I never enter a Cheltenham Festival week without thinking of the Irish punter who won enough on champion hurdler Istabraq to pay off the mortgage on his house. He then lost the lot when Ireland’s hope Danoli failed to win the Gold Cup. ‘To be sure,’ he declared, ‘it was only a small house anyway.’ Alas, publication dates mean that this column must be penned before this year’s Festival starts, and I began my week with feelings so mixed about the fortunes of Istabraq’s owner J.P. McManus that they should have been rattled in a cocktail shaker.
As racing’s biggest benefactor and a man with an impeccable record in looking after his ex-racers, J.P. has deserved every one of the 78 Cheltenham Festival winners he has amassed over 40 years. If by the time you read this he has added any of a Champion Chase, an Arkle, a Plate and the two mares’ hurdles to his list of Festival targets not yet achieved I will be delighted.
Where it gets mixed is over the Gold Cup which he last won with Synchronised 13 years ago. Back in the autumn I suggested to Spectator readers that J.P.’s Inothewayurthinkin, trained in Ireland by Gavin Cromwell, would have a good chance in next month’s Grand National. He is a spring horse who impressed winning the Ultima at Cheltenham last year. Before he ran an intriguing fourth in the Irish Gold Cup won by Galopin des Champs I backed him for the National at 33-1 and have been looking insufferably smug as he was then backed down to 7-1 favourite.
Then, lo and behold, J.P. decided last week to spend £25,000 supplementing Inowthewayurthinkin to run in the Gold Cup. Clearly he would be unlikely to run in both big races and if he did go on to contest the National a hard tussle against the two-times Gold Cup winner Galopin would hardly be the best preparation. My best hope of salvaging a few pence from the situation was to back Inothewayurthinkin each way for the Gold Cup in which 99 per cent of pundits reckoned Galopin unbeatable.
At least I will have spent Cheltenham week for once playing with bookies’ money. Having failed to note M25 closures it took me three hours-plus to complete my normal 80-minute journey to Sandown on Saturday. Even then my journey was more fun than that of Lambourn trainer Jamie Snowden, who had to do the dirty work after a rear tyre blowout in his Discovery en route. But he had consolation. Dust-covered and sweat-stained he arrived at Sandown just in time for the awards ceremony after his Laurens Bay had won the EBF Betfair Novices Hurdle in the hands of Gavin Sheehan.
Good news for me too because I always attend Sandown’s Imperial Cup meeting hoping to find a decent winner or two to help fund my excesses at Cheltenham the next week. Along with a win bet on the disappointing favourite Belliano I had invested each way on the 33-1 Laurens Bay (a good bumper winner listed by his jockey as one to follow for the season) and the 28-1 Off The Jury ridden by the ever-cheery 46-year-old amateur David Maxwell.
I never worry if I see a Sheehan-ridden horse at the back for much of the race. He has become an expert judge of pace as well as being a strong finisher, qualities displayed when he scored a shock success on Hewick in the 2023 King George. This time though it wasn’t deliberate. Gavin had wanted to be up front on Laurens Bay but his mount couldn’t cope. Members of the owning Happy Valley syndicate, a group of friends from Hong Kong days, feared, as did the rider, that he would have to be pulled up.
Meanwhile although it may have taken David Maxwell 18 years to ride the 71 winners required to lose his allowance, the amateur pilot was riding an impeccably canny race. He improved after three out, got a good leap at the last and led smartly on the run-in. Then just as I was cheering him home Laurens Bay, who had stayed on brilliantly up the hill, came with a wet sail under Sheehan to deny him in the last few strides. It was cruel. Don’t think for a minute it was because it was amateur vs professional. If David had held on to win it would have been his fourth success in his last four rides and he is confident that in races with a strong pace which concentrate his mind Off The Jury still has better to come. Either way, helped by two later exactas, I had my Cheltenham punting money.
The Sandown meeting is a good predictor of next year’s prospects. Note down also Charisma Cat, a Nathaniel mare trained like Off The Jury by Alan King and the winner of the Listed bumper. ‘I wish I had a yard full of Nathaniel,’ said her trainer, who hopes to run her at Aintree too.
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