Cheltenham Legends

Irish billionaire John Patrick McManus, almost invariably known in racing circles as ‘J.P.’, is far and away the most successful owner in the history of the Cheltenham Festival. McManus will always be indebted to his first Festival winner, Mister Donovan, who he later reflected, ‘…got me out of all sorts of trouble’, in what is now the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle in 1982. However, McManus’ famous green and gold hooped silks have since been carried into the winners’ enclosure at Prestbury Park during the March showpiece a total of 67 times.

Of the four main ‘championship’ races run at the Festival, McManus has won the Champion Hurdle a record nine times, the Stayers’ Hurdle three times and the Cheltenham Gold Cup once. Undoubtedly, McManus’ best horse, so far, was Istrabraq, who won the Champion Hurdle three years running in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and, with a Timeform Annual Rating of 180, remains the second highest-rated hurdler, behind only Night Nurse, since the early Sixties.

The Queen Mother Champion Chase, in which McManus finished second with Flagship Uberalles in 2004 and Fota Island in 2006, but has never won, remains one of the few races in which he has yet to triumph. Indeed, he looked to have as genuine a chance as ever in 2020, when his Defi Du Seuil was sent off 2/5 for the two-mile chasing championship, but ran inexplicably badly, trailing in a well-beaten fourth of five.

When compared with other leading trainers at the Cheltenham Festival, such as Willie Mullins, Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls, Henry de Bromhead, who is based in Knockeen, Co. Waterford, is very much the ‘new kid on the block’. That said, he did saddle his first Festival winner, Sizing Europe, in the Arkle Challenge Trophy in 2010, but he has since increased his winning tally to 15, including 13 at Grade One level.

Sizing Europe followed up in the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2011, but it wasn’t until 2017, when Special Tiara won the same race for the yard, that de Bromhead really started to emerge as a force majeure at the Cheltenham Festival. In 2018, he won the Ryanair Chase with Balko Des Flos, in 2019, the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle with Minella Indo and, in 2020, added two more Grade One winners to his tally, courtesy of Put The Kettle On in the Arkle Challenge Trophy and Honeysuckle in the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle.

Even so, the best was yet to come for de Bromhead. At the 2021 Cheltenham Festival, he not only saddled six winners, five of them at Grade One level, but also became one of the few trainers to complete the Champion Hurdle – Cheltenham Gold Cup double, courtesy of Honeysuckle and Minella Indo. In fact, he saddled the same number of winners as leading trainer Willie Mullins and although beaten, fairly comprehensively, on countback, did have the satisfaction of seeing his stable jockey, Rachael Blackmore, make history by becoming the first female jockey to win the leading jockey award.

Rupert ‘Ruby’ Walsh, who retired from race riding, with immediate effect, after winning the Puchestown Gold Cup on Kemboy on May 1, 2019, has the distinction of being the most successful jockey in the history of the Cheltenham Festival. Indeed, he was leading jockey at the Festival a record eleven times – in 2004, 2006, 2008-2011 and 2013-2017 – and his career total of 59 winners at the March showpiece meeting is some way ahead of his nearest rival, Barry Geraghty, with 43.

‘Mr. R.Walsh’, as he was listed on the racecard, opened his Cheltenham Festival aboard Alexander Banquet – also, coincidentally, the first of 213 Grade One winners he rode during his career – in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper in 1998. Walsh turned professional later that year and, over the next two decades, won each of the four main ‘championship’ races at least twice apiece.

Arguably his most memorable victories came aboard Kauto Star in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, in 2007 and, especially, in 2009, but he also won the Champion Hurdle four times, the Queen Mother Champion Chase four times and the Stayers’ Hurdle five times. Indeed, he won the Stayers’ Hurdle, known at the time as the ‘World Hurdle’, on the same horse, Big Buck’s, four years running in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Just for good measure, Walsh also won the Ryanair Chase – introduced to the Festival programme in 2005, as a ‘championship’ steeplechase over the ‘intermediate’ distance of 2 miles 5 fulongs – four times, most recently on Un De Sceaux in 2017. He rode his final Cheltenham Festival winner, Klassical Dream, in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2019.

At the time of his ‘shock’ retirement from the saddle in July, 2020, Barry Geraghty had ridden 43 winners at the Cheltenham Festival, making him the second most successful jockey in the history of the so-called ‘Olympics of National Hunt racing’, behind only compatriot Ruby Walsh. Indeed, his career total is some way ahead of the 25 winners ridden by Davy Russell, who is the only one of the top five jockeys in the all-time list still riding, so his position looks assured for years to come.

Geraghty rode his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Moscow Flyer, in the Arkle Challenge Trophy in 2002 and his last, Saint Roi, in the County Handicap Hurdle in 2020. In between times, he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice, on Kicking King in 2005 and Bobs Worth in 2013, the Champion Hurdle a record-equalling four times, on Punjabi in 2009, Jezki in 2014, Buveur D’Air in 2018 and Epatante in 2020, the Queen Mother Champion Chase a record-equalling five times, on Moscow Flyer in 2003 and 2005, Big Zeb in 2010, Finian’s Rainbow in 2012 and Sprinter Sacre in 2013 and the Stayers’ Hurdle twice, on Iris’s Gift in 2004 and More Of That in 2014.

Geraghty was leading jockey at the Cheltenham Festival twice, in 2003 and 2012, with five winners on both occasions. Indeed, he went agonisingly close to becoming leading jockey again in 2020, when he rode five winners for leading owner John Patrick ‘J.P.’ McManus – for whom he replaced Sir Anthony McCoy as retained jockey in 2015 – only to lose out on countback to Paul Townend. Remarkably, with the exception of 2017, Geraghty rode at least one winner at the Cheltenham Festival every year between 2002 and 2020.