Golden day for brilliant Blackmore | Cheltenham Friday: Festival Three
Our man at the track Adam Houghton picks out three points of interest from a dramatic final day at the Cheltenham Festival.
Cheltenham Festival 2022 | Day Four Reports
Golden day to savour at Cheltenham
Any National Hunt racing enthusiast has their favourite ‘I was there’ races over the years.
For example, mine before today were the 2011 Gold Cup fought out by three goliaths of the sport - Long Run, Denman and Kauto Star – and the 2019 Grand National won for the second year in a row by Tiger Roll, the fan favourite who bowed out in front of his adoring public at a rainy Cheltenham on Wednesday.
And now, after the victory of A Plus Tard and Rachael Blackmore in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, it’s safe to say that those cherished memories have some company, for myself and at least 70,000 others who packed into a sundrenched Prestbury Park on Friday.
Blackmore, already the first female jockey to win landmark prizes such as the Champion Hurdle and the Grand National, has a habit of making these record-breaking achievements look rather routine, in the same way that Ruby Walsh did in amassing 59 winners at the Cheltenham Festival, or how Lester Piggott went about winning 30 British classics on the Flat.
Of course, that pair often had the advantage of being on the best horse and there can be no doubt that A Plus Tard was much the best horse in this year’s Gold Cup, winning by 15 lengths to underline his status as a staying chaser out of the very top drawer.
A Plus Tard and Blackmore had to settle for the runner-up spot behind Minella Indo in the 2021 edition of the Gold Cup and, as the field turned into the straight this year, many favourite backers would still have doubted whether A Plus Tard could succeed where he had failed 12 months earlier by reeling in his more positively ridden stablemate on that famous climb to the line.
They needn’t have worried. After jumping to the front at the final fence, A Plus Tard proceeded to shoot clear on the run-in, showcasing all the speed which had once seen him beat Chacun Pour Soi in a Grade One over two miles at Leopardstown.
The performance of the horse alone was good enough to make you realise that you were witnessing something truly special.
When you factor in the human achievements of Blackmore, as humble as ever in victory, and Henry de Bromhead, likewise similarly understated after saddling the one-two in the Gold Cup for the second year in succession, then you have all the makings of a truly memorable edition of chasing’s blue riband – an ‘I was there’ race.
Vauban looks a viable Champion Hurdle contender
In an alternate universe, one entirely of Willie Mullins’ design, Vauban probably wouldn’t have been running in the Triumph Hurdle.
In fact, Vauban probably wouldn’t even have jumped a hurdle in public before now, with Mullins preferring to plot a path through next season with a horse he had pinned down as the 2023 Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner.
Of course, there is a good chance that Mullins will still be responsible for next year’s Supreme winner – Champion Bumper hero Facile Vega heads the ante-post betting at 4/1 with the sponsors – and there is arguably just as good a chance that Vauban will develop into a serious Champion Hurdle contender next term.
A listed winner on the Flat in France before joining Mullins, Vauban is clearly blessed with bundles of pace and he displayed all that and more in winning the Triumph.
In a strong field, Vauban was always travelling best of all and the response was immediate when Paul Townend asked him to quicken after a slight mistake at the last, quickly putting daylight between himself and the talented, Gordon Elliott-trained pair of Fil Dor and Pied Piper.
Vauban’s path to the 2023 Champion Hurdle seemingly won’t involve a Flat campaign this summer, though his trainer hasn’t ruled out a crack at the Melbourne Cup somewhere down the line, one of the few itches yet to be scratched by Mullins after the Queen Mother Champion Chase received the full treatment on Wednesday.
The obvious caveat with regards Vauban’s Champion Hurdle credentials in 2023 is the poor record of five-year-olds in the race. For context, 2019 winner Espoir d’Allen is the only five-year-old to have won the Champion Hurdle since 2008 when Katchit came out on top, in the process following up his Triumph victory 12 months earlier.
Perhaps that is why Mullins was keen to give Vauban more time to mature, allowing him the best possible chance of becoming a major force in the two-mile hurdling ranks, a division in which Mullins was surprisingly lacking this season, with Appreciate It leading the team into battle in the Champion Hurdle rather by default after a small setback put paid to plans for a novice chasing campaign.
Dual winner Honeysuckle sets a high bar for the others to reach but, if there is a Champion Hurdle horse somewhere in Vauban, then there is certainly no better man than Mullins to find it, already having won the race four times with horses of all shapes and sizes.
Two of those victories were achieved with Hurricane Fly, who has a very similar background to Vauban, particularly compared to a horse like Faugheen, who reached the top of the hurdling division via the point-to-point sphere.
It’s a Mullins world and we’re just living in it
This might not be a universe entirely of Willie Mullins’ design, but it certainly felt like it for much of Friday, with only an A Plus Tard-shaped comet managing to penetrate the atmosphere surrounding the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival.
After Vauban had given his stable its sixth winner of the week, then it was the turn of State Man, who made a mockery of a BHA mark of 141 in winning the County Hurdle.
Mullins had reportedly been considering the Supreme for State Man in the build up to the Festival and it’s easy to see why on the back of this performance, with graded races sure to be on the agenda going forward, starting at the Punchestown Festival.
Next up was The Nice Guy, who led home a one-two for the stable when seeing off Minella Cocooner in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
Unlike Vauban or State Man, both of whom clearly show plenty at home, The Nice Guy was seemingly on the transfer list earlier this season after offering little encouragement on the Closutton gallops.
Blatantly a much better horse on the racecourse than he is at home, it’s fair to say that the decision to keep The Nice Guy is now looking an inspired one, a horse who is unbeaten in four starts under Rules and a cracking prospect for novice chases next season.
That victory for The Nice Guy was Mullins’ eighth of the week and saw him match his own record for the most winners achieved by a trainer at a single Cheltenham Festival, albeit it was a record he shared with Gordon Elliott.
Not anymore it isn’t. After the Mullins party was briefly rained on by a combination of A Plus Tard, Rachael Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead, normal order was soon resumed as Billaway went one better than 12 months earlier in the Hunters’ Chase, giving rider Patrick Mullins his third win of the week and by far the biggest trophy of the lot.
Put the trophy next to Elimay and there probably wouldn’t be much difference in size, but her diminutive stature clearly doesn’t hold her back over fences, a point she underlined by winning the Mares’ Chase, emulating Billaway by avenging a narrow defeat in 2021.
The result of all that? 10 winners – yes, 10 – at the Cheltenham Festival for Mullins in 2022, a total which would have been scarcely believable if we hadn’t become so accustomed to the Closutton machine taking the National Hunt game by storm in recent years.
I retract my previous statement – this is Willie Mullins’ world and we’re all just living in it.
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