THRILLING, GOOD, HEARTSTRINGS & WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, mR. RICHI.

​I honestly thought I would have seven-winners yesterday. Not confident enough to either put any cash on any of my fancies or commit to the I.T.V.7 but confident enough to believe I would have something to trumpet about this morning. Well, Burdett Road was 2nd in the Champion Hurdle, placed as I predicted. So, you know, small beginnings and oak-trees to come.
Yet, what a race; a Champion Hurdle that will be remembered from now till eternity. As Willie Mullins said, who could ever think two champions would fall in the same race. Make no bones about it, this was the best result for the Festival since Coneygree won the Gold for claimer Nico de Boinville and the endearing Bradstocks.
In my review of the race yesterday morning I did say that the owner of Golden Ace bold decision to skip the Mares Hurdle deserved reward, though I made an equally bold statement that the fates would turn their back on him. How wrong was I? The fates must have had his mare well-backed both each-way and to win. Now, this you will have to take on trust, but on all I hold dear, as the runners went to the start, I had a sense of Imperial Commander about the race. You know, when the Gold Cup was all about Denman and Kauto Star, with slogans on buses to that effect, only for Imperial Commander to crash the party. And then the sense of overthrow was accompanied by ‘I hope in that event Golden Ace wins’. If I had a smartphone and a betting account, I might easily have had a tenner on the mare. Would have, could have, might have. Did not have. Delighted by the result, all the same. David conquering Goliath always makes me happy.
To have the Champion Hurdle winner trained by a small-time owner and trained by someone as likeable as Jeremy Scott was exactly what the sport needed. And though Golden Ace may have been one of the more fortunate winners of a Blue Riband race, she was running a storming race when luck came her way with State Man, about to prove himself up with the best of Champion Hurdle winners, tipping over at the last. Hopefully, Golden Ace will be back next year to defend her crown, with no dilemma of which race to choose.
My negative thought on whether Brighterdaysahead could translate her form on a flat course to the inclines of Cheltenham proved to have legs. That is her second defeat at Cheltenham and her form suggests she just might be one of those good horses who cannot get up the Cheltenham hill.
As for Constitution Hill? He is showing no respect for hurdles and I would hope Nicky Henderson will now consider fences for him next season. My fear is that he will lose his confidence and we will lose him if they continue over hurdles, and from his first ever race Nicky was describing Constitution Hill as a chaser in the making. Now is the time to change direction.

Cheltenham always pulls at the heartstrings. First, yesterday, it was the owner of Kopek Des Bordes and his kidney cancer and then it was the owner of the Arkle winner Jango Baie who bought the horse the day his son died. It was either tears of joy yesterday or tears of joy mixed with tears of long sadness.

I argue with David Jennings assessment of Kopek Des Bordes victory in the Baring Bingham Hurdles as ‘brilliant’. He was not ‘Golden Sygnet’ brilliant, was he? He was, though, impressive, and the 2nd may also prove to be very good, also.

Let us get real, here. Lossiemouth should have run in the Champion Hurdle, and if she had run in the race it is odds-on, given what happened in the race, she would have won. Winning the Mares Hurdle does not justify her running in the race and though it is always nice to see Rich Richi win at the Festival, that does not defeat the argument that the best horses should run in the best races, not the easiest to win races. As I said yesterday, if Cheltenham do nothing to remedy the situation, they will be slighting the Champion Hurdle doing the sport a great disservice. And I do not imply the race should be scrapped but given a different position in the calendar where it brings credit to the sport, not detracting from it.