Focus on the leading owners at the Cheltenham Festival

J. P. McManus

It was appropriate that when J. P. McManus reached the milestone of 4,000 winners as an owner earlier this year it should come at Cheltenham. The horse who provided him with that landmark success in the Cotswold Chase was Chantry House who was also the owner’s sole winner at last year’s Festival when successful in the Marsh Novices’ Chase. With five runners-up, including both big races on the Thursday with Fakir d’Oudairies in the Ryanair Chase and Sire du Berlais in the Stayers’ Hurdle, it was something of a frustrating Festival for the meeting’s most successful owner who had the first of his 67 Festival winners when Mister Donovan won the 1982 Sun Alliance Hurdle.

Chantry House will be attempting to become the second Gold Cup winner in the green and gold hoops after Synchronised in 2012, while McManus has won the Champion Hurdle a record nine times, with his latest winner Epatante bidding to regain the crown she won in 2020. Big-money purchase Jonbon in the Supreme is another high-profile runner on the first day, while good chances later in the week include Champ in the Stayers’ Hurdle and new French recruit Prengarde in the Cross Country.

Gigginstown House Stud

Michael O’Leary might not be investing any new young stock in his Gigginstown House Stud operation these days but the horses he already has, most of them in the chasing stage of their careers by now, continue to win big races. Conflated did just that when winning the Irish Gold Cup to general surprise at the Dublin Racing Festival and has the option of either the Cheltenham Gold Cup or winning back some of his owner’s sponsor money in the Ryanair Chase. Time is running out for O’Leary to win another Gold Cup; his 2006 winner War of Attrition was his very first winner at the Festival and he won it again ten years later with Don Cossack for Conflated’s trainer Gordon Elliott.

This Festival could well be the last for the best-known horse to carry the Gigginstown colours, dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll, favourite to win a third Cross Country Chase which would also be a record-equalling sixth Festival victory. Tiger Roll was also a former winner of the National Hunt Novices’ Chase and Gigginstown have a couple of leading contenders for that race this year with Run Wild Fred and Fury Road, while Frontal Assault heads the Kim Muir betting.

Cheveley Park Stud

Leading Flat operation Cheveley Park Stud might be relative newcomers to the jumping game but they made an immediate impact with their first Festival runners in 2019 and their select team have struck again at the top level at the Festival both years since, even emerging as the top owners at the 2021 Festival with three winners. Last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner Quilixios would face a stiff task against stablemate Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle but Allaho looks the one to beat again in his attempt to win the Ryanair Chase for the second time, and the most recent of Cheveley Park’s three Champion Bumper winners Sir Gerhard will have a big chance in whichever novice hurdle he contests.

2020 Champion Bumper winner Ferny Hollow has been side-lined again after looking a first-rate Arkle contender but Envoi Allen could bid for his third Festival success in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and A Plus Tard is favourite to go one better than 12 months ago and win the Cheltenham Gold Cup after hacking up in the Betfair Chase earlier in the season.

Marie Donnelly

Like J. P. McManus, Marie Donnelly and husband Joe have had success at the Festival from horses trained on both sides of the Irish Sea. Al Boum Photo won them Gold Cups in 2019 and 2020, and while he had to settle for third in the race last year, he’s among the top five in the betting for this year’s race after his customary successful prep run at Tramore on New Year’s Day.

While Willie Mullins trains the Donnellys’ Gold Cup hope, he also has the biggest threat to their chances of winning the Queen Mother Champion Chase with Shishkin, though a pre-Cheltenham clash with Energumene in the Clarence House Chase went the way of the Nicky Henderson-trained chaser. Shishkin has already carried the yellow and black checks of the Donnellys to victory at the last two Festivals in the Supreme and Arkle. Asterion Forlonge was fourth in the same Supreme, and while he too has developed into a top-class chaser in the Donnelly colours, he’s not the safest conveyance as he showed again when coming down at the last in the King George VI Chase when booked for second; he has the option of going back over hurdles in the Stayers’ at Cheltenham.

Robcour

Cork-based Brian Acheson, part-owner of Dornan Engineering who sponsor the Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham, has quickly become one of Ireland’s most successful owners of jumpers, though you won’t find his name in any race cards. Acheson’s runners in the pink and white halved colours with the black sleeves race under the ‘Robcour’ name and are mainly split between Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead. Robcour was fourth by prize money won over jumps in Ireland in 2020/21 and third by number of winners behind only McManus and Gigginstown.

Bob Olinger was a first Festival winner for Robcour last season when winning the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle and is odds on for the Turners Novices’ Chase this year. The unbeaten Journey With Me looks an exciting prospect for this year’s Ballymore, with De Bromhead starting him off in the same Gowran bumper which launched Bob Olinger’s career. Meanwhile, five-year-old Teahupoo has an each-way chance in the Champion Hurdle, having won all bar one of his seven starts over hurdles, while Mares’ Chase entry Gin On Lime made it five out of six over fences this season when making a remarkable recovery to win at Cheltenham’s November meeting.

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