Take a running jump at Cheltenham

The Cheltenham Festival, staged in a valley of the Chiltern Hills, is one of Britain’s major sporting events – up there with Wimbledon and the Open Championship – though it barely registers in the South Africa media. In this country, when we hear about steeplechases and jumps racing, it is the annual Grand National at Aintree racecourse in Liverpool that springs to mind. But the truth is Cheltenham is a bigger and more prestigious event – as well as being a rowdy, wired, exciting bit of lunacy.

The four-day gathering is the “championships” of what Brits call national hunt – hurdle and steeplechase racing. It’s controversial, with animal rights campaigners crying cruelty and fans yell even louder in excitement at the mad danger of it all.

Hark at Racing Post writer Alistair Down’s preview of this week’s meeting:

“We are back where we feel we ever belong in this month of the mad March hare. Joyful is guaranteed, triumphant lies in the lap of gods and our own flimsy judgement.

But we are all … united by the simple childish excitement that over the next four days we will share in events that will include one single shining certainty. And that is that the festival – our thumping and heartfelt festival – will provide the blessing of timbers shivered and roofs raised by the primal force of events at this meeting that will, unsparingly, leave no corner of the sporting soul unexplored.

“Luckily, by the skin of scraped teeth, we go ahead. Worldwide coughs and sneezes are spreading diseases – we can hopefully content ourselves with no much greater worry this week than the degree to which the Cheltenham going eases.”

About 250,000 people pass through the turnstiles over the four days from Tuesday until Friday and wager unknown hundreds of millions of pounds (well over R16 billion at this week’s rate) on the outcome of the 28 races. This one event accounts for 10% of the British Tote’s annual on-course betting turnover at more than 1,000 race meetings.

In short, Cheltenham is the biggest punting party on earth.

The whole shebang is helped along by a phenomenon known as “The Irish”. A third of all participants travel from across the Irish Sea to England’s lovely Chiltern Hills with a belligerent glint in the eye, primed wallets and sights trained on 250 on-course bookies.

St Patrick’s Day often falls during the week, but not in 2020, which – along with covid-19 – might keep numbers down a smidgeon.

For the “Micks”, jumps racing is religion, and Cheltenham a shrine. The devotion doesn’t go unrewarded: Irish horses, jockeys and trainers often dominate.

The most famous Irishman at Cheltenham is The Sundance Kid – aka JP McManus, sometime owner of Man U and legendary punter who has won and lost many millions, including on his own two-time Champion Hurdle winner Istabraq.

One of many Cheltenham Festival websites carries a story of another Irish gambler who won enough money on Istabraq in 1998 to pay off his home mortgage, but a day later lost the house in another wager. “It was only a small house,” he shrugged.

And there’s drink. Consumption is at least 20,000 bottles of champagne and 30,000 of wine, 240,000 beers and 220,000 pints of Guinness. Singing and fighting have been known to occur.

It culminates with the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the blue riband of world jumps racing. Legends are born here – Arkle, Desert Orchid, Best Mate etc.

This year’s Gold Cup promises another epic, with last year’s winner Al Boum Photo coming in off a perfect preparation and topping the boards at 10-3. However, there’s plenty of threat from another 11 runners, including Santini, Delta Work, Clan Des Obeaux and Presenting Percy.

In previous years, great jumps jockeys such as AP McCoy, Ruby Walsh and Richard Johnson were front-of-mind for punters, but retirements and injuries have thinned out the old guard and a younger, equally brave, contingent will be putting their bodies on the line this week.

None more so than leading female rider Rachel Blackmore, who has two plum rides on Tuesday’s opening card – on 3-1 shot Notebook in the second race of the day and later on 5-2 chance Honeysuckle in the Grade 1 Mares’ Hurdle.

Cheltenham is live on DStv’s Tellytrack channel throughout the week, with all betting available on the local TAB.

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