Cheltenham Festival – ‘Championship’ Races 2004

Champion Hurdle

The 2004 Champion Hurdle produced a surprise, with 33/1 outsider Hardy Eustace, trained by Dessie Hughes in Co. Kildare and ridden by Conor O’Dwyer, making just about all the running and drawing away when challenged at the last flight to beat defending champion Rooster Booster by 5 lengths. The 7-year-old had won the Royal & SunAlliance Novices’ Hurdle at the previous Cheltenham Festival, so was clearly no slouch. However, connections tried first-time blinkers after a few disappointing runs and the headgear had the desired effect.

Queen Mother Champion Chase

Without wishing to detract from the performance of the winner, Azertyuiop, the Queen Mother Champion Chase was lessened, as a spectacle, by the departure of the reigning champion Moscow Flyer at the fourth last fence, before the race had begun in earnest. In any event, Azertyuiop ran out a ready, 9-length winner from Flagship Uberalles, with Tiutchev a further 1½ lengths away in third. Moscow Flyer can beaten Azertyuiop by 4 lengths in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown the previous December, so connections were left to mull over what might have been.

Stayers’ Hurdle

The finish of the Stayers’ Hurdle involved the same two horses as the previous year, but Iris’s Gift reversed the form with reigning champion Baracouda – who was attempting to win the race for the third year running – to the tune of 2¼ lengths, to win by 1½ lengths. Baracouda held every chance and was upsides on the run-in, only to be outbattled in the final 100 yards. The pair finished well clear of Crystal D’Ainay, who could only keep on at one pace to finish third, 13 lengths away.

Cheltenham Gold Cup

The 2004 Cheltenham Gold Cup featured history in the making, as Best Mate justified odds of 8/11 to win the most prestigious race in the National Hunt calendar for the third year running. In so doing, he became the first horse since Arkle, in 1966, and just the fourth horse ever, to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup at least three times. Sir Rembrandt, an unconsidered 33/1 outsider trained by Robert Alner and ridden by Andrew Thornton, finished well to give the favourite a fright, but Best Mate held on to win by half a length.

Cheltenham Festival - Queen Mother Champion Chase

The Queen Mother Champion Chase admits horses of age five and above competing over a distance of 3219 meters (2 miles). The race is ranked grade 1 among Great Britain’s National Hunt Steeplechase races. It is one of the classic races that take place on the Old Course.

The initial name for the race when it was first run in 1959 was the national Hunt Two-Mile Champion
Chase. It existed under that name for 21 years until it adopted the current name in 1980 as part of Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday celebration. The Queen Mother herself was a fan of the race and did actually put competitors in it. Game Spirit was her most successful horse, taking a second place finish in 1976.

The race operated under its pure name for 27 years from 1980 as it did not have a sponsor. Since 2007, it has taken the existing sponsors name as a prefix. As of the 2017 festival, Betway were the race sponsors and are expected to carry the deal into the 2018 event.

Horses give the track a Queen Mother galloping on every second day of the popular festival. Widely
regarded the National Hunt’s biggest minimum-distance competition, this race attracts a lot of onlookers- some for the fun of it and others looking to see out their bets. No matter the drive, race fans always have a reason to hold their breaths.

The race has been won by ten-year-old horses over the last two years -Sprinter Sacre in 2016 and Special Tiara in 2017. Before then, it was a decade since a horse older than nine years won the race.

Paul Nicholls has been a popular trainer here since around the turn of the 21st century. Since the first win in 1999, horses he has trained have gone on to win on four other occasions. The most recent one
was the 2015 race when Dodging Bullets took first honours ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies

Cheltenham Festival – ‘Championship’ Races 2002

Champion Hurdle

With all due respect to the winner, Hors La Loi III – who’d finished second in the previous renewal, in 2000, prior to the foot-and-mouth crisis – the 2002 Champion Hurdle is best remembered for the wrong reasons. The defending champion, and favourite, Istabraq, who’d won the race in 1998, 1999 and 2000, was pulled up after jumping just two flights and was never seen on a racecourse again, while the second favourite, Valiramix, slipped up when travelling easily after the third last and was destroyed.

Queen Mother Champion Chase

Barring the fall of Latalomne, when still in a narrow lead, at the second last, the Queen Mother Champion Chase was fairly uneventful and won, in convincing style, by 7/4 favourite Flagship Uberalles, trained by Philip Hobbs and ridden by Richard Johnson. Native Upmanship, trained by Arthur Moore in Co. Kildare and ridden by Conor O’Dwyer, just snatched second from 66/1 outsider Cenkos, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Ruby Walsh.

Stayers’ Hurdle

The 2002 Stayers’ Hurdle marked the first appearance at the Cheltenham Festival of French raider Baracouda, trained by Francois Doumen, ridden by Thierry Doumen and hitherto unbeaten on British soil. Backed into 13/8 favourite, just ahead of Bannock Bay, trained by Christy Roche in Co. Kildare and ridden by Charlie Swan, at 2/1, Baracouda led soon after the last flight and only had to be pushed out for a clever, albeit narrow, victory over his nearest market rival. It Takes Time, trained by Martin Pipe and ridden by A.P. McCoy finished third, a further 12 lengths away.

Cheltenham Gold Cup

The 2002 Cheltenham Gold Cup was notable for the victory of Best Mate, a first winner of the “Blue Riband” event for trainer Henrietta Knight, jockey Jim Culloty and owner Jim Lewis. Having been beaten three-quarters of a length by Florida Pearl in the King George VI Chase at Kempton, Best Mate started only 7/1 third favourite behind defending champion Looks Like Trouble and King George third Bacchanal. However, Best Mate could be called the winner a long way from home, travelling ominously well down the hill before quickening clear in the closing stages to beat the rallying Commanche Court by 1¾ lengths.

Cheltenham Roar - Coral Cup

The Coral Cup is one of the low-pressure races at the annual Cheltenham Festival racing event. It is a grade 3 race in the National Hunt listings run on Cheltenham’s Old Course. Horses must be at least four years old in order to be eligible for the Coral Cup.

Eligible horses compete to cover a 4225 metres (2 mi 5 furlongs) in the shortest time possible. The distance is dotted by ten hurdles that require both skill and timing to navigate. The race, though lower grade, provides a considerable degree of challenges and is a great place to spot horses that have the potential to go on and win great things. That it is a handicap race makes it even more challenging.

It was established in 1993 and has retained its name ever since. The famous racehorse Olympian was its very first winner. This earned the competition some very valuable repute. Olympian was awarded a handsome £50,000 for the feat, which was achieved on the back of an Imperial cup win days earlier. Betting group Coral has sponsored all editions of the race and opted to retain the original name even after merging with Ladbrokes in 2015.

At four years, horses that compete in the Coral Cup are almost always looking to move on to bigger second and first-grade races. As a result, most do not enter the competition more than once or twice. This is one of the races that has not been won by a single horse twice since its inception.

The 2008 race was run on the New Course due to the high winds on the usual path. Seven-year-old Naiad du Misselot took advantage of the half-furlong shorter distance to finish ahead of the park. Another notable event was the absence of competition in 2001 when the event was called off due to the incidence of a foot and mouth disease scare.

Despite being open to all horses above four years, five, six and seven-year-olds have been the most prolific competitors.