WHAT I HAVE LEARNED FROM THE FESTIVAL?

​At the end of every Cheltenham Festival I vow to stop allowing my hopes to fly too high. It is a vow impossible to abide by. A horse will come to Prestbury Park that gladdens the heart and makes one exclaim that it is a gift from the gods who might, just might, be the new Arkle we have waited so long to proclaim. From long experience we should know that horses can disappoint, aided, of course, by the fates of life that allow hammer blows to rein down on both the mighty and the seemingly invincible.
Cheltenham is always a joy, a carousel ride through the emotions. Life, though, real gritty, heartless life, has at its core disappointment and grief and can add blacks and greys to those whose life is generally one of supreme colour and good fortune, while it can smear an extra texture of the dark side to those born to struggle against life’s travails. The punter versus the bookmaker versus the ground conditions versus the fates. The battlefield of dream and nightmare.
Of course for the battered English the meeting began so well with Tom George winning the Supreme with the underrated Summerville Boy, with Amy Murphy’s good horse a close and honourable second. Kalashnikov will be interesting over fences next season. I sincerely hope his owner is not persuaded to sell to one of the big battalions as the sport needs the likes of Amy Murphy to keep training the good horses they work so hard to produce.
Of course after Summerville Boy the meeting kicked into gear for the Irish, starting with Footpad and then Benie Des Dieux, Rathvindon and so on and so on. Of course they failed to win any of the big three championship races and that they should remember when crowing about how they whipped the arses of the British.
Buveur d’Air is a good horse in need of a two or three challengers. Where they will come from is anyone’s guess as I didn’t see a horse at the entire meeting who you would expect to extend Buveur d’Air next season. Both of the impressive Mullins mares look chasing material, Samcro too. If Melon could not beat the champion on desperate ground he isn’t going to beat him on any other sort of ground. The hurdle division at the moment is as poor as I have ever known it. An opportunity, wouldn’t you think, for a top-class flat horse to be campaigned over hurdles next season? Another Alderbrook or Kribensis is required.
For someone who has ‘campaigned’ for female jockeys to be given an even break for far longer than it has been fashionable to do so it was a joy to see four women achieve success at the festival, especially the ever splendid Lizzy Kelly and the under-rated Bridget Andrews. I doubt if any winning jockey has ever brought so much joy to another jockey as achieved by Ms Andrews. Harry Skelton’s love and appreciation of her triumph was the most uplifting moment of the meeting.
It is never a surprise to see Katie Walsh winning big races, it did though take the gilt off the gingerbread to see her suspended for whip abuse. Harriet Tucker produced one of the rides of the week – if you considered it was only her second ride on a racecourse - on Pasha Du Polder, a horse who loves the ladies. If Victoria Pendleton had been given more positive riding instructions or if she had ridden more positively this no doubt would have been Pasha Du Polder’s third Festival win.
Samcro is good but we’ve known that all season and his win really did nothing to boost his reputation. He will be seven next season and if they do not send him novice chasing his boundless potential will be wasted. Those people who want him to stay hurdling fail to understand what ‘potential’ means or what Giggingstown stand for.
Samcro is good but he’ll not win a Gold Cup while there is a spring in the step of Presenting Percy. Not even bottomless ground will stop him winning the Gold Cup next season. Monalee, too, is potentially top-class and those people who have enjoyed the Black Corton fairy story this season should not lose the faith as the ground and a long season caught him out. Neither Native River nor Presenting Percy look King George horses to me and I would not be at all surprised to see the fairy story turn into a Hollywood blockbuster come next Christmas. I just wish Bryony would get more rides. As with Lizzy and Bridget she is a talent underused.
As much as I would like to see Altior tested over 3-miles I also cannot wait for the next instalment of the Altior-Douvan clash. I was on Douvan’s side in the 2-mile Champion Chase and have no doubt he would have won if he had stood up. If Willie Mullins could get Penhill to win without a race beforehand why wouldn’t he have Douvan equally fit?
The Gold Cup was a duel to live long in the memory and I can only approve the praise heaped on Richard Johnson and Nico de Boinville, the most underrated jockey riding at the moment. Nico is both a horseman and a great thinking jockey, though neither of those attributes were ever going to be enough to get Might Bite up the hill in front. He reminds me of Pendil, a great horse on the park courses like Kempton but at a disadvantage at Cheltenham over the Gold Cup distance. It is reasonable to think that Native River will only be seen to an advantage on soft ground and it is the lap of the weather gods if he is to win a second Blue Riband.
The major disappointment, apart from the equine fatalities that always take a chunk of the joy out of Cheltenham, were the six whip bans. Winning at all costs should not be endorsed by fines and suspensions that are small beer in comparison to the kudos of winning. On Rathvindon the excellent Patrick Mullins received six days and yet on the Thursday he got only 4-days for his ride on Mall Dini. Surely after flouting the rules twice in three days the second violation deserved double the suspension of the first? Ruby got two days for his ride on Benie Des Dieux, his sister got 6-days for her never-say-die ride on Relegate in the Bumper and Noel McParlan received 9-days for his ride on Missed Approach. Richard Johnson got seven days and a humungous fine for his ‘brilliant’ ride on Native River. Do you think any one of them feel imposed upon by the length of their suspensions? If they had all received three weeks they would not let out a single collective tear. An imposed ‘holiday’ is a small price to pay for a career-defining moment in the Festival sun.
If a jockey, owner and trainer can lose a race if their horse impedes a rival in the closing stages or breaks any other of the rules of racing, why are they not disqualified if the jockey flouts the whip rules? It is time this anomaly is sorted out. It is, if you forgive the pun, a whip for our detractors to beat us with.