By Alayna Cullen Birkett
If I'm being honest when you ask me the question, National Hunt or Flat, the response is a resounding and deafening Flat. Aside from watching the big Saturday National Hunt cards, on occasion, or the Cheltenham Festival, I wouldn't be able to tell you what is going on in that sector. As if that wasn't enough to disqualify me from comment on the Festival, I can also tell you I've never attended it and last week I watched it from the TDN office in Red Bank, New Jersey. Despite this, I did watch it with as much intensity as I would the flat season. I still got emotional when Bridget Andrews won her first race at the festival and the ensuing celebrations from the Skelton team; I marveled at the impressive performances of Shattered Love, Laurina and Samcro among others, I lamented the fall that set Ruby Walsh back–but why?
As I pondered an answer for this on Gold Cup day the solution became apparent; it's the human stories married with the selfless performances of a four-legged animal to whom we owe so much. Both Warren Greatrex and Dan Skelton expressed the doubts that were prevalent in the week running up to their horse's intended runs at Cheltenham, due to the ground, but the decisive ways Missed Approach and Mohaayed won just added to the joy and surprise they gave to their handlers. My Twitter feed blew up each day as the favourites were parading, as the races went off, as the winners crossed the line, as the celebrations ensued and in the middle of it all were the connections and their horses giving a nation something to cheer for.
Of course some of the big stories to come out of the week were Ruby's fall, Camilla Sharples's huge return on investment as her winning pointer sold for 330,000gns (if you want a partner for your next venture, please call me), the future for Cue Card as well as four female jockeys crossing the Cheltenham line in front, one of which dislocated her shoulder on the run in. The latter story is a topic which has been talked of a lot recently and with the study completed at the University of Liverpool I echo Dan Skelton's statement that we should just consider them jockey's now instead of prefixing them with their gender.
No stories were bigger, though, than those that surrounded the horses who made a date with the Gold Cup. Whether it was Edwulf, who the year previous had collapsed on the course and made a huge winning comeback at Leopardstown in February; Might Bite, whose trainer had already taken two of the crowns at the festival or that of Native River, trained by Colin Tizzard, who had to contend with the possibility that Cue Card might be facing retirement. With all the stories stacked up the race had a lot to live up to and even I can tell you that it certainly didn't disappoint. Native River prevailed but Might Bite lost nothing in defeat to the prowess that the former displayed and in true Alayna fashion I got teary as I watched what it meant to the Tizzard team to have won a race that they described as “everything.”
We still have Aintree, Sandown and Punchestown left to look forward to in the National Hunt season but the countdown to the Flat is well and truly on. As much as I am looking forward to swapping the seasons, the courses and the faces, there is one thing that remains consistent across all racing platforms, one thing that draws us in and unites us all: the horses who bring us to the races, who perform on the stage that allows us all to have an industry. I salute all that the Cheltenham Festival has given us this year and maybe next year I'll be able to tell you what it feels like to be part of the Festival roar.
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