2012

THE result of the Cheltenham Gold Cup was magic.

There has been no greater benefactor of National Hunt racing than J.P. McManus, and to capture his first Gold Cup was well deserved. The win was all-Irish.

To make the story better, he and Noreen won it with a horse they bred, is trained by a dear friend in Jonjo O’Neill and was ridden by A P McCoy, who doesn’t hide his feelings for his boss.

The winning ride was typical of what we have come to expect of McCoy – never give up, despite looking as though he was on board the first horse under pressure.

Noreen McManus is the official breeder of Synchronised and the dam, Mayasta, was trained for the McManus’s by Frank Berry, now their racing manager.

No need to remind you that J.P’s close friend John Magnier stood the sire Sadler’s Wells.

All of this combined must nearly place the win among the most pleasing ever for the McManus family – even with the special times they enjoyed with the likes of Istabraq and Don’t Push It.

A look at the table on this page shows that it was another good meeting for Irish-breds. The figures for British-bred winners show a massive improvement on the year before, while the French almost matched strides with their totals from a year earlier, though with fewer at the highest level. Germany weighed in with one.

Beat Hollow

What the table does not tell you also is that Beat Hollow, sire of the Grade 1 winner Cinders And Ashes, is now at Ballylinch Stud, while Robin Des Champs, sire of the Grade 2 French-bred winners Quevega and Sir Des Champs, is also in Ireland at Glenview Stud.

The celebrations in Ballylinch Stud must have been something else this week. Their sires past and present were responsible for Grade 1 winners Bobs Worth (out of a mare by King’s Theatre), Riverside Theatre, Cinders And Ashes and Brindisi Breeze. Kings Theatre sired the winner Balthazar King, while he also had the Grade 1-placed horses Voler La Vedette, Cue Card and Menorah.

Bob Back rowed in with the Grade 1 runner-up Boston Bob – and was the broodmare sire of the Gold Cup winner.

Coolmore’s Oscar was another sire on the double, with Rock On Ruby and Teaforthree winning, while Felix Yonger and Big Zeb were Grade 1-placed. It was also great to see sires such as Winged Love, Tiraaz, Stowaway, Alderbrook and Beneficial on the winner’s scorecard.

For Auction runs the race of his life

1982

ALTHOUGH failing to have a winner on the final day, the Irish-trained runners did well to take three events on each of the first two days at Cheltenham. The highlight was undoubtedly the victory of For Auction in the Champion Hurdle.

He looked fit to run the race of his life before the start, and certainly did when it mattered. His connections were somewhat apprehensive about his ability to handle extremely testing conditions. However, these fears proved unfounded. In fact, he looked to be enjoying himself throughout the race.

Confidently ridden by Colin Magnier, For Auction led at the third last hurdle, having been always prominent. Although pressed first by Ekbalco, and then by Broadsword, he kept battling on, and beat off their challenges to win going away up the hill.

The only hard luck story in the race was the unfortunate stumble of the favourite, Daring Rub, who unshipped Ted Walsh approaching the top of the hill. It was too early in the race to say that he might have been concerned in the finish, but it did appear that he had quite a lot of ground to make up.

Not content with the treble on Tuesday, the Irish repeated the exercise on Wednesday. There was a tremendous gamble on the Edward O’Grady-trained Mister Donovan in the opening Sun Alliance Novices’ Hurdle. If you were to believe some of the figures bandied about, owner J.P. McManus could live on the interest from the sum he is supposed to have won for the rest of his life.

Justified excuse

After the high scoring rate of the first two days, the Irish-trained runners drew a blank on Thursday. The ground had become very sticky and this proved a justified excuse for several of the more fancied contenders. In particular, Royal Bond was a major disappointment in the Gold Cup. He was never going well, and was beaten a long way out.

Victory went to Silver Buck from his stable companion Bregawn. This was a brilliant piece of training by Michael Dickinson, as Silver Buck had been lame at Christmas and Bregawn was carrying well over his current handicap weight. The favourite, Night Nurse, was another that failed to act on the ground, and was pulled up before the second last.

Unless For Auction goes chasing, it looks as if it will be some time before any horse lands the elusive Champion Hurdle/Gold Cup double.

Mixed fortunes for the Irish runners

1957

IT was a record meeting at Cheltenham from an attendances point of view, but the huge crowd of Irish visitors met with mixed fortune. At the end of the three-day fixture the number of Irish-trained winners amounted to only three.

On the first afternoon we drew a blank, on Wednesday Sentina and Saffron Tartan relieved the situation somewhat, while that hardy animal Bold Baby won on Thursday.

Saffron Tartan created a tremendous impression when justifying favouritism in the second division of the Gloucestershire Hurdle, toying with the opposition and then finishing full of running up the hill to post a win in a canter.

English racegoers who were having their first glimpse of Saffron Tartan hailed him as another Prince Regent or Golden Miller. Saffron Tartan was the only winner of the fixture for Vincent O’Brien, who during the meeting was seen having a long chat with the Queen Mother.

Sentina was very impressive when winning the National Hunt Handicap Chase, for which he was backed from 5/1 to 3/1. Tom Dreaper’s charge was beautifully ridden by Pat Taaffe.

Powell junior

Bold Baby, the third Irish winner of the meeting, was also the medium of some strong market support, and he won the Spa Hurdle with a bit in hand. He won over the course three years ago and was again ridden by Paddy Powell junior.

Thursday’s Gold Cup was not a great race to watch, but the Irish-bred Linwell is obviously a very good horse and won easily. Quita Que made a gallant attempt to win the Champion Hurdle but, like last year, was run out of it from the last flight, the spoils going to Merry Deal.

One of the best riding performances at the fixture was that of young Mr Alan Lillingston, who distinguished himself when winning the National Hunt Chase on Kari Sou.