One of the great Racing and indeed annual Sporting Highlights commences next Tuesday afternoon March 12th as the Cheltenham Festival gets underway.
As is traditional, The Supreme Novices Hurdle gets he festival underway, and it was 29 years ago in March 1995 that Tourist Attraction with Mark Dwyer onboard got the ball rolling for the Willie Mullins stable.
A shock 25/1 winner, Tourist Attraction began a sequence of success for The Champion Trainer that continues almost 30 years on.
Heading into this years Festival, Willie is the leading trainer in Cheltenham Festival History with 94 winners and having once again possessing a strong squad at his disposal, it would be no surprise should he train at least half a dozen winners next week and become the first trainer in history to reach a century (100) of winners at the festival.
Willie has been leading trainer at the festival on ten occasions in the past 13 years and is widely expected to acheive that feat again this year, particularly having completely dominated The Dublin Racing Festival in Leopardstown a month ago as he trained the winners of all eight Grade 1 races,
He has had so many great memories throughout the past 3 decades with so many top class horses. Among the many highlights were his three Gold Cup winners: Al Boum Photo (2010 and 2020) and Galopin Des Champs (2023), Four Champion Hurdles: Hurricane Fly(2011 and 2013), Faugheen (2015) and Annie Power (2016), along with two Champion Chases: Energumene (2022 and 2023).
Also, the brilliant mare Quevega achieved legendary status in 2014 when making history by winning the Mares Hurdle for a sixth straight consecutive year, and in the process she became the first horse ever to win at the Cheltenham Festival six years in a row eclipsing the 5-in-a-row Gold Cup triumphs of Golden Miller back in the 1930s, while one of his best horses was ten-times Grade 1 winner Florida Pearl who was the first superstar to emerge from the stable.
Florida Pearl was twice a Festival winner when winning The Champion Bumper in 1997, while twelve months later in 1998 the gamble to plunge him into the world of steeplechasing paid dividends when he won the Sun Alliance Chase.
He would go on to be placed twice in The Gold Cup the following two years (1999 and 2000), while winning a whole host of other featured races including The Irish Gold Cup – Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup – on four occassions (1999, 2000, 2001 and 2004), while one of his best moments was defeating subsequent three-in-a-row Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate (2002-2004) in The 2001 King George Chase.
The Champion Trainer can expect more memories to add to the collection next week, but this years Festival will be tinged with sadness and poignancy following the recent passing of his Mum Maureen a month ago.
Maureen was an ever present at The Cheltenham Festival for several years, and she was so proud of her children and grandchildren’s success and acheivements. She was a most familiar sight in the parade ring after a Mullins family triumph, especially on one of the most famous days in Cheltenham history.
Dawn Run trained by her husband Paddy Mullins won The Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1986, and afterwards in the winners enclosure there were amazing scenes of jubilation that had seldom been seen on a racetrack previously. Dawn Run made history by becoming the first racehorse to complete The Champion Hurdle/ Gold Cup double, a feat that still stands almost 40 years on, and this year is the 40th anniversary of her Champion Hurdle triumph in 1984.
Willie has a leading hand in all of the feature races throughout next week, and with the ongoing uncertainty – at time of writing – about the participiation of last years Champion Hurdle winner Constitution Hill, State Man is a very strong possibility to provide the champion trainer with a fifth Champion Hurdle triumph.
State Man won The County Hurdle at The 2022 Festival, and over the past 16 months he has dominated the two mile hurdle scene.
Last season, he acheived a clean sweep of victories in Ireland by winning all four Grade 1 races for seasoned hurdlers over two miles.
He won The Morgiana Hurdle in Punchestown, and that was followed by victories in Leopardstown in The Matheson Hurdle at The Christmas Festival before following up in The Irish Champion Hurdle at The Dublin Racing Festival.
Having finished runner-up to the brilliant Constitution Hill at last years Champion Hurdle in Cheltenham, State Man returned to winning ways as expected with an odds-on victory in The Paddy Power Champion Hurdle at The Punchestown Festival.
Last years Champion Hurdle runner-up has maintained his winning run on Irish soil this season by adding three further Grade 1 wins, as he repeated last seasons triumphs by winning The Morgiana Hurdle, The Matheson Hurdle and Irish Champion Hurdle.
Lossiemouth is also entered in The Champion Hurdle, but she will run in the following race, The Mares Hurdle. She will be a short price favorite to win at The cotswolds for the third time having won the Triumph Hurdle last year, while in late January she was most impressive in landing The Grade 2 Unibet Hurdle by about 10 lengths.
On Day two, El Fabiolo will be odds-on to win The Queen Mother Champion Chase, and victory next Wednesday will make it a hat-trick of consecutive Champion Chase triumphs for the champion trainer following Energumene’s victory the past two years.
Monkfish made a most welcome return to the racecourse in Gowran Park on Thyestes Day with an emphatic victory in The Galmoy Hurdle, and the one time Gold Cup favorite is a best priced 16/1 for The Stayers Hurdle next Thursday.
His stable companion Sir Gerhard is also among the entries for The Stayers, while Willie’s nephew Emmet is likely to be represented by Noble Yeats who would be an interesting runner.
Noble Yeats won The Aintree Grand National in 2022, and he finished fourth in both The Gold Cup and Grand National last year.
In late January, he won The Cleeve Hurdle in a titanic finish over the same course and distance as The Stayers Hurdle so he would be a live contender, while Gordon Elliott is likely to supply the two main market principals in Irish Point and Teahupoo.
Teahupoo was a close second behind stablemate Sire Du Berlais in last years Stayers, and he is twice a feature race winner in Gowran having won The Red Mills Hurdle in 2022 while he was a most impressive winner of The Galmoy Hurdle last year.
He will go into next Thursday’s race fresh having won a pulsating Hattons Grace Hurdle in Fairyhouse in early December, and he sets a very high standard. It may well prove to be one of the races of the week.
Next Friday, Galopin Des Champs will attempt to emulate his stable companion Al Boum Photo by winning consecutive Gold Cups and on his last two runs in Leopardstown, he was back to his very best.
Having finished third behind Fastorslow in The Durkan Chase at Punchestown in November, Galopin Des Champs was back to his brilliant best with a landslide victory in the Savills Chase at The Leopardstown Christmas Festival, while at The Dublin Racing Festival he reversed the form with his twice Punchestown conqueror Fastorslow to defend The Irish Gold Cup that he won last year.
The fairytale story would be if The John “Shark” Hanlon trained Hewick somehow managed to pull off a most famous triumph. The King George winner ran a cracker before coming down at the penultimate fence in last years Gold Cup, but having run so well in last years showpiece, connections will feel confident of another good run next Friday.
There will be more on Hewick and The “Shark” in next Friday’s Kilkenny Observer.
Once again, The Irish have a stranglehold and strength in depth across the four days, and it would be no surprise if they broke the 20 winner mark next week having done so previously in 2021 with a staggering and record breaking 23 winners.
Finally, The final national hunt meeting of the season in Gowran Park takes place tomorrow afternoon.
The feature race is the Holden Plant Rentals Handicap Steeplechase, and the Six Nations clash between Ireland and England will be shown on a big screen. It’s the start of a great week of sport for St. Patrick’s week, and the optimism of further Irish glory in both Racing and Rugby.
