Cheltenham Festival

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...

Mark Fahey speaks about potential stable star Tina's Indian - plus a lively outsider for the trainer at the Cheltenham Festival  Trainer Mark Fahey has revealed that he is dreaming of Royal Ascot for potential stable star Tina's Indian (Ire) (Calyx {GB})-but first, the man who is widely regarded as one of the sharpest young trainers in Ireland is taking aim at the Cheltenham Festival with the battle-hardened hurdler Flicker Of Hope (Fr) (Buck's Boum {Fr}), and is quietly confident of hitting the back of the net. Flicker Of Hope...

The National Hunt Chase staged at the Cheltenham Festival has been permanently named in honour of HRH The Princess Royal, the Jockey Club announced on Sunday. The oldest contest staged at the meeting, it will now be known as the Princess Royal National Hunt Chase. In 2025, it will take place on Tuesday, March 11, the opening day of the Festival. Guy Lavender, CEO of Cheltenham Racecourse, said, "It is a tremendous privilege for us to announce today that the National Hunt Chase will now honour HRH The Princess Royal...

Michael O'Sullivan will be honoured at this year's Cheltenham Festival with the opening Supreme Novices' Hurdle set to be run in his memory, the Jockey Club and Sky Bet announced on Thursday. The Grade 1 event, the first race of the meeting on Tuesday, March 11, will be staged as the Michael O'Sullivan Supreme Novices' Hurdle, paying tribute to the National Hunt jockey who died after being seriously injured in a fall at Thurles on February 6. He was 24. It was in the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle that...

LAMBOURN, UK -- Nicky Henderson has reiterated that connections of Palladium (Ger) have Melbourne Cup ambitions for last year's G1 Deutsches Derby hero, who is first set to continue his hurdling career in the G1 Triumph Hurdle at next month's Cheltenham Festival. The race that stops a nation might not have been uppermost in Henderson's thoughts on Monday morning, as he welcomed the media to his Seven Barrows base to provide the lowdown on his formidable squad for the four-day extravaganza at Prestbury Park, but it was clear that a...

Michael O'Sullivan remains in intensive care at Cork University Hospital following a fall at Thurles nine days ago with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board [IHRB] stating that there has been no change in the jockey's condition.  The 24-year-old was airlifted to hospital after falling at the last in a handicap chase. The meeting was subsequently abandoned.  The IHRB released a statement on Tuesday, stating that O'Sullivan "continues to receive the best of care in the intensive care unit at Cork University Hospital". Providing a further update to the rider's condition...