Category: Cheltenham Festival

Which current jockey has ridden the most winners at the Cheltenham Festival?

Following the retirement of Richard Johnson on April 3, 2021, the current jockey who has ridden the most winners at the Cheltenham Festival is David ‘Davy’ Russell. Russell has, like Johnson, ridden 22 winners, a total exceeded only by countrymen Ruby Walsh, Barry Geraghty, A.P. McCoy and Pat Taaffe.

Russell, 42, spent nearly a year on the sidelines as the result of serious vertebrae injury sustained in a fall from Doctor Duffy in the Munster National at Limerick in October, 2020, and missed the 2021 Cheltenham Festival on medical advice. At the time of writing, he has yet to resume race riding, but has been riding out for Gordon Elliott and is reportedly ready to return when called upon to do so.

Russell rode his first Cheltenham winner, Native Jack, in what is now the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase in 2006. Thereafter, with the exception of 2019, he rode at least one winner at every Cheltenham Festival up to, and including, 2020. At the 2014 Cheltenham Festival, Russell rode three winners for the first time, including Lord Windermere in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He bettered that total in 2014 and his four winners – Presenting Percy in the RSA Novices’ Chase, Balko Des Flos in the Ryanair Chase, Delta Work in the Pertemps Final and The Storyteller in the Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate – were sufficient to win him the leading jockey award for the one and only time.

How much is admission to the 2022 Cheltenham Festival?

As with any other major horse racing festival, the cost of admission to the 2022 Cheltenham Festival varies according to when you wish to attend and which enclosure you choose. The 2022 Cheltenham Festival is scheduled to take place between Tuesday, March 15 and Friday, March 18.

On all four days, the Best Mate Enclosure, which is situated opposite the main grandstand and adjacent to the finish line, is the cheapest option. Prices range from £44.00 per person, or £40.00 per person if booked in groups of 15 or more, on days one, two and three to £63.00, or £60.00 if booked in bulk, on Gold Cup Day. The Best Mate Enclosure offers head-on views of the racecourse, but no access to the parade ring or winners’ enclosure.

By contrast, the Tattersalls Enclosure does offer access to the pre-parade ring, parade ring and winners’ enclosure, together with side-on views of the final fence and the run-in from opposite the finish line. Unsurprisingly, the Tattersalls Enclosure is correspondingly more expensive, with prices ranging from £59.00 to £78.00 per person throughout the week, again with appropriate discounts for booking in bulk.

At the top end of the scale, aside from various hospitality and ‘luxury’ options – which start at £295.00 per person, per day – the Club Enclosure offers access to all public areas of the racecourse, including the Best Mate and Tattersalls Enclosures. Of course, you pay extra for ‘access-all-areas’ admission, with prices ranging from £89.00 to £110.00 per person, subject to bulk discounts.

How many mares have won the Champion Hurdle?

The race now acknowledged as the two-mile hurdling championship, the Champion Hurdle, was established in 1927 and, in 91 runnings since, has been won on six occasions by six different mares. African Sister, ridden by Keith Piggott, father of Lester, was the first to strike a blow for the fairer sex, in the last Champion Hurdle to be run before the outbreak of World War II, in 1939.

However, it would be another 45 years before Dawn Run – who would later make history by becoming the only horse to complete the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup double – carried Jonjo O’Neill to victory for Paddy Mullins, father of Willie, in 1984. A decade later, Flakey Dove, trained by Richard Price and ridden by Mark Dwyer, added her name to the roll of honour, but there was another lengthy hiatus before the arrival of the next winning mare.

Nevertheless, in 2016, Willie Mullins emulated his father by winning the Champion Hurdle with Annie Power and, in the style of ‘London buses’, her victory was quickly followed by those of Epatante in 2020 and Honeysuckle in 2021. Indeed, in recent years, the dominance of the likes of Epatante and Honeysuckle in the two-mile hurdling division has led some observers to call for the abolition of the 7lb weight-for-sex allowance that mares currently receive from their male counterparts in ‘championship’ races, such as the Champion Hurdle. Proponents of the move argue, with some justification, that the result of such races should be determined on merit alone, regardless of the sex of the participants.

 

How many winners has Henry de Bromhead saddled at the Cheltenham Festival?

Compared with the likes of Willie Mullins, Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls, Henry de Bromhead is a relative newcomer to success at the Cheltenham Festival. However, in recent years, he has emerged as a force majeure on both sides of the Irish Sea and, in 2021, became the first trainer in history to saddle the winners of the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup at the same Cheltenham Festival.

Henry de Bromhead took over the training licence at the family stables in Knockeen, Co. Waterford from his father, Harry, on January 1, 2000. However, it was not until 10 years later that he saddled Sizing Europe to win the Arkle Challenge Trophy, but he garnered further acclaim by saddling the same horse to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2011, the year in which he also won the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase with Sizing Australia.

In 2015, the late Alan Potts, owner of Sizing Europe and Sizing Australia, decided to remove all his horses from the Knockeen stable, but de Bromhead has continued to thrive. At the last count, he had 15 Cheltenham Festival winners to his name, having won the Queen Mother Champion Chase three times, with Sizing Europe in 2011, Special Tiara in 2017 and Put The Kettle On in 2021 and the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup once apiece, with Honeysuckle and Minella Indo, both in 2021.

 

1 … 7 8 9 10 11 … 17