Adam Houghton reveals another key stat to keep in mind for the Cheltenham Festival.
KEY STAT
13 – the number of consecutive Cheltenham Festivals at which Davy Russell enjoyed at least one winner between 2006 and 2018
Many people still long for the days of the three-day Cheltenham Festival, a time when the emphasis was very much on quality and the best National Hunt horses on either side of the Irish Sea were forced to take each other on given the relative lack of options.
The Festival was staged over four days for the first time in 2005 and so it has been ever since, with the number of races run at the meeting also increasing gradually over the years. 20 races were run at the final three-day Festival in 2004 but, since 2016, punters making their annual pilgrimage to Prestbury Park have been able to look forward to seven races each day for a total of 28.
There may be more opportunities nowadays for a jockey, trainer or owner to get on the scoresheet at the Festival, but don’t be fooled into thinking that winners at the meeting are suddenly easy to come by.
After all, last week’s edition of this column highlighted that several of the leading National Hunt trainers in the country are amongst those currently on a lengthy losing run at the fixture, while many owners, even those with the deepest pockets, have been forced to wait years to achieve the holy grail of a Festival winner, if they achieved it at all.
However, perhaps the most pertinent factor for a punter to consider is the importance of having the right jockey on your side for the big occasion, the man or woman who doesn’t crack under the pressure of a career-defining race such as the Champion Hurdle or Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Ruby Walsh is the perfect case in point, the most successful jockey in the history of the Cheltenham Festival with 59 winners. Remarkably, Walsh registered 41 of his 59 wins at the Festival in Grade One races, while arguably even more impressive is the fact that he rode at least one winner at every Cheltenham Festival between 2002 and 2019.
Of course, Walsh had the benefit of riding primarily for Paul Nicholls and Willie Mullins – two of the pre-eminent trainers of their generation on either side of the Irish Sea – but he didn’t find himself in that position by chance and his big-race temperament was just one of many qualities which set him apart from most other riders in his era.
Blackmore is deadly on the big day
Walsh retired from the saddle in 2019, so the obvious question is which jockey has assumed his mantle as the go-to rider in the biggest prizes that the sport has to offer?
If the events of last spring are anything to go by, then Rachael Blackmore could be well on her way to achieving similar status. She has already done her best to enter the consciousness of the wider British public by guiding Minella Times to a memorable victory in last year’s Grand National at Aintree, in the process becoming the first female jockey to win the race.
It was a faultless ride aboard Minella Times and everything we had come to expect from Blackmore after her record-breaking achievements at the Cheltenham Festival three weeks earlier, a meeting at which she won the Leading Jockey Award for the first time with six winners.
Blackmore’s beloved Honeysuckle was the star act when winning the Champion Hurdle. That ride was perhaps most notable for the simplicity in its execution, but the versatility demonstrated by Blackmore elsewhere at the meeting really was something at which to marvel.
Deadly from the front when partnering Sir Gerhard to victory in the Champion Bumper, she then proved confidence personified when bringing Telmesomethinggirl through from the rear to win the Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle the following afternoon.
Overall, Blackmore has now partnered nine winners at the Cheltenham Festival since her debut there in 2017, a tally which has been surpassed by only five other jockeys who will be in action at the meeting in 2022, many of whom have been at the game much longer than her.
That comment certainly applies to Davy Russell, who partnered his first Festival winner when Native Jack won the Cross Country Chase back in 2006. Russell has ridden 24 more winners at Cheltenham in the interim to ensure that he is not only the most successful Festival jockey of those still riding, but he is also ranked joint-fourth on the all-time list.
Ruby Walsh (59), Barry Geraghty (43) and Sir A.P. McCoy (31) are the only three jockeys to have ridden more winners at the Festival, all former sparring partners of Russell. It says plenty about the 42-year-old Russell’s hunger to add to his tally that he is barely a month younger than Walsh, who is now nearly three years retired.
Russell demonstrates rare longevity
Russell can’t quite match Walsh’s record of riding at least one winner at every Festival between 2002 and 2019, but it’s rare too that he leaves the meeting empty-handed, partnering at least one winner in every year between 2006 and 2018.
Russell enjoyed one of the most memorable days of his career when riding a treble on the final day of the meeting in 2014, capped by a dramatic victory aboard Lord Windermere in the Gold Cup.
That success was particularly poignant as it underlined his status as one of the best riders around just a few months after he had lost his job as number one jockey to Gigginstown House Stud, the owners who had provided him with many of his Festival wins up to that point.
Russell has had Gigginstown back in his corner in more recent years and they provided him with two of his four wins when he won the Leading Jockey Award at the Cheltenham Festival for the first time in his career in 2018. One of those winners was Delta Work in the Pertemps Final, a race Russell was winning for the third year in succession.
Russell couldn't make it four in a row in 2019 and it was that year in which his winning streak at the Festival also came to an end, drawing a blank from 17 rides. In true Russell style, though, he bounced back with three winners at the meeting in 2020 before a serious neck injury forced him to miss last year's Festival altogether.
Many other riders would have called it quits in Russell’s position given his age and the severity of the injury, but he hasn’t looked back since finally returning to the saddle in September.
Just like at the Cheltenham Festival over the years, Russell has continued to demonstrate an ability to raise his game when the stakes are at their highest, executing a couple of picture-perfect rides when winning the Savills Chase on Galvin and the Irish Gold Cup on Conflated.
Unlimited Replays
of all UK and Irish races with our Race Replays
Discover Sporting Life Plus Benefits
That pair are both trained by Gordon Elliott and at the time of writing it remains to be seen which of them Russell will ride in the Gold Cup at this year’s Festival. One thing's for sure, though, and that is that Russell will have a very strong book of rides at the meeting thanks to the backing of Elliott, who provided the rider with two of his four wins in 2018 and all three of his wins in 2020.
It's inevitable that all eyes will be on Rachael Blackmore in 2022 after her heroics at last year’s Festival, and few will debate that she has the potential to rack up a hatful of wins at the meeting in the years to come.
However, Russell is sure to be a difficult man to catch with 25 winners already on the board, particularly as he shows no signs of slowing down yet.
Davy Russell's 25 Cheltenham Festival winners
- 2006 - Native Jack (Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase)
- 2007 - Joes Edge (Festival Trophy Handicap Chase)
- 2008 - Naiad du Misselot (Coral Cup)
- 2008 - Tiger Cry (Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase)
- 2009 - Weapons Amnesty (Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle)
- 2010 - Weapons Amnesty (RSA Insurance Novices' Chase)
- 2011 - First Lieutenant (Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle)
- 2011 - Carlito Brigante (Coral Cup)
- 2012 - Sir des Champs (JLT Novices' Chase)
- 2013 - Lord Windermere (RSA Insurance Novices' Chase)
- 2014 - Tiger Roll (Triumph Hurdle)
- 2014 - Lord Windermere (Cheltenham Gold Cup)
- 2014 - Savello (Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase)
- 2015 - Windsor Park (Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle)
- 2015 - Rivage D'Or (Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase)
- 2016 - Diamond King (Coral Cup)
- 2016 - Mall Dini (Pertemps Final)
- 2017 - Presenting Percy (Pertemps Final)
- 2018 - Presenting Percy (RSA Insurance Novices' Chase)
- 2018 - Delta Work (Pertemps Final)
- 2018 - Balko des Flos (Ryanair Chase)
- 2018 - The Storyteller (Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate)
- 2020 - Envoi Allen (Ballymore Novices' Hurdle)
- 2020 - Samcro (Marsh Novices' Chase)
- 2020 - Chosen Mate (Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase)
Also in this series
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
