THERE were just eight British-trained winners over the four days of this year’s dramatic Cheltenham Festival and half of these were saddled on day one.

Of those with connections to other equestrian disciplines, former event rider Lucinda Russell landed the Ultima Handicap Chase (Premier handicap) with the 13/2 favourite, Myretown. The Scottish trainer is passionate about finding new homes and careers for any suitable horses in her care, who are retiring or aren’t cut out for racing.

The feature race of the day, the Unibet Champion Hurdle (Grade 1), was won by the Jeremy Scott-trained 25/1 shot Golden Ace. This seven-year-old mare is by the 2015 Derby and multiple Group 1 winner Golden Horn whose owner since 2022, Jayne McGivern, is as well-known in eventing circles as she is in racing. The sire doubled up when the Willie Mullins-trained 100/1 shot Poniros, who was jumping for the first time in public, won Friday’s JCB Triumph Hurdle (Grade 1) under Jonjo O’Neill Jr.

Donation

McGivern is bringing her love of both racing and eventing together in September, as she is donating £50,000 in prize-money for a class confined to thoroughbreds at the Cornbury House Horse Trials.

Show jumping came into the mix when the first race on the Wednesday, the Turners Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1), was won by trainer/jockey partnership of brothers Dan and Harry Skelton with J.P. McManus’s The New Lion. The brilliant wins of their dad Nick Skelton on Arko III were also recalled on Thursday, when the Paul Nicholls-trained Caldwell Potter gave a great display of jumping en route to winning the Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase (Grade 2) in the colours of the late John Hales.