United Kingdom. – March signals only one thing in the UK racing calendar and that is the Cheltenham Festival. Alongside the Grand National in April it is one of the UK’s most prestigious racing events. This year’s event runs from Tuesday 14 March to Saturday 18 March and gossip and excitement is steadily building up.
One person who will be hoping for success is Irish jockey Mark Walsh. According to The Guardian, Walsh has failed to achieve success after 19 previous rides at the Cheltenham Festival. This year he is entering two races, the Champion Hurdle and the Ryanair Chase. Despite winning several Grade One events in Ireland he has struggled to perform at Cheltenham. Alan King who trains the horses Walsh will use told The Guardian that despite not knowing the jockey personally Walsh’s reputation as a rider gives him confidence that this year will be a success.
The biggest prize of the four-day event is the Gold Cup and racing correspondent Marcus Armytage for The Telegraph informs that trainer Henry De Bromhead is confident that he will take home the converted trophy. According to the British paper, De Bromhead is testing a new technique called loose schooling. “Loose Schooling means that the horse is set free and canters round the inside of the large barn taking in a chase fence down one wall and a hurdle down the other. There is no lane or rail as such and nothing to guide him except the trainer and a couple of his lads in the middle to stop him cutting corners.” The paper goes on to explain that a horse can choose not to go over the obstacle, which will show the trainer the “traits in the horse’s characters.”
The horse that De Bromhead believes will bring him victory is Champagne West. While the horse has been successful in past races there are doubts over his ability to win the Gold Cup. Betfair, who cover the Cheltenham Festival on an annual basis, noted in their preview of the Thyestes Chase 2017 that Champagne West’s “career has been blighted by jumping errors.” Henry De Bromhead will be hoping that his new training technique will straighten out this weakness in Champagne West.
Another trainer looking for success is Nigel Twiston-Davis who has 17 hopefuls competing in the Festival. One of his top horses to look out for is The New One in the Champion Hurdle. The horse has competed four times in the Champion Hurdle and Twiston-Davis told the Gloucestershire Live that he believes the horse was unlucky to lose in his first year, “He was very unlucky in the first one, he was knocked back more than he was beaten. Hopefully everything will fall right for him.”
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