as we gallop toward another n.h. festival.

​We must all cross our fingers and, if possible, our toes, and hope – it would help if the religious might also pray on a daily basis – that our anticipation and excitement for the great duals that lay in store for us during those life-enhancing four-days in March meet our expectations. The racing will, as always, hearten the soul and insulate the viewer for a short while against the evils of the world; as it always does. Cheltenham never fails to deliver, even, when as last year, it took place in an atmosphere reminiscent of a ghost town. 
The date today is January 16th, 5.20 in the morning, if you must know. The Cheltenham National Hunt Festival is not scheduled to start until March 15th. And I use the word ‘scheduled’ for fear of losing another Festival, perhaps not to Covid, that is all but played out, but to an unseasonal monsoon, an outbreak of beriberi disease or invasion of locusts, Russians, Chinese or flesh-eating aliens. Since we had the Grand National removed from our lives in 2020 and crowds from the Festival, January 1st to the Cheltenham roar on the Tuesday has become, at least for me, the season not of snow, ice and fog but the season to worry over the possibility of Cheltenham abandonment.
Fingers crossed one of the great clashes receives its promised rehearsal this coming Saturday when Shishkin and Energumene are due to lock horns at Ascot. Hopefully both will turn up, run to their best, with one of them having a legitimate excuse for not winning and with all to play for come the second-day of the Festival. And if Chacon Pour Soi returns to his best form and for once performs to his best on these shores, we could have a 2-mile Champion Chase to match the days of Viking Flagship and others when three-horses hurtle toward the last fence each with a genuine shout of winning.
Though the consensus is Honeysuckle is home and hosed for the Champion Hurdle, I wouldn’t now be so cocksure. It would be foolish to tip against her, especially with the unfair advantage of receiving 7Ibs from horses she is clearly superior to, but Willie Mullins has slipped an ace on to the table in the form of Appreciate It. He may be Champion Hurdle bound by default, with injury scuppering the start of his chase adventure, but he might be capable of accelerating alongside Honeysuckle when she sets off for the winning post.
The race my anticipation is greatest for is whatever the 3-mile novice chase is now called. (My ire is boiling on the almost annual change of title for some our sport’s most iconic and important races.) Galopin Des Champs versus Bravemansgame. I suspect the appearance of these two horses will scare away the opposition but what the heck! Wednesday March 16th might be the day two great steeplechasers first clashed. It is rare for two staying novice chasers to display flawless jumping combined with boundless stamina. My biggest fear for these two is not anything happening that prevents their participation at the Festival but Willie Mullins opting for the shorter distanced novice chase. (Whatever that is called nowadays!) No two novice chasers have impressed me equally in the same season and though my colours are tied to the Ditcheat mast, I hope that whatever the 3-mile novice chase is now titled, it is the first of many mouth-watering duals between these two horses over the coming seasons.
This might be the years of duals at the Festival, with the Stayers Hurdle looking a showdown between Klassical Dream and Flooring Porter. And I am sure the drama of sporting theatre will serve-up many other nip and tuck duals up the famous Cheltenham hill.
Although she may well take home the Gold Cup this season, and perhaps the Champion Hurdle, oh, and there’s Bob Olinger – what if he turned-up in whatever the 3-mile novice chase is now called, that’s a salivating thought, isn’t it? – just don’t expect the Rachael factor to be a leading factor this spring. I believe that bubble has burst. Which is simply reality. Blackmore had a rub of the green, all tuned to her superb ability as a jockey, that no jockey before or since could ever hope to achieve. It is the same with Henry de Bromhead. When someone achieves what he achieved last season, stuff never achieved before in National Hunt history, the following season, and perhaps seasons, can only ever be an anti-climax. And with Paul Townend back in action, and perhaps come March Robbie Power, Blackmore will have less fire-power. Bob Olinger, for instance, is owned by Robcour and when he is not injured, which is not very often of late, Robbie Power gets first dibs at their horses.
I doubt if Rachael Blackmore will ever fade from our sport. Already she is a legend, a woman who when the next history of National Hunt is written, albeit if that is in fifty-years hence, she will command a chapter to herself and her record-breaking achievements. She may be the ‘reluctant heroine’ of her time but her thoughts will be sought long after retirement from race-riding. Her star, though, will surely wane over the coming months and years and I suspect she will welcome the step back from the limelight. Though of course she has A Plus Tard, Honeysuckle and perhaps Bob Olinger to anticipate come March and my presumption may be rebutted by the majority, but it is beyond faith to expect her to again be leading jockey at Cheltenham or to win another Grand National. So, her star will inevitably begin to wane. Yet by heavens we must convey our respect to her for the illumination of her achievements.