Cheltenham Festival

Tom Cleary has said that he would be the first man to raise a glass to the connections of Oh My Word at Cheltenham after confirming that owner Seamus Ross has moved the leading fancy for the Champion Bumper to his old ally Tony Martin.  Cleary enjoyed his greatest day as a trainer when Oh My Word produced a spellbinding performance to win the Listed Future Champions Bumper at Navan under Derek O'Connor last month.  In doing so, Oh My Word landed back-to-back bumper wins at the track and joined...

Former jockey Rachael Blackmore and Jack, Owen and Ivor Anthony will be inducted into the Jump Racing Hall of Fame at Cheltenham this week. The quartet will be formally inducted into the Hall of Fame on day one of the November Meeting on Friday, November 14. Blackmore, who retired in May, was the first female to ride a Grand National winner with Minella Times at Aintree. She is also a current ambassador for Cheltenham Racecourse and, with the assist of trainer Henry de Bromhead, was leading rider at the Cheltenham...

The G1 Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle will move from Champion Day, March 10, to St Patrick's Thursday, March 13, during next year's Cheltenham Festival, the racecourse announced on Friday. Due to the date change, the distance of the race is now 2m 4f 56y on the New Course, instead of 2m 3f 200y on the Old Course. Moving into the Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle's old spot is the TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase, which will be the sixth race on Champion Day. A further change to the running order on St...

Edward O'Grady, a multiple champion National Hunt trainer whose name will go down in Cheltenham Festival folklore, has died. He was 75. O'Grady trained some of the finest jumpers of his era and sent out 18 Cheltenham Festival winners throughout a glittering career. He managed the careers of brilliant horses like Golden Cygnet, Gay Future, Native Upmanship, Ned Kelly, Back In Front, Tranquil Sea and many more. O'Grady also had the distinct achievement of providing JP McManus with his first ever Cheltenham Festival success when Mister Donovan landed what is...

Some of the earliest clues for next year's Triumph Hurdle may well have been on show at Arqana on Wednesday when the highly-touted Zekret (Fr) was purchased on behalf of a leading Irish owner to continue his career with Joseph O'Brien. The Zarak colt boasted smart form in France for trainer Andre Fabre on behalf of Al Shaqab Racing and was last seen running respectably - only beaten a little over three lengths - in a Group 3 contest at ParisLongchamp over 1m3f.  It was agent Alex Elliott, working alongside...

In a week that had everything but rarely went to script, it was only fitting that the prize which means everything in this sport should provide one final twist in the Hollywood blockbuster otherwise known as the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, with leading man Galopin Des Champs (Fr) (Timos {Ger}) having to settle for the runner-up spot behind Inothewayurthinkin (Ire) (Walk In The Park {Ire}) in his quest for a third consecutive victory in the G1 Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup. After the black comedy that was the Champion Hurdle and the...

CHELTENHAM, UK--Rarely has a race ever epitomised the old sporting saying, 'form is temporary, class is permanent', like the 2025 running of the G1 Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle, won by the enigma that is Bob Olinger (Ire) for a trainer and jockey combination desperately in need of a pick-me-up at the start of play on the penultimate day of the Cheltenham Festival. That Bob Olinger was available to back at 20-1 the night before this three-mile contest was symptomatic of how far he'd fallen from grace in just a few...

Even before Marine Nationale (Ire) (French Navy {GB}) won the G1 Supreme Novices' Hurdle two years ago, John B O'Connor was already a Cheltenham Festival-winning breeder courtesy of the smart Paul Webber-trained mare Indefatigable (Ire) (Schiaparelli {Ger}). On Wednesday, the impressive record of O'Connor's Ballykelly Stud was enhanced further when Marine Nationale completed an emotional double for trainer Barry Connell to win the G1 Queen Mother Champion Chase. O'Connor had been observing a dry January and February but admitted to a "damp March" at his Tipperary home after toasting the...

High-class dual-purpose performer Vauban (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), who landed the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2022 for trainer Willie Mullins, is close to making his debut for Australian trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.  Vauban has been well-held in his two attempts at winning the Melbourne Cup for Mullins and owner Rich Ricci. The seven-year-old was snapped up by the Waterhouse and Bott combination for a reported $2 million after he finished 11th--beaten just over five lengths--behind Knight's Choice (Aus) (Extreme Choice {Aus}) in the Melbourne Cup in...

CHELTENHAM, UK -- Look to the stars. A reflex action for Sean Flanagan as he passed the post in front on Marine Nationale (Ire) (French Navy {GB}) to win the G1 BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase. Any win at Cheltenham is emotional for those closest to the horse, but this was one heavily laced with poignancy, coming less than a month after the death of Marine Nationale's former jockey Michael O'Sullivan at the age of 24. Two years earlier, Marine Nationale had provided him with his first victory at the...

CHELTENHAM, UK -- It is a rare thing for a trainer almost to apologise for winning a race, particularly the biggest race of his career, but observers of Jeremy Scott over the years would perhaps have expected nothing less. A man of exemplary manners, he would struggle to take pleasure in triumph in the face of other people's disasters, and there was drama and dismay aplenty in the G1 Unibet Champion Hurdle, won by Scott with the plucky little mare Golden Ace (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}). "It probably wasn't the...

This week at Cheltenham, Tim Gredley will be taking time out from one type of horse to turn his attention to another. The owner, breeder and leading showjumper has recently returned from Abu Dhabi, where he was second in the Grand Prix, but sport horses will take a backseat temporarily as we he focuses on the Thoroughbreds. "We've had a lot going on with the showjumpers so it's nice to come back and see the racehorses - that's what I love the most really," says Gredley, who, along with his...