07-08-2025
‘True Cheltenham legend' and Gold Cup hero is retired
One of the best known jump horses of the past few years has been retired from racing at the age of 12.
Minella Indo famously won the 2021 Cheltenham Gold Cup during the Covid disrupted and behind closed doors Festival.
He was a spare ride for Jack Kennedy after Henry De Bromhead's stable jockey Rachael Blackmore elected to ride runner-up A Plus Tard.
A Plus Tard and Blackmore went on to capture the 2022 Gold Cup - in a role reversal race where Minella Indo this time finished runner-up under Robbie Power.
The 12-year-old has played a significant part in Blackmore's career and provided the Tipperary woman with her first Grade 1 success at the Cheltenham Festival when winning the 2019 Albert Bartlett Hurdle at odds of 50-1.
It was his first ever victory but he proved it was no fluke by winning a month later at the Punchestown Festival and was narrowly beaten in the 2020 RSA Chase by the fast finishing Champ.
Minella Indo won eight times under rules, earning just shy of €1 million in prize-money, with seven of his wins achieved under record-breaker Blackmore, who herself retired in May. Jockey Rachael Blackmore with Minella Indo (Image: The Jockey Club/PA Wire)
Blackmore made history in 2021 when she became the first female rider to win the world's most famous jumps race on Minella Times and she was third on Minella Indo last year in 2024 after leading over the last.
Fans, reacting on social media, described Minella Indo as "as true Cheltenham legend".
Another said: "I'll never forget being at Cheltenham and watching him get done by Champ before he went on to Gold Cup glory. What a horse, happy to see him get that deserved retirement in one piece."
"He was a special horse for the Henry de Bromhead yard who gave the team some magical days."
Minella Indo is owned by Barry Maloney and began his life with John Nallen in Clonmel, the same man who sourced Grand National winner Minella Times.
