Cheltenham Festival
Cheltenham Festival 2024 wrap up
The Cheltenham Festival never fails to disappoint and the same can certainly be said for this year’s meeting, with many successes, disappointments and surprises adding to the drama and chaos that this fixture brings year after year.
We take a look at some of the most notable performances from each day of this year’s Cheltenham Festival below.
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Day One – Tuesday 12th March
On Day One of the festival, all eyes were on the Irish trainer from the Closutton yard, Willie Mullins, who started this year’s meeting with 94 Festival winners to his name. Given Constitution Hill’s absence from the Champion Hurdle, Mullins found himself with the favourite in five of the seven races, with State Man, Lossiemouth, and Gaelic Warrior all coming out on top, making it 97 for Willie heading into Day Two.
Kim Bailey’s Chianti Classico stole the hearts of many in the Ultima ridden home by David Bass to break up the Willie Mullins treble in the Arkle, Champion Hurdle and Mares’ Hurdle. It was then Joseph Patrick’s 9/1 shot, Lark In The Mornin, who attracted the attention when winning the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle in the penultimate race. The National Hunt Challenge Cup marked the final race of the day, named in honour of the late Maureen Mullins, which was fittingly picked up by her grandson, Emmet Mullins, by his charge Corbetts Cross.
Day Two – Wednesday 13th March
On 97 winners, the century was looking a certainty on Day Two for Willie Mullins with the likes of Ballyburn in the Gallagher, Fact To File in the Brown Advisory and El Fabiolo in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. The first obliged convincing fashion to make it 99 for Mullins, with one of his stable stars El Fabiolo looking as good as nailed on to win the Champion Chase given main rival Jonbon was declared a non-runner for Nicky Henderson. El Fabiolo fluffed his lines over the fifth jump and was pulled up, with Henry De Bromhead’s Captain Guinness taking full advantage under a brilliant ride from Rachael Blackmore – the dream of the century was still an ongoing pursuit with two races left in the day. However, it was Jasmin De Vaux in the last race of the day ridden by Willie’s son Paddy, beating the Gordon Elliott favourite Jalon D’oudairies in the Champion Bumper, which marked the 100th Festival winner for Willie Mullins.
Despite Day Two being the Willie Mullins party, it was the British brother trainer and jockey duo that stole the show that day, with Dan and Harry Skelton picking up their first two winners of the meeting. Langer Dan was the victor in the third race, the Coral Cup, with Unexpected Party living up to his name in the Grand Annual, winning by over two lengths at an SP of 12/1.
Day Three – Thursday 14th March
The action switched to the New Course on day three, and it was the British making a late charge in the Prestbury Cup, winning all three of the opening races. Grey Dawning won the Turners and encouraged a continuation of festivities from the day before for the Skelton brothers, only to be amplified further by Protektorat’s win in the Ryanair which made it four wins in two days for the pairing. 25/1 Monmiral kicked off proceedings for both Paul Nicholls and Harry Cobden in the Pertemps, marking their first respective victories of the meeting.
Other notable victories for the British on Day Three were Shakem Up’Arry in the Plate for Ben Pauling and Golden Ace in the Mares’ Novice Hurdle for Jeremy Scott. Gordon Elliott also got his first winner of the Festival in the Stayers’ Hurdle, as Teahupoo travelled over the line in style as his 5/4 odds suggested he would.
Day Four – Friday 15th March
The rain continued to fall from the Thursday afternoon into Friday morning which left the going heavy on Gold Cup Day. Willie Mullins had another three-peat in the form of Majborough in the Triumph Hurdle, Absurde in the County Hurdle and of course the golden-boy Galopin Des Champs who galloped and jumped around the New Course with ease to pick up a second consecutive Gold Cup, firmly cementing himself in the history books with the likes of Best Mate, Kauto Star, and the most recent Mullins and Paul Townend back-to-back story, Al Boum Photo.
JP McManus had a nice 1-2 in the Mares’ chase with Limerick Lace and Dinoblue, the former being trained by Gavin Cromwell, to add another win to the tally. Gordon Elliott finished the week off in style, having won with both Stellar Story in the Albert Bartlett and Better Days Ahead in the final race of the meeting, the Martin Pipe.
Despite the Prestbury Cup being quite closely contended at one point, the Irish ran away with it with 18 winners across the week, with the British falling short with nine. Should Nicky Henderson’s horses have been on top form, who knows how close it could have got!
The countdown begins for Cheltenham 2025… now!
