CHELTENHAM in March started sans Gordon Elliott, which caused quite a flurry in the run-up to the event; in the end the week belonged to Rachael Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead, but Henry’s a gentleman, and he knew when it was appropriate to step aside.

Blackmore has long been setting records and shattering glass ceilings, and in becoming the first female jockey to become champion rider at the Festival, she was very much planting a flag.

For his part, de Bromhead was becoming the first trainer to win the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, and Gold Cup in the same year.

On Tuesday, Appreciate It set the tone for Irish dominance with a 24-length win in the Supreme, followed by a top-notch performance from Shishkin, whose 12-length success in the Arkle could have been doubled.

The best was still to come as Blackmore and Honeysuckle maintained their unbeaten record in landing the Champion Hurdle, beating Sharjah by six and a half lengths.

Day two saw another sparkling performance for a novice, this time with Blackmore and Bob Olinger brushing aside the opposition to win the Ballymore Hurdle.

Underwhelming

Monkfish was deemed a certainty in the Brown Advisory (Broadway – don’t say RSA), and he duly delivered, but not after a rather underwhelming performance by his standards.

The Champion Chase was a messy affair, with a slow pace meaning that the first six home were covered by as many lengths, and hot favourite Chacun Pour Soi somehow failed to win despite hitting the front at the last.

The beneficiary was Put The Kettle On, who rallied gamely from the final fence to regain the lead in the last 100 yards, becoming the first mare to win the race in the process.

“St Patrick’s Thursday” was a confusing day, it started with the shock of Envoi Allen’s fall in the Marsh Novices’ Chase (Golden Miller – don’t say JLT), which paved the way for Chantry House to grab the prize, ably assisted by pacemaker Shan Blue.

Stunning win

Highlight of the day was the stunning Ryanair win of Allaho for Willie Mullins and Rachael Blackmore, of which more below, closely followed by the delight of Danny Mullins, who picked up the spare ride on Flooring Porter in the Stayers’ Hurdle, and made it count in dashing style to land his first Festival win after a series of placed efforts.

That delight was in contrast to the disappointment felt by Johnny Moore, who had to stand himself down after realising he wasn’t fit enough to do the horse justice when riding him out on the morning of the race.

It was a brave, if heartbreaking call by Moore, who still led Flooring Porter up. To see the pair of them celebrate the win together on the pull-up was a genuinely tender moment, and wonderful to see. Fair play to Johnny for having the strength of character to make that tough decision, and to Danny for sharing his glory.

More drama

Friday provided more drama, and more history, with Blackmore sealing the riding honours when landing the Triumph Hurdle on Quilixios, and that was followed by another win for Gavin Cromwell, as Vanillier fared best in a strongly run Albert Bartlett.

Henry de Bromhead’s week got infinitely better when he saddled Minella Indo and A Plus Tard to finish first and second in the Gold Cup, and the only regret is that, for once, Rachael chose wrong and missed what would have been the crowning achievement of an incredible week.

It’s hard to blame her, as Minella Indo pretty much ignored her every command when beaten in the Irish Gold Cup, and it was hard to see a similar jumping performance being good enough to win at Cheltenham.

Ironically, she conjured another brilliant performance out of A Plus Tard, but this time, Minella Indo never missed a beat, and he stayed on too well under Jack Kennedy to win a momentous race by a length and a quarter.

Despite that rare setback, Rachael Blackmore ended the week with six winners to land the Ruby Walsh Trophy for leading rider at the Festival.