No joy for gallant Gethings
Fourth spot for Coolboy’s Ciarán on Maria’s Benefit
THERE was no Cheltenham joy for Coolboy’s Ciarán Gethings last week as his much-fancied Maria’s Benefit faded to fourth after a fine run in the hands of the talented rider.
Ciarán came into the hugely popular racing festival with a superb winner at Huntingdon on March 14 in the The @188BET Extra Places At Cheltenham Friday Mares’ Handicap Hurdle on board Chatos Belle and another winner the previous Saturday on board Queenofhearts at Sandown, bringing him to 30 winners for the season so far.
Alas, the big race proved too far for Maria’s Benefit who raced superbly well only to fade badly late on.
Irish horses made Cheltenham their own once again and a final tally of 17 winners saw Irish trainers post the second highest tally ever at the Festival.
Gordon Elliott retained his leading trainer’s title with eight winners over the four days, edging out his great rival Willie Mullins who finished with seven.
Elliott’s tally matches the record number of winners set by Mullins in 2015.
Davy Russell took the leading rider’s crown for the first time with four Cheltenham festival winners including a spectacular day three treble.
He finished level with teenage star Jack Kennedy, who also finished with four winners but had fewer placed horses than Russell. Paul Townend finished the week with two, the same tally as Ruby Walsh, the top rider at the festival on 11 previous occasions, who was ruled out of the remainder of the festival after his fall in the second race on Wednesday.
The 17 Irish-trained winners were spread across 11 different owners and four different trainers with Pat Kelly and Henry De Bromhead also training winners again this year.
In all it was another hugely successful festival for the travelling team and the Minister for Agriculture Food & Marine, with responsibility for the horse racing sector, Michael Creed TD, hailed Ireland’s performance. Speaking at the Cheltenham Festival, the Minister said: “The securing of the Prestbury Cup marks the culmination of a fantastic week in Cheltenham for Irish owners, trainers and jockeys, with numerous individual, stable and team achievements. I’d like to convey my heartiest congratulations to all involved.
“I would like to pay particular tribute to leading trainer Gordon Elliott and leading jockey Davy Russell for their successes in what was a memorable week for Irish racing.”
Double For Denis O’Regan At Wexford - Denis O’Regan partnered two 5/1 winners at Wexford on Saturday. He set the ball rolling with a cosy success on the Alan Fleming-trained Speaker Connolly in the 2m maiden hurdle and followed up when taking the 2m4f handicap hurdle on Brave Out, trained by John Kiely.
Willie Mullins and Paul Townend were among the winners at the Cheltenham Festival and they combined to take the opening four-year-old maiden hurdle with 1/4 favourite Msassa, a recruit from France.
Liam Burke and Robbie Power took the veterans’ chase with top-weight Sumos Novios, a 3/1 joint-favourite, while the bumper went the way of 9/2 shot Thosedaysaregone for Charles Byrnes and Richie Deegan.
There were two locally-trained winners. At odds of 14/1, Quamino won the 2m handicap hurdle for Paul Nolan and Bryan Cooper while Ballindaggin trainer Sean Doyle and amateur rider Harley Dunne were popular after the success of Crosshue Boy, the 6/4 favourite, in the novice handicap chase.
Upcoming Fixtures:
Limerick - Monday, March 19 (First Race 2.15)
Down Royal - Monday, March 19 (First Race 2.25)
Clonmel - Tuesday, March 20 (First Race 2.10)
Cork - Thursday, March 22 (First Race 2.00)
Dundalk - Friday, March 23 (First Race 5.30)
Thurles - Thursday, March 24 (First Race 2.10)
Downpatrick - Sunday, March 25 (First Race 2.10)
Naas - Sunday, March 25 (First Race 1.50)