IRELAND MAY be in economic meltdown right now but the evidence of a record-breaking Cheltenham Festival tally of 13 winners this week is that Irish racing is managing to cope with all this gloom and doom better than most.
Not even at the height of the Celtic Tiger’s swaggering pomp did Irish-trained horses do better during the week that matters like no other. There may have been no Gold Cup victory this time, but 13 winners smashes the 2006 record of 10 to smithereens.
Three more victories yesterday, including another double for Willie Mullins to make him top trainer for the week with four winners, and a 33 to 1 shock for Zemsky in the Foxhunters, set the seal on an astounding festival which had been approached with trepidation by many within the industry.
It is 22 years since Irish horses left the 1989 Cheltenham festival having failed to win a single race and returned to a country deep in recessionary gloom. This time they return to a recession clearly of a different type.
Significant job losses, cuts in prize money and uncertainty about funding are still realities, but at least for the moment they don’t seem so stark.
“It’s been a fantastic week and it will be a big boost to morale in the game at home,” said Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan, while Horse Racing Ireland’s spokesman Brian Kavanagh didn’t rule out more of the same in future.
“It’s a week beyond our wildest expectations, but what is noticeable is the success we’ve had in novice races and the strength in depth of races like the Champion Chase, where we had the first four home.
“That bodes well for the future,” he said.
“What’s also great is that major investment by the likes of Gigginstown Stud and Alan Potts has been rewarded,” Kavanagh added.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary saw his Gigginstown Stud colours carried to a third win of the week when Sir Des Champs staged a dramatic late run under Emmet Mullins to win the conditional jockeys handicap hurdle.
“They went a mad gallop and I was never travelling early on,” said the latest member of the Mullins family to win at the festival. “I had a hell of a lot of ground to make up but he took off 100 yards from the last and really winged it. He’s going to be a serious horse next year.”
O’Leary was the most successful owner at the festival and Ruby Walsh cemented his hold on the leading jockey award with a fifth victory of the week on Final Approach in the Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle.
It was only by a nose that the Mullins-trained horse edged out Get Me Out Of Here after a classic Walsh-McCoy duel from the last.
“I don’t know how he stood up at the first as he stood so far off it,” Walsh said. “He did well to get back into it and he was good and gutsy from the last.”
Mullins added: “I thought we were beaten. It was a huge surprise and sometimes they’re the best ones – the ones you don’t expect.”
Co Antrim trainer Ian Ferguson would agree with that after Zemsky provided him with a first success at the festival, and jockey Derek O’Connor with a second this week, in the Christies Foxhunters.
The favourite, Baby Run, looked to be in control until unseating his rider at the second-last which allowed the 33 to 1 Irish hope to win by 17 lengths.
“One man’s loss is another man’s gain and I was fortunate today. I can’t say I had Baby Run covered,” O’Connor admitted.
But this was a week when everything seemed to go Ireland’s way.
Cheltenham Gold Cup
1.LONG RUN (Mr S Waley-Cohen) 7-2 Fav
2.Denman (S Thomas) 8-1
3.Kauto Star (R Walsh) 5-1
