Tipperary will be very well represented at Cheltenham Festival

With the annual Cheltenham Festival just around the corner, owners, trainers, jockeys and punters from south Tipperary will be among those gathering in the shadow of the Cotswolds for the Olympics of the national hunt horse racing world, which begins next Tuesday afternoon and continues until Friday.

Chief among those will be Rachael Blackmore, who has made a habit of rewriting the sport’s history books in recent years.

In terms of Cheltenham, she became the first woman to ride the winner of the Champion Hurdle when partnering Honeysuckle to victory in 2021, the same year that she also became the first woman to win the leading jockey’s title with six winners.

She followed that up a year later by becoming the first female jockey to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup when the Henry de Bromhead-trained A Plus Tard, on which she had finished second the previous year, had a runaway success.
She also secured a repeat win on Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle in 2022.

The 34-year-old Killenaule jockey is now looking to add to her total of 14 festival winners.

Her mounts include Slade Steel, which runs in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle on Tuesday or the Baring Bingham (Ballymore) Novices’ Hurdle on Wednesday; Quilixios in the Arkle Novices’ Chase on Tuesday; Minella Indo in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase on Wednesday; Envoi Allen in the Ryanair Chase on Thursday and Amirite in the Ultima Handicap Chase on Tuesday.

The aforementioned Slade Steel is part of a strong team that will represent Robcour, which is owned by Clonmel businessman Brian Acheson and his family. They have the current favourite for Thursday’s Stayers’ Hurdle in the Gordon Elliot-trained Teahupoo.

Gordon Elliot also trains Robcour’s Gerri Colombe, which will take its chances in Friday’s Gold Cup, a race at which it has been aimed all season.

Irish Point is entered in the Stayers’ Hurdle on Thursday but could be rerouted to the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday, with the withdrawal of odds-on favourite Constitution Hill likely to make it a more open contest.

Former Triumph Hurdle runner-up Fil Dor, an interesting acquisition from the recent sale of the entire Caldwell Construction string, will run in Thursday’s Ryanair Chase.

Rachael Blackmore could also team up with two other Robcour horses in Hiddenvalleylake in the Coral Cup on Wednesday and Ain’t That a Shame in the Ultima Handicap Chase on Tuesday, although neither is certain to run.

Robcour will likely have a second runner in the Gold Cup in Gentlemansgame, which is trained in Everardsgrange, Fethard by Mouse Morris, who also has Foxy Jacks in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase on Wednesday.

This one is an enigmatic sort who will be looking to follow up his success in the cross country race at the same course last November.

Meanwhile, Angels Dawn, which is trained in Goolds Cross, Cashel by Sam Curling, could bid for a repeat win in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Handicap Chase on Thursday, after winning the race twelve months ago.

Another competitor with a local interest is Jake Coen from Fethard. Previously a flat apprentice with Joseph O’Brien, he changed codes and is now a conditional jockey with Gordon Elliott, although he still rides on the flat occasionally.

He had his first winner over the jumps on the Denise Foster-trained Petit Dejeuner at Limerick last November, and is likely to ride one of the fancied Gordon Elliot-trained horses in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle, which closes the festival on Friday.