Rock Star Rachael Is Pure Gold On A Plus Tard

CHELTENHAM, UK–Emotions ran high at Cheltenham on Friday as Rachael Blackmore, the most successful female National Hunt jockey of all time, continued to rewrite the history books, this time by becoming the first woman to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Her willing and sublimely talented partner was A Plus Tard (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}), who was runner-up to his stable-mate Minella Indo (Ire) (Beat Hollow {GB}) last year but turned the tables in emphatic fashion this time around. Tackling the defending champion for the lead over the final fence, the 8-year-old A Plus Tard found an extra gear when making light work of Cheltenham's famous hill to win going away by 15 lengths.

“It's the closest thing to feeling like a rock star you will ever feel without being able to sing,” said Blackmore. “It is just incredible to have people back and I feel very, very lucky.”

Twelve months ago at a distinctly different Festival with not even owners allowed on course to watch their horses, Blackmore had ended the week as the leading rider, setting a new first then by winning the Champion Hurdle on Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}). A month later, another groundbreaking moment was recorded when Blackmore became the first woman to win the Grand National, sealing an extraordinary season for trainer Henry de Bromhead, for whom she is the principal rider.

Much pre-Festival chat had focused on de Bromhead's stable being out of form, but the Irishman returned to Cheltenham with his big guns blazing. Honeysuckle snared the Champion Hurdle for the second time and Bob Olinger (Ire) (Sholokhov {Ire}) took advantage of the desperate last-fence fall of Galopin Des Champs (Fr) (Timos {Ger}) in the G1 Turners Novices' Chase, but the best was saved for last with a repeat, albeit reversed, quinella in jump racing's blue riband.

With Blackmore moved to tears and struggling to find the words to convey her response to her historic victory, thoughts also turned to the late David Thompson of Cheveley Park Stud, whose decision to race a few jumpers for a bit of fun has been transformed into a phenomenally successful project. Thompson died in December 2020 but his wife Patricia, son Richard, and three grandsons were at Cheltenham to enjoy the plundering of National Hunt racing's biggest prize in their colours, which for decades have been more synonymous with top-class Flat runners.

“My father would be loving this,” said Richard Thompson. “He was behind the project and this horse was the first one he bought and was the last one he saw win before he died. He watched the Gold Cup for many years, and to win it is incredible. It's a fantastic day for the family. That was all class. We know he's got so much quality and Rachael rode the perfect race. It's the Gold Cup, anything can happen, but it looked so smooth.”

With Asterion Forlonge (Fr) (Coastal Path {GB}) cutting out much of the early running and previous Gold Cup runner-up Santini (GB) (Milan {GB}) and Aye Right (Ire) (Yeats {Ire}) taking close order through much of the first circuit, Blackmore had A Plus Tard buried away in mid-division, biding their time before the main contenders started to lay down serious challenges as the field descended the hill with three left to jump.

A Plus Tard coasted into contention, but initially had no obvious way through a tightly packed throng of horses ahead of him, including Minella Indo and another previous winner, Al Boum Photo (Fr) (Buck's Boum {Fr}). As members of that leading group started to surrender, Blackmore's patience was rewarded when a gap opened up for A Plus Tard to breeze between Protektorat (Fr) (Saint Des Saints {Fr}) and Al Boum Photo to launch his bid for glory.

“The wall of horses in front of me made sure I didn't get there too soon,” said Blackmore. “He felt very happy throughout the race this year and jumped fantastically, and I was able to take him back a little bit everywhere.

“Thankfully he was just really good over the last two and he picked up incredibly over the last. It is an incredible feeling when you do that over the back of the last at Cheltenham. I was taking my luck and we got the split.”

The modest rider refers to luck regularly, and indeed just as hers was in on Tuesday when steering the peerless Honeysuckle to a second Champion Hurdle victory, Blackmore hit the floor hard in the next race when brought down with Telmesomethinggirl (Ire) (Stowaway {Ire}).

Luck, like form, comes and goes in racing, but class, as they say, is permanent. And it would be hard to find a classier act in the sport right now than the 32-year-old Blackmore. Revered and respected by her peers, a heroine to so many youngsters watching on in the hope that they can follow in her wake, she is everything that racing needs, especially at a time when it so often finds itself on the front pages for all the wrong reasons.

“I just feel so lucky. I just don't know how or why I am so lucky to be in the position that I'm in,” she said as she composed herself in the winner's enclosure. “Not every jockey gets to be in this position. Last year I had the choice between the horses who came first and second in the Gold Cup–who is that jockey that gets to do that? Thankfully this year I was on the right one.”

Blackmore continued, “I'm very lucky to be getting to ride these kind of horses. Henry is just an incredible trainer and he has had another one-two in the Gold Cup, that is just incredible.

“I can't believe it's not even 12 months since the Grand National happened, and what with Honeysuckle this week winning her Champion Hurdle, I wish I had better English to describe how I feel, to be honest, as it is very overwhelming. This really is a magical place.”

Describing his stable jockey as a “savage rider”, de Bromhead added, “It's incredible to be involved and I'm just delighted for her.

“Rachael said to me about three weeks ago that she was kicking herself [about last year's Gold Cup] and she wanted to ride him to use his pace. I said to her to do whatever she wanted, and she started banging on about what she was doing as we were about to leg her up. I just said 'you're the boss'. That was it, and coming down the hill and I thought she was very brave and brilliant. It was an incredible ride.”

He continued, “It's been a ridiculous year. Everyone's been telling me how bad my horses are going, so we've had a few bad months as well. Even a couple of runners this week have made me wonder if there's a problem, but then you see Honey and this guy–they were unreal.

“One thing I have to say is to get the roar this year is fantastic. It was amazing to win it last year but with the crowd here it's just a different league.”

The Nice Guy…

It was Ireland's day on Friday, with all seven races falling to visiting trainers. Henry de Bromhead may have claimed the headlines by landing the big one for the second year running, but much of the day belonged to Willie Mullins, who celebrated five winners to take his tally to a record-breaking 10 for the Festival of 2022. Mullins was already the winningmost trainer at Cheltenham and his incredible Festival record now stands at 88 winners.

First blood was drawn by the burgeoning young talent of Vauban (Fr) in the JCB Triumph Hurdle, now a dual Grade 1 winner over hurdles for his young sire Galiway (GB) who could yet revert to the Flat, with the Melbourne Cup mooted as a possible target post-race by owner Rich Ricci.

Next up, State Man (Fr) (Doctor Dino {Fr}) justified favouritism in the fiercely competitive G3 McCoy Contractors County Hurdle, sealing Paul Townend's leading rider title for the Festival with five wins.

Mullins hadn't finished yet, but three different jockeys were deployed to claim his next three wins: Sean O'Keeffe scored his first Festival success on the horse who could have been named for his trainer, The Nice Guy (Ire) (Fame And Glory {GB}), in the G1 Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle. The race brought joy for owner Malcolm Denmark, celebrating his first Festival winner since Monsignor (Ire) won the G1 Royal & SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle in 2000, but it was marred by the fatal injury between the last two flights for Ginto (Fr) (Walk In The Park {Ire}).

Mullins's son Patrick, one of Ireland's leading amateur riders, claimed victory in the final strides aboard Billaway (Ire) (Well Chosen {Ire}) in an important race hitherto missing from his impressive record, the St James's Place Foxhunters Chase, informally known as the amateurs' Gold Cup. Lastly, it was the turn of Mark Walsh to drive the game grey mare Elimay (Fr) (Montmartre {Fr}) home to glory in the G2 Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Chase, in which she was runner-up last year.

Ireland's clean sweep was completed by the Joseph O'Brien-trained Banbridge (Ire) (Doyen {GB}) winning the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Hurdle in the hands of Mark McDonagh for major National Hunt supporter Ronnie Bartlett, whose Galvin (Ire) (Gold Well {GB}) had earlier finished fourth in the Gold Cup.

While it was Irish-trained horses who figured most prominently on the final day of the Festival, a number of the key winners had been bred in France. Notably, A Plus Tard was bred by Henri and Antonia Devin at their hugely successful Haras du Mesnil near Le Mans. They had extra cause to enjoy their day at Cheltenham as the County Hurdle winner State Man is a son of their resident stallion Doctor Dino, the most sought-after jumps sire in France, as is the Triumph Hurdle runner-up Fil Dor (Fr), who is also a Devin-bred.

The post Rock Star Rachael Is Pure Gold On A Plus Tard appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Sweet Roar Of Success For Cheltenham’s Golden Girls

CHELTENHAM, UK–There are horses, and then there's Honeysuckle (GB). Thought it may seem like sacrilege to compare the superstar hurdler to the greatest racehorse of the modern era, there has been no better winning sequence on the turf since Frankel (GB) stepped off it to the breeding shed a decade ago, and Honeysuckle isn't stopping yet.

The daughter of Sulamani (Ire) is now a dual Champion Hurdle winner, a treble Irish Champion Hurdle winner, unbeaten in 15 starts under rules, plus her debut triumph in a point-to-point at Dromahane at the age of four. It was that romp of a maiden win when still a raw frame of a filly that pricked up the ears of Peter Molony, who manages the racing and breeding interests of Honeysuckle's owner Kenny Alexander and bought the mare at the Goffs Punchestown HIT Sale on his behalf for €110,000.

Visibly emotional as Honeysuckle was led in from her third consecutive victory at the Cheltenham Festival, Molony admitted, “I looked at her pedigree and I wasn't interested. But I was working for Goffs and I thought I had better go and have a look at her. And to do what she did in her point-to-point when she was just such a big frame of a horse was quite something. Then I just had to persuade Kenny.”

It is an understatement to say that Alexander will be glad that he did. For there is currently no bigger star in National Hunt racing than Honeysuckle. The mare's lustre is enhanced immeasurably for her unbreakable partnership with Rachael Blackmore, who owned Cheltenham last year with her six Festival wins. All that was missing then was the famous roar, but boy did she and Honeysuckle receive one this time around.

With the crowds returned to Prestbury Park two years on from the world coming almost to a standstill as the pandemic took its grip, those who packed the tiers that make up the heady amphitheatre surrounding Cheltenham's winner's enclosure gave it their lusty best as the golden girls returned triumphant again.

“It was incredible, walking back down there,” said Blackmore. “I've never felt an atmosphere like that. There wasn't a moment's silence. People here, it's just an amazing crowd, an amazing atmosphere. It's easy to say that when you're winning, but it's a very special place and to hear those cheers this year was very special.”

She continued, “Part of me was thinking that I should have been more nervous before the race, but I actually do have a lot of confidence in her. It would be weird if I didn't, because she's never let me down. She's incredible. Henry [de Bromhead] gets her to the races every day in the form he does, and that's an extremely tough feat, to train a horse to win all those races in succession.”

While Blackmore was happy to put her faith in her faultless mount, Molony confessed that the nerves had been getting to him.

“To be honest, the weeks leading up to her races, it's torture,” he said. “But it's first-world torture, and we'll enjoy it now looking back.”

He added, “She's eight now and we're probably looking at next year being her last season.”

Whenever Honeysuckle does eventually retire she will become an important foundation mare at Alexander's New Hall Stud in his native Scotland, a farm made famous by the Thom family, breeders of Group 1 winner Donna Blini (GB), who went on to greater fame as the dam of Japanese superstar Gentildonna (Jpn).

Alexander, who predominantly races mares with a view to establishing a formidable National Hunt broodmare band, has the majority of his horses in training in Ireland, and the British-bred Honeysuckle, a graduate of Dorset-based The Glanvilles Stud, has been a huge credit to her trainer Henry de Bromhead, whose annus mirabilis in 2021 included landing Cheltenham's holy trinity of the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup, and then adding his first Grand National success to the mix. 

Four of the last seven runnings of the Champion Hurdles have been won by mares, the last two by Honeysuckle, who on Tuesday was chased home by Epatante (Fr) (No Risk At All {Fr}), the 2020 winner. The latter's trainer Nicky Henderson has had plenty of success in that race over the years, with his eight wins stretching back to 1985, and though he had to settle for second in the day's feature race, he will have returned to Lambourn a happy man on Tuesday evening. 

Henderson drew first blood at Prestbury Park during the afternoon, sending out Constitution Hill (GB) (Blue Bresil {Fr}) and Jonbon (Fr) (Walk In The Park {Ire}) to finish first and second in a fiercely competitive running of the G1 Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle. He then struck again in the G1 Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle with Marie's Rock (Ire) (Milan {Ire}) for the Middleham Park Racing team. 

“We had four runners today and if you'd have told me this morning I'd have had all four finishing in the first two I'd have said it was going to be a good day,” said Henderson, the most successful British trainer of all time at the Festival with 72 wins. “In golf you're meant to play to your age, so when you're 66 you've got to go round in 66 and so on. I'm 71 so the first winner this week took me to that and we've put one in the bank for next year just in case I don't last.”

With 23 horses set to run at Cheltenham this week, Henderson is the best represented among the British trainers but his team pales into relative insignificance against the amassed troops from the Irish stables of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, who have 71 and 68 potential runners respectively. 

Mullins had to wait until the last race of the day for his first win in the Ukraine Appeal National Hunt Challenge Cup with Stattler (Ire) (Stowaway {Ire}), ridden by his son Patrick. As an acknowledgement of the grave troubles beyond the bubble of the Cheltenham Festival, the six runners in the finale all carried saddle cloths in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, while the jockeys bore armbands in blue and yellow throughout the day. 

Edwardstone A Homegrown Star

Prices for the top National Hunt horses may have skyrocketed past the reach of many owners but there is still the odd fairytale to be written, even at Cheltenham. And it will be hard to find a more heartwarming result all season than that of Edwardstone (GB) (Kayf Tara {GB}) in the G1 Sporting Life Arkle Trophy. 

Bred by his owners Robert Abrey and Ian Thurtle, the 8-year-old has been the star turn this season for Alan King, who in the last 12 months has been represented by the dual Group 1-winning stayer Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}) and Group 2-winning juvenile Asymmetric (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}). Such results are testament to his all-round skills as a horseman, but it is the jumps world with which King has been more readily associated over the years, and in Edwardstone he looks to have a prospect to rival former stable stars such as Voy Por Ustedes (Fr), My Way De Solzen (Fr) and Katchit (GB).

Abrey and Thurtle, two old friends based in Norfolk, currently have only Edwardstone's dam, the 17-year-old Nothingtoloose (Ire) (Luso {GB}), in their paddocks. She is soon to be joined by Midnightreferendum (GB) (Midnight Legend {GB}), the Grade 2-placed four-time winner and daughter of their late broodmare Forget The Ref (Ire) (Dr Massini {Ire}). Both the latter and Nothingtoloose were campaigned in the point-to-point field by the pair before retiring to stud, and are now both black-type producers.

Edwardstone, already a treble winner over hurdles, has been one of the revelations of the season since going novice chasing and, after being brought down on his debut over fences in November, hasn't looked back, remaining unbeaten in his last five starts. 

Hailing the result “a dream come true”, Robert Abrey said, “The adrenaline is running a bit at the moment. We were just trying to breed a nice horse and this fella turned up.”

He added, “We're just a couple of amateurs. We looked down the list even in our bumpers and thought 'what are we doing here?'. Alan got him going and the horse could be quite bullish as a youngster. It's really all credit to Alan and his team at Barbury Castle for all the work they have put into this horse over the last three or four years.”

With Nothingtoloose heading to Ireland to visit Walk In The Park (Ire) this season, the mare is set to be represented by another runner in the coming days as Edwardstone's full-sister Nothingtochance (GB) is entered to make her debut in the bumper at Southwell on Monday. 

As James Thomas outlined in Tuesday's TDN, the numbers are stacked against British breeders in the National Hunt division but the opening day at Cheltenham was one to savour in that regard, with three Grade 1 winners carrying the GB suffix. And, as also referenced, top-class jumpers are often not that far removed from top-class horses on the Flat. 

A reminder of that was delivered by Brazil (Ire), winner of the G3 Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle to give trainer Padraig Roche his debut Festival victory with his first runner. This time last year, the 4-year-old son of Galileo (Ire) was still under the care of Aidan O'Brien at Ballydoyle, where his full-brother Capri (Ire) was also trained to win the St Leger for the Coolmore partners. Capri, bred, like Brazil, by Lynch Bages Ltd and Camas Park Stud, is now ensconced at Grange Stud and has been presented with a rather nice update by his brother as he embarks on his career as a National Hunt stallion.

The post The Sweet Roar Of Success For Cheltenham’s Golden Girls appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Blackmore Favoured to Win World Sport Star Title

Jumps jockey Rachael Blackmore has been nominated in the World Sport Star category at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Blackmore will be competing against tennis superstar Novak Djokovic and American football quarterback Tom Brady, boxer Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, Formula One star Max Verstappen and Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah.

The first woman to win the Cheltenham Champion Jockey title on the back of six wins during the festival including Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire})'s G1 Champion Hurdle victory, Blackmore also was the first female jockey to win the G3 Grand National aboard Minella Times (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}) in April.

Nicola McGeady of Ladbrokes said, “Rachael Blackmore goes up against a list of global superstars in a bid to become the BBC World Sports Star of the Year. Her rivals have all achieved incredible things, but we think Blackmore comes out on top after she became the first female to win the Grand National.”

Voting has opening for the award and will close at 1 p.m. on Dec. 14, with the winner announced live on Dec. 19.

The post Blackmore Favoured to Win World Sport Star Title appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

‘True Icon’: Trailblazing Jockey Rachael Blackmore To Be Honored With 2021 Irish Racing Hero Award

Jockey Rachael Blackmore will be awarded the 2021 Irish Racing Hero Award at the annual Horse Racing Ireland Awards in December.

Blackmore became the first woman to claim the Cheltenham Festival Leading Jockey title with six winners. She found Champion Hurdle success with Honeysuckle (GB) on Tuesday, a Triumph Hurdle score with Quilixios (GB) on Friday and also won races in the middle of the meeting with Bob Olinger (Ire) and Sir Gerhard (Ire) on Wednesday, and Allaho (Fr) and Telmesomethinggirl (Ire) on Thursday.

She became the first woman to ride the winner of the iconic G3 Grand National with her success on Minella Times (Ire) described as “historic” by President Michael D Higgins, “a truly amazing achievement” by An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue T.D, saying, “You are once again a history maker and have done Ireland proud.”

Suzanne Eade, interim CEO of Horse Racing Ireland, said: “Rachael's achievements on two of jump racing's biggest stages are truly historic. Not only was she the first woman to ride the winner of a championship race at Cheltenham, but Rachael also became the first woman to win the Leading Jockey Award at the festival. It is remarkable that her six winners included five at Grade 1 level.

“Her Aintree Grand National victory made headlines all over the world and that accomplishment alone will resonate with so many within the racing industry and beyond.

“Rachael has become more than a role model; she is a true icon of our wonderful sport and a most fitting winner of the 2021 Irish Racing Hero Award.”

The post ‘True Icon’: Trailblazing Jockey Rachael Blackmore To Be Honored With 2021 Irish Racing Hero Award appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights