THE F E S T I VAL™ 15-18 MARCH 2022
“IT’S JUSTMASSIVEANDTHE GOLDCUP ISWHATYOUDREAM ABOUT…WINNERSATCHELTENHAM, I CAN’TTELLYOUHOW MUCHTHEYMEAN, YOU JUSTDREAMABOUT IT”
the first female jockey to be crowned as leading rider at The Festival. Also on the card is the St James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase, which follows the Gold Cup and might well receive one of the biggest cheers of the week in 2022. The race is known as the ‘Gold Cup for amateur riders’ due to being run over the exact same distance as the feature contest. It channels a traditional Corinthian spirit which very few other sports are able to replicate, and with the pandemic preventing amateurs from competing in 2021, this season’s renewal will be the most eagerly anticipated for all those taking part. It is then up to the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle to bring the curtain down on The Festival. No matter whether you are there to witness it or watching from home on TV, the final runner passing the winning post signals not only the end of Four Days of Extraordinary, but also the beginning of a 12 month countdown…
his horses by ferry, ahead of five days of COVID quarantine upon his return home. Speaking after the race, he admitted his success throughout The Festival week still seemed like a dream. He laughed: “I think I’m still in the hotel, it’s Monday night and it’s the start of the week and nothing has happened as of yet – it’s mad! “It’s just massive and the Gold Cup is what you dream about winning. Any of these races, winners at Cheltenham, I can’t tell you how much they mean, you just dream about it.” While Day Four of The Festival might be misconstrued by some as being all about one race, nothing could further from the truth. Friday begins with the Grade One JCB Triumph Hurdle, a race which has a knack for producing thrilling finishes and stars of the future in equal measure. That will almost certainly ring true for the 2021 winner Quilixios, though his victory will be remembered as the crowning moment for Rachael Blackmore, who became
they can add substance to their stamina over the three and a quarter mile trip. Winning the race automatically writes your name into Cheltenham folklore and even some of the sport’s most consistent performers have retired without winning the ultimate prize. Willie Mullins might be the most successful trainer in Cheltenham Festival history with 78 winners, but even he was beginning to wonder if he would ever add the Gold Cup to his CV. That was until Al Boum Photo’s first victory in the race in 2019. The 2021 renewal will go down as significant for its own reasons, capping off a stunning week for Henry de Bromhead, who saddled a one-two with Minella Indo and A Plus Tard. The trainer was completely dominant last season and became the first to win the Unibet Champion Hurdle, Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase and WellChild Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same year. Although clearly delighted with his success, it shows the mark of the man that he travelled back with
56 KAL ENDAR
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