the card, showcasing a sound jumping technique, and he would go on to land the Grade 1 Golden Miller (Turners) in March before completing a notable course hat-trick in the Paddy Power Gold Cup in November.
Protektorat had impressed in the Betfair Chase, but failed to match that form, finishing unplaced in the Cotswold Chase where Ahoy Senor rebuilt his tarnished reputation under regular partner Derek Fox, although for Lucinda Russell’s chaser it was a brief moment of glory, with jumping continuing to be his Achilles heel.
Heroic failure
For Dashel Drasher, the entire season was a story of heroic failure, and Jeremy Scott’s star once again went down on his shield when second to unconsidered French raider Gold Tweet in the Cleeve Hurdle. He was second again in the Stayers’ Hurdle but finally had his moment of glory when beating Paisley Park at Newbury in December.
Underwhelming
Gordon Elliott’s Gerri Colombe missed the Dublin Racing Festival to take in the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown in February where he was the star on an otherwise underwhelming card, and that was the story at Newbury in February where the ground was unseasonably fast and the fields small, with the Denman Chase going to the exposed handicapper Zanza and the Game Spirit to Funambule Sivola.
To add to the air of gloom over the prospects of British runners the following month, Jonbon was forced to work hard to justify odds of 1/16 in the Kingmaker at Warwick. Back home in Closutton, Willie Mullins could be seen rubbing his hands.
In fairness to Jonbon, he may have been beaten in the Arkle, but Grade 1 wins at Aintree and Sandown at the end of term, and in both the Shloer Chase and Tingle Creek in the autumn means his reputation has grown in the interim, and he is high on the shortlist of likely Champion Chase contenders for 2024.
Stablemate Shishkin, confirmed his participation in the Ryanair when beating Pic D’Orhy and Fakir D’oudairies in the Ascot Chase, while the placed horses took advantage of his absence to dominate the Melling Chase at Aintree in April.
Kempton’s raceday in late February used to produce its share of Festival winners but the days when Gold Cup prospects would take part in the big handicap chase seem to be a thing of the past.
Indeed, the “Straight to Cheltenham” mantra is having a negative effect on all good fixtures from Christmas onward, so it’s encouraging that steps have been taken to restructure the National Hunt programme from 2023/’24.
Major changes
A wide-reaching review has seen major changes to the calendar with well-known contests like the Tolworth Hurdle, Desert Orchid Chase, International Hurdle, Kennel Gate Hurdle, Dipper Novices’ Chase, Many Clouds Chase, Champion Hurdle Trial (Haydock), John Francome Chase, Lightning Novices’ Chase, Summit Juvenile Hurdle, Towton Novices’ Chase and Leamington Novices’ Hurdle all either scrapped, moved or having their conditions changed from previous seasons.
Of those changes, the scrapping of Haydock’s Champion Hurdle Trial and the moving of the International Hurdle (surely a good opportunity to abandon that ridiculous moniker and get Bula back in the title) to Trials Day in January is the biggest opportunity to inject some competition into the jumps pattern, or it would be if it weren’t for the presence of Constitution Hill bestriding the division like Colossus. Still, it’s a bold policy and one deserving of praise in the circumstances.
AND so, to Cheltenham in March. Day one of the greatest show on turf saw the grandstand roof tested to its limits with a wonderful hour of sport encompassing the expected demolition of his rivals by Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle, followed by the most emotional swansong of Honeysuckle (Henry de Bromhead/Rachael Blackmore) in the Mares’ Hurdle; this was the culmination of a very special career for a trainer/jockey combination held in great affection in Gloucestershire, and Honeysuckle and Rachael came back to a reception the like of which I’ve rarely seen.
Not only was the crowd packed around the winner’s enclosure, but every vantage point, every walkway, every balcony overlooking that enclosure was filled with applauding fans.
There is no doubt in my mind that the finest day to go racing in all of the year is not Gold Cup day at Ascot or Cheltenham, but the Tuesday of the Festival, where not only is the racing of the highest quality, but the crowds that watch it are like pilgrims at the holiest of shrines.
The sense of wonder, of joy at once again standing on hallowed ground, means that the Cheltenham crowd are raised to a state of consciousness that makes the occasion uniquely satisfying and almost spiritual.
It all goes to pot when the big gamble inevitably goes astray in the Fred Winter, but it’s absolutely wonderful to experience nirvana for that brief few hours.
Feel-good stories
Wednesday, in fairness, delivered its share of feel-good stories with Pat Neville doing his best for the little man when saddling The Real Whacker (Sam Twiston-Davies) to take the Broadway (Brown Advisory) from fast-finishing favourite Gerri Colombe, while the Champion Bumper went to the combination of 85-year-old trainer John Kiely and 18-year-old amateur John Gleeson on a horse – A Dream To Share – bred by the Gleeson family and sold to J.P. McManus after beating McManus’ leading bumper hope, Fact To File, at the Dublin Racing Festival.
Willie Mullins dominated the big races on the card with Impaire Et Passe leading home a Mullins 1-2-3 in the Baring Bingham (Ballymore) Novices’ Hurdle, and Energumene getting back on track in spectacular style to win his second Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Thursday was a day for former glories to be recaptured, with Envoi Allen (Henry de Bromhead/Rachael Blackmore) taking the Ryanair having been written off (again) after a lifeless run in the King George, while Sire Du Berlais (Gordon Elliott/Mark Walsh) proved better than ever at the age of 11 by winning the Stayers’ Hurdle.
Once again, the dual Pertemps Final winner went on to score in the Grade 1 Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree to put to bed any notion of a fluke about his Cheltenham success.
Drama-packed contest
Gold Cup day was Willie Mullins’ day, and the victory of Galopin Des Champs in a drama-packed contest will live long in the memory, while the Triumph Hurdle saw Lossiemouth lead home an unprecedented 1-2-3-4 for Closutton.
He and Paul Townend were denied a treble on the day only by the fighting spirit of Impervious and Mark Walsh in the Mares’ Chase.
The winner was putting Colm Murphy back in the big time after the man responsible for the exploits of Brave Inca and Big Zeb had been forced to take a three-year training sabbatical due to the recession.
AINTREE was a meeting of intrigue, with the shock news that owner and sponsor John Dance was under investigation by the FSA meaning that Aintree Bowl favourite Bravemansgame was out, then in, then out again after a bid to transfer full ownership to Brian Drew failed to pass muster.
In the end, the contest threw up a thriller despite the small field, with Shishkin producing an extraordinary burst from the final fence to overhaul Ahoy Senor after the latter had looked set to land a treble at the fixture.
The winner was hailed as a reformed character as a stayer, and may yet vindicate that assessment in the King George, but he remains hard to predict, running an odd race to be second in the Ryanair prior to this, and he point-blank refused to race when rematched with Pic D’Orhy in the 1965 Chase at Ascot in November.
At least Nicky Henderson’s brilliant enigma keeps us on our toes – and we wouldn’t want it any other way.
Elite band
Gerri Colombe left fingers burnt at Cheltenham but made amends in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase under Davy Russell, and the veteran rider landed another Grade 1 on his final day when Irish Point took the Mersey Novices’ Hurdle on the Saturday.
There was to be no fairytale in the big race itself for Russell as the fancied Galvin was an early casualty, but there was joy for Lucinda Russell and Peter Scudamore as Corach Rambler added to his Cheltenham Festival success with an impressive win in the Grand National itself, in doing so elevating Russell and jockey Derek Fox to an elite band of trainers and jockeys to have won the Grand National twice.
Sandown’s end-of-season celebration remains mired in mediocrity, with Punchestown the more likely destination for champions on either side of the Irish Sea, but it remains at least a day to bid farewell to the National Hunt heroes until winter begins to encroach.
In the last few weeks, we’ve greeted many of last term’s heroes back while waiting in anticipation of others (ahem, Constitution Hill).
Unexpected
The expected dominance of the big stables has been challenged in unexpected ways, with Mouse Morris paying a rare visit to Wetherby and returning, figuratively, with the scalp of Paul Nicholls as Gentlemansgame took the Charlie Hall Chase. Nicholls and Bravemansgame sought redemption in the Betfair Chase only to run into Royale Pagaille at his peak and giving Venetia Williams her first open Grade 1 success since the days of Lady Rebecca and Teeton Mill.
So, once again we see that the great game has not lost its ability to surprise and thrill, and a packed Christmas programme promises plenty of festive twists.
Can Paul Nicholls resist an army of Irish raiders as he aims for a 14th King George success? Will we finally see Constitution Hill after two false dawns, and will The Big Breakaway finally deliver on a lenient handicap mark in the Welsh Grand National? All these questions and more will be answered before the New Year poses a host more. Merry Christmas, one and all.