Emotion, firsts, lasts – looking back on the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.
Donn McClean TUESDAY WAS EXTRAORDINARY. You could write a book on Tuesday and still fail to do justice to the day. When Constitution Hill put up that scintillating performance to win the Champion Hurdle, and the crowd’s reaction sent a shiver from the base of your spine to the nape of your neck, you thought, well, this is Cheltenham at its finest. It doesn’t get any better than this.It wasn’t just about Honeysuckle, it wasn’t just about a horse and a horse race.
The reception that greeted the pair of them when they returned to the parade ring is difficult to describe. Emotions running as deep as the crowds that packed high and wide around the winner’s enclosure. People with longer memories than most have said that they had never experienced anything like it there before: the best single day at the Cheltenham Festival ever. And a sprinkling of red ribbons around the place. It was simply a privilege to be there.
It was a first Cheltenham Festival winner too for trainer John Kiely, 85-year-old John Kiely, a gentleman who has masterminded A Dream To Share’s campaign, unbeaten now in four, and had him at concert pitch on Wednesday. John Kiely had had big winners before Wednesday, from King Of The Gales and Black Queen and Liss A Paoraigh to Head Of The Posse and Sweeps Hill and Carlingford Lough, but A Dream To Share was a Cheltenham Festival first.
The big three Irish trainers were dominant again. Henry de Bromhead added Maskada in the Plate and Envoi Allen in the Ryanair to Honeysuckle’s victory in the Mares’ Hurdle, to take his total for the week to three, while Gordon Elliott equalled that tally courtesy of Jazzy Matty in the Fred Winter Hurdle, Delta Work in the Cross-Country Chase and Sire Du Berlais in the Stayers’ Hurdle. He had near misses too, with Pied Piper, Salvador Ziggy, Chemical Energy and Gerri Colombe all going close.
Willie Mullins had six winners, El Fabiolo in the Arkle, Gaillard Du Mesnil in the National Hunt Chase, Impaire Et Passe in the Ballymore Hurdle, Energumene in the Champion Chase, Lossiemouth in the Triumph Hurdle and Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup. Five Grade 1s and a Grade 2. And Townend rode the five Grade 1 winners, with Patrick Mullins riding Gaillard Du Mesnil to victory in the National Hunt Chase.
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