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The Guardian
15-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Thrills and spills at the Cheltenham festival but low crowds still a problem
A sense that anything could happen on any given day – a sense that had perhaps been receding at Cheltenham's festival in recent years – roared back with a vengeance in the West Country, leaving the bookmakers' social media feeds searching for ways to say 'We're all RICH!' that did not rub too much salt into the punters' wounds. 'Firmly in front,' was how one press release put it, after 'a week of mixed results' for the backers. Quite the understatement. There were seven odds-on shots, equalling the record since it moved to four days in 2005. Just two managed to get across the line: Kopek Des Bordes, at 4-6, in the opening Supreme Novice Hurdle, and Lossiemouth, also a 4-6 shot, in the Mares' Hurdle, the same day. Elsewhere, it was a painful week for backers of the short-priced favourites, with the major lowlights, in the feature events on Tuesday and Friday, being Constitution Hill's fall at 1-2 for the Champion Hurdle, and Galopin Des Champs' rather lacklustre performance behind Inothewayurthinkin as the 8-13 favourite for Friday's Gold Cup. Jonbon, another feature-race favourite, was beaten in Wednesday's Champion Chase. By the time the 100-1 shot Poniros, previously unraced over hurdles, came over the top to beat the well-fancied Lulamba and East India Dock in Friday's Triumph Hurdle, it must have felt to many punters as though the festival was trolling them. At the same time, though, there will be some punters who enjoyed an excellent week. Over the 28 races, the favourites showed a small level-stakes profit, thanks mainly to the sterling efforts of market leaders in the big handicaps. The favourites' strike-rate in handicaps was 38%, way ahead of the mean since the turn of the century of 15%, and Myretown's gritty, front-running success to land a gamble from 12-1 to 13-2 in Tuesday's Ultima will live long in the memory of anyone who backed him. Nor does it hurt to be reminded once in a while that finding winners at the festival is not supposed to be easy. The meeting's popularity and fascination depend on the promise that it is the most wildly unpredictable ride of the racing year and uncertainty, after all, is a key selling point of any spectator sport. Unlike a play or a movie, there is no script. The audience pays to see a story being written in front of their eyes or, in racing's case, a series of intense, volatile mini-dramas. On that basis, the spectators got exactly what they were paying for. It will be fascinating to see whether the lacklustre attendance on the first three days – down for the third year in a row – will come to be seen as a turning point in the narrative of regular falls in festival attendance. The total attendance at this year's festival was 218,839, a drop of 4.9% on last year's figure of 229,999, which takes the overall decline since the record crowds of 2022, the first post-pandemic festival, to 22%. Since the Gold Cup crowd has held up well at, or very close to, the cap of 68,500, the drop has been almost entirely on the first three days, from 206,752 in 2022 to 151,013 this year. The meeting has lost more than a fifth of its live audience since 2022, but on the first three days, it is down by more than a quarter. Guy Lavender, the track's new chief executive, shrewdly headed off too much day-by-day agonising over the crowd figures by conceding in an open letter last weekend that the overall attendance would be down. The feedback and data from his first festival will now be pored over to establish what the ex-Para might see as a bridgehead, to start the process of driving the numbers back up. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion The decision to expand the areas where racegoers are allowed to take their drinks certainly seemed to be welcomed and that numbers were down will also have made the overall experience – from getting to the track to moving around on the day – more enjoyable. Lavender said at the outset of the meeting that his aim was 'delivering unforgettable days out for our customers' and the overall balance of the feedback from his first festival in charge may well be positive. The next step, though, is to build back the live audience from Tuesday to Thursday while avoiding what might be seen as the Prestbury paradox: that the more you pack 'em in, the less likely they are to have an experience that they want to repeat. He has come across thus far as a man with a plan. It will be 12 months, at least, before we find out whether it is a good one.
The Guardian
12-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘That's for Michael': Marine Nationale leads poignant day at Cheltenham
At the moment of his greatest racing triumph, after a lifetime in the sport as a spectator, an amateur jockey, and owner and now a trainer, Barry Connell's thoughts after Marine Nationale's victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday turned, immediately and inevitably, to Michael O'Sullivan, who rode the same horse to victory in the Supreme Novice Hurdle here two years ago and died last month, from injuries sustained in a fall. 'The obvious thing is how raw and poignant it's all been over the last four weeks,' Connell said. 'Michael and myself went on a journey with this horse, he rode him in all his races in his novice season over hurdles. He started as a 7lb claimer with us and I asked him to turn pro, and he ended up winning three Grade Ones as a claimer and was leading rider [with two wins] on the first day [at Cheltenham two years ago]. 'It's an absolute tragedy that he's left us but he's a record that he can be really proud of, he's achieved more in a lifetime than a lot of riders who ride a lot longer ever achieve. So I'd like to dedicate this win to Michael and to his girlfriend Charlotte, who was here with the horse before when we were saddling up. Our hearts go out to all of his family and friends and his girlfriend, racing is a great community and gets behind people when things like this happen.' Sean Flanagan, Wednesday's winning rider, also paid tribute to O'Sullivan's role in Marine Nationale's success. 'First and foremost, his family obviously have to find it very hard,' Flanagan said. 'All the jockeys in Ireland, the UK and in the world have been under a cloud for the last couple of weeks. 'I'm only the man that steered him round today. Michael is the man who made him what he is. He will never be forgotten for that.' Connell and Flanagan's words encapsulated the emotion on an afternoon when, incredibly, O'Sullivan's double on the opening day of the festival in 2023, with Marine Nationale and then Jazzy Matty in the Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle, was replicated on Wednesday's card when Jazzy Matty stormed home in the Grand Annual Handicap Chase just 40 minutes after the Champion Chase. Marine Nationale's victory, meanwhile, came at the end of another dramatic race at this year's meeting, and at the expense of another beaten odds-on favourite in Nicky Henderson's Jonbon. Jonbon is among the most popular and consistent horses in training, and went into Wednesday's race with a record of 17 wins from 20 starts. All three of his defeats, however, had come at Cheltenham, and the track got the better of him once again. He was slow to stride from a standing start, then took off a half-stride too soon at the fifth-last and all but catapulted Nico de Boinville from the saddle as he came down on top of the fence. De Boinville tried to work his way back into contention but the damage had been done, and Marine Nationale and Quilixios, the 40-1 outsider of the eight-strong field, had drawn clear as they raced towards the final fence. Flanagan appeared to be travelling best, but Quilixios was still alongside the winner when he hit the fence and fell, gifting an easy win to Marine Nationale as Jonbon stayed on into a distant second place. It has been a tough two days for Nicky Henderson, Jonbon's trainer, following the fall of Constitution Hill, the favourite, in Tuesday's Champion Hurdle, and the trainer suggested the standing start – on an afternoon when the riders seemed almost incapable of getting away first time – had put Jonbon on the back foot from the off. 'He missed his kick at the start,' Henderson said, 'and he was then not where he wanted to be. Nico was saying that the start was all contributory. They were right on the tape and it went straight across his face. 'The next thing was, he was chasing them, and he likes to be up there ramming it, but there we go. However, he has flown home.' Jonbon is priced up at around 10-1 to finally end his festival hoodoo in this race next year, but Marine Nationale, who is a year younger, seems the likelier of the two to be back as a major contender in 12 months' time, to continue his trainer's love affair with the two-mile chasing championship. 'He travels, he jumps, he has everything you'd want in a champion chaser,' Connell said. 'I've been coming racing here since I was a student in the 1980s, just as a punter, and it's the one race that I always wanted to win. 'It's pure, unadulterated, on-the-edge speed. The horses finish quickly, they don't finish tired like in the Gold Cup. It won't sink in for a long time.'
Telegraph
10-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Constitution Hill could cost bookies £80m with victory in Champion Hurdle
Shortly after 1.20pm on Tuesday, as the dozen runners approach the starting tape for the Supreme Novice Hurdle, a roar will echo from the grandstands and out across the natural amphitheatre which sits under Cleeve Hill, signalling the start of the four-day Cheltenham Festival. The opening race may be tinged with sadness as it marks the death of talented jockey, Michael O'Sullivan, who burst onto the National Hunt scene when he won this race on Marine Nationale two years ago, but had his life cut cruelly short following a fall at Thurles in February. Tuesday also marks the 10th anniversary of the moment Annie Power, four lengths clear in the Mares' Hurdle and with the race all but in the bag, tipped up at the last flight, saving the bookies a £50 million satchel clean-out after accumulators on three short-priced Willie Mullins-trained winning favourites, Douvan, Un De Sceaux and Faugheen, rolled on to their exulted stable companion, the Rich Ricci-owned mare. No one is going to get rich backing odds-on shots in individual bets, so a similar situation could, for the first time in a decade, arise again when three short-priced favourites, Kopek Des Bordes, Majborough and Lossiemouth look to dominate the three Grade Ones before Constitution Hill, the banker of the week, attempts to regain his Unibet Champion Hurdle title. Currently, an accumulator on all four amounts to roughly a 15/2 shot and the bookies will look to day one with trepidation and possible industry liabilities of £80 million, according to Ed Nicholson, head of Unibet, sponsor not only of the Champion Hurdle but of Nicky Henderson's yard, from where Constitution Hill hails. 'I have a sense of deja vu,' Nicholson said yesterday, adding that the appetite for accumulators on the first day of the Festival has grown appreciably since 2015. 'For those of us here 10 years ago we might need a strong 'constitution' at 4pm on Tuesday.' Even allowing for the bookmaking publicity fraternity to think of a number and double it, my own feeling is that there are enough admittedly small chinks in the armour of the first three favourites for one or more of them to be beaten before the laid-back Constitution Hill strolls into the paddock. Supreme favourite Kopek Des Bordes is still very raw. He is strong and has been fitted with a first-time hood to help Paul Townend, but Willie Mullins believes he is a galloper, so everything else should favour this massive new talent. In the Arkle, Majborough's jumping has left something to be desired in the past, but having come from France he will have been schooled extensively before he ever got to Mullins and, apart from his own jumping, he has the Sir Alex Ferguson part-owned L'Eau Du Sud to contend with. Lossiemouth has not enjoyed much luck this season and, after being put in her place by Constitution Hill at Christmas, she had an awful fall at Leopardstown in February which, if it left no physical hangover, may have left its mark mentally, which I believe opens it up for Joyeuse. Constitution Hill is the best Champion Hurdler I have seen for perhaps a generation and, providing he does not do an Annie Power – he tried that here in January – or a Devon Loch, he looks invincible. Liverpool-born Matty Gill, who rides him out at Henderson's, says he has not seen him feel or look better. 'It's just a case of letting the horse do the talking and hopefully it will pan out the way it should,' Gill says. Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown outfit is best known for its staying chasers, not high-class two-mile hurdlers but Brighterdaysahead has been beaten only once – by another of today's rivals Golden Ace in last year's Mares' Hurdle – and it is a sporting gesture to pitch her in the Champion rather than going back and trying to go one better among her own sex. She gets a 7lb allowance by virtue of being female, which might even it up a bit, and she looked a picture in Gordon Elliott's string out on the course on Sunday. But I am not sure she will have the tactical pace to outgun Constitution Hill, who comprehensively beat last year's winner State Man two years ago. At 40-1, Golden Ace is interesting and maybe one for the forecast with the favourite. Her handlers tried stretching her out over 2½ miles and twice she bumped into Lucky Place. By the time the Stayers' Hurdle is run on Thursday, that form might look pretty smart, but two miles is her distance and her trainer, Exmoor-based Jeremy Scott, has had an indifferent winter until he had three winners on Friday. Throwing her in the Champion may not be Scott's worst idea, or the shot in the dark that her odds suggest. Guy Lavender, Cheltenham's new chief executive, has already made a pre-emptive strike and popped the attendance balloon by announcing that crowds are likely to be down to around 210,000 for the four days. While the Grade Ones on day one have hardly attracted big numbers in the past, the three handicaps make up for it with maximum fields and, from a punting point of view, that is where the value is to be found today. Katate Dori, named after an Aikido move to grab an opponent's wrist, should be able to put his rivals in a head lock in the Ultima while Stencil has the right outline to put the Chantilly-based Tom George, 25, in the record books as the youngest trainer in Festival history. But if Kopek Des Bordes, Majborough, Lossiemouth and Constitution Hill all come in, then there could be a double roar at 4pm; one from the punters, the other from bookmakers' vehicles leaving the car park.
The Guardian
10-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Cheltenham festival day one tips: Brighterdaysahead can upset Constitution Hill in Champion Hurdle
Constitution Hill has seen off every challenge with ease in winning all 10 of his races to date, but he could be facing his sternest opponent so far in Tuesday's Champion Hurdle and Brighterdaysahead (4.00) can also boast the strongest recent piece of form in the field. The Neville Hotels Hurdle at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting was set up for Brighterdaysahead by a front-running stable companion, while State Man, the defending champion on Tuesday, was clearly not at his best and finished a long way behind Gordon Elliott's mare. Yet Brighterdaysahead still put a remarkable 30 lengths between herself and the runner-up, and did so in an exceptionally fast time under the conditions. Taking her 7lb mares' allowance into account, Timeform's ratings suggest that performance puts her just 3lb behind Constitution Hill's best-ever run, in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at this meeting all of three years ago. Constitution Hill is undoubtedly one of the greatest hurdlers of all time, but there may be much less between the market principals than the betting suggests and as a result, Brighterdaysahead looks seriously overpriced at around 9-4. Cheltenham 1.20: Kopek Des Bordes is the first of four hot favourites in the opening day's Grade One events and a repeat of his level of form at the Dublin Racing Festival in February should be enough to get the punters onto the front foot. The visual impression of his 13-length success was backed up by a very fast time and he has as much, if not more, scope for improvement as any of his rivals. Cheltenham 2.00: The odds-on Majborough, last year's Triumph winner, is top-rated on his winning Grade One form at Leopardstown in February but he took a while to warm to the task there and L'Eau Du Sud could prove a very tricky opponent. His jumping has been all but flawless in four starts this season and Majborough may need to be equally foot-perfect to prevail, which suggests Dan Skelton's runner must the bet at around 4-1. Cheltenham 2.40: Irish stables are 0-32 in this since 2016, a period when their runners have battered the domestic opposition elsewhere at the festival, but they have started to pepper the target over the last couple of years and Paul Gilligan's novice Sequestered is a live contender at around 16-1. The seven-year-old was useful over hurdles but is already much better over fences and has acquitted himself very well in valuable big-field handicaps at Leopardstown on his last two start while also promising better still to come. Cheltenham 3.20: A straightforward repeat of last year's odds-on success looks on the cards for Lossiemouth after the decision to switch her from the Champion Hurdle. Cheltenham: 1.20 Kopek Des Bordes 2.00 L'Eau Du Sud 2.40 Sequestered (nap) 3.20 Lossiemouth 4.00 Brighterdaysahead 4.40 Liam Swagger 5.20 Now Is The Hour (nb). Sedgefield: 1.38 Demoiselle Kap 2.18 Bond Broker 2.58 Fearless Action 3.38 Super Saint 4.18 Cave Article 4.53 Ce Mi Run. Wolverhampton: 4.30 Em Jay Kay 5.00 Enzos Angel 5.30 Mr Cool 6.00 Siobhanbrogan 6.30 Manton Road 7.00 Seas Of Elzaam 7.30 Till It Shines 8.00 Coconut Bay 8.30 Ciera G. Southwell: 5.05 King Of Speed 5.40 Westmorian 6.15 Powdering 6.45 Sneaky Blinder 7.15 Hammer The Hammer 7.45 Jeans Maite 8.15 One More Dream. Cheltenham 4.40: The up-and-coming James Owen stable could get a first festival win on the board here with Liam Swagger, who has already improved on his useful Flat form over hurdles and has a very workable mark after a light campaign with no run over jumps since December. Cheltenham 5.20: Now Is The Hour could find plenty of improvement for this step up to a marathon trip and Gavin Cromwell's record with runners at Cheltenham in general and the festival above all is exceptional.
The Guardian
07-02-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Jockey Michael O'Sullivan in intensive care after fall at Thurles
Michael O'Sullivan, who was airlifted to hospital after being injured in a fall at Thurles on Thursday, remains in intensive care while receiving treatment for his injuries, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board said in an update on the jockey's condition on Friday. O'Sullivan was riding Wee Charlie in a two-mile handicap chase when he was involved in a five-horse melee at the final fence. Three horses, including Wee Charlie, fell while two more unseated their jockeys. He was attended to by the racecourse's medical team before being taken to Cork University hospital by air ambulance. All the other riders and horses involved in the incident were uninjured. 'Michael is in the intensive care unit at Cork University hospital being treated for his injuries sustained at Thurles yesterday and is receiving the best medical care,' Dr Jennifer Pugh, the IHRB's chief medical officer, said on Friday morning. 'Michael's family wish to express their gratitude for all the well wishes.' O'Sullivan, 25, who is in his ninth season with a licence, has ridden three Grade One winners during his career and enjoyed his finest moment to date when steering Marine Nationale to victory in the Supreme Novice Hurdle, the opening race of Cheltenham's festival meeting, in 2023. He rode the same horse to win the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle earlier in the season, and also landed a Grade One novice hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival in February 2023. His three victories at the highest level all came during a three-year association with Barry Connell's stable, but the trainer announced an unexpected split in the partnership in November 2024 following a dispute over the rider's availability for a schooling session. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion O'Sullivan has subsequently been riding as a freelance for trainers including Willie Mullins and Pat Foley, and rode two horses for the French-based partnership of Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm at Ascot in November.
