THE 2020-2021 National Hunt season will be remember as a terrific spell of success for the Irish-trained jumping horse. Despite the constraints of working behind closed doors through Covid restrictions, it was a season that gave many, many memorable moments, to many different people. Praise first to those who kept all the elements in place.
It was the year females had a major say in all the big events.
Rachael Blackmore took her already stellar career to barely imaginable heights, winning the Champion Hurdle, being leading rider at the Cheltenham Festival and adding the Grand National on what was only her third ride in the famous race.
Of the equine variety, Honeysuckle won the Irish Champion Hurdle before taking the ultimate prize in Cheltenham. Put The Kettle On joined her as a Champion Chase winner while Heaven Help Us, Mrs Milner and Mount Ida joined the winners of the mares’ races – Black Tears, Telmesomethinggirl and Colreevy – as Festival winners. Colreevy laid claim to being among the top novices with her win at Punchestown this week.
Henry de Bromhead almost stole the thunder from Willie Mullins, returning from Cheltenham with the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup, and later added the Grand National. Mullins deprived him of the Cheltenham top trainer title by the narrowest margin, with six winners apiece. Jack Kennedy had a dream day coming in for the Gold Cup ride on Minella Indo.
Overall, having 23 Irish-trained winners at Cheltenham and 20 Irish-bred winners was an amazing feat.
Aramon won the first graded race of the season in the Kevin McManus Grimes Hurdle and went on to win the Galway Hurdle for the Mullins yard, to set the pace for the season and the stable was in hot form to dominate at Punchestown.
Galway was behind closed doors but it was business as usual for the Mullins yard as Patrick Mullins won the Guinness Galway Hurdle on Aramon \ Healy Racing
Jockeys
The power of the Mullins yard helped Paul Townend pick up his fourth NH jockeys’ title though a foot injury saw him absent from Fairyhouse to Punchestown giving, Blackmore brief hope of closing what was then a 10-winner gap.
Darragh O’Keeffe built on his 2020 conditional title, winning the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup at Cheltenham in December and picking up a Grade 1 winner on A Plus Tard in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown at Christmas.
Darragh O'Keeffe continued his progression from winning the champion conditional jockey for the 2019/2020 season with a Grade 1 win \ Healy Racing
Kevin Sexton re-established his career with the Peter Fahey-trained Belfast Banter. Simon Torrens stepped into the J.P. McManus colours, landed two big handicaps at the Dublin Racing Festival and took the conditional jockeys’ title.
There was a deserved Grade 1 win too for Keith Donoghue with The Storyteller in Down Royal while Jonathan Moore found the key to Flooring Porter with a Christmas Grade 1.
Sean O’Keeffe teamed up with John Ryan to win the Munster National and got his Cheltenham winner in the Martin Pipe with Galopin Des Champs. The year also saw the retirement from the saddle of Slippers Madden, Barry Geraghty and David Mullins.
We had a look through the jumps season and came up with a few individuals deserving of some special awards for the part they played in giving us joyous moments
What is he DOING?/Oh what a great ride award: Richie Condon on Heaven Help Us (it’s what many were saying coming down the hill but it worked out perfectly)
Richie Condon had a dream day in Cheltenham on Heaven Help Us for trainer Paul Hennessy \ Healy Racing
Ignore your critics/your day will come award: Belfast Banter. Another for the Bellewstown blessing. He couldn’t win his maiden hurdle there last July but ended up a Grade 1 winner.
The ‘I heard there was a secret word’ award: Forget Line Of Duty codes of OCG and CHIS – just remember when Willie give the order – GSI!
The hide your light under a bushel award: 1 The Shunter. 2 Dreal Deal. Both progressed from lowly ratings to graded race level.
The one to watch award: Emmet Mullins. The team astutely plotted The Shunter’s path from a running and riding ban in Tipperary in July to picking up a Kelso/Cheltenham €116,000 bonus. Winning a bumper race at the Punchestown Festival with a horse he bought as a foal in Japan was also a bit ouit of the ordinary.
The if only we knew how good you were award: Stowaway and Jeremy. Irish-breds won 20 of the 28 race at Cheltenham but unfortunately the two dominant sires with four winners each are deceased.
Right race/right time award: Leopardstown’s DRF Mares Handicap. The race produced three Cheltenham Festival winners in Telmesomethinggirl, Heaven Help Us and Mrs Milner (a faller).
Tony Mullins also gets a nod from a Cheltenham preview night when he called “Allaho is the bet of the meeting at 5/1”, describing Clonmel’s Horse & Jockey Chase as the race of the year, where Allaho beat Elimay. With the subsequent performance of Elimay’s Cheltenham conqueror Colveevy, he might not have been far wrong.
It’s not how you start it’s how you finish award: 1 Minella Times fell in his first point-to-point at Belclare and went on to win the Grand National. 2 Colreevy also fell on her first point-to-point in Lemonfield and went on to win two Grade 1 novice chases before she retired.