There was a strong element of déjà vu
about the Cheltenham Festival in 2000, with Istabraq and
Stormyfairweather returning to Prestbury Park to repeat their
victories in the Champion Hurdle and Cathcart Challenge Cup,
respectively. Monsignor, who’d won the Weatherbys Champion Bumper
in 1999, took his record over hurdles to six from six when pushed out
to beat No Discount by 8 lengths in the Royal & SunAlliance
Hurdle while Looks Like Trouble, who’d turned the Royal &
SunAlliance Novices’ Chase into a procession the previous year,
repeated the feat in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, jumping well and coming
home unchallenged to beat Go Ballistic by a distance. Mick
Fitzgerald, winning jockey on Stormyfairweather, recorded three more
victories to become leading jockey for the second year running. Other
notable victories included Edredon Bleu in the Queen Mother Champion
Chase, Bacchanal in the Bonusprint Stayers’ Hurdle and Joe Cullen
in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.
Thursday 14 September 2017
Sunday 3 September 2017
Cheltenham Festival 1999: Nicholls Breaks Through
The Cheltenham Festival in 1999 proved
memorable for Paul Nicholls, who collected the Queen Mother Champion Chase with Call Equiname, the Arkle Challenge Trophy with Flagship
Uberalles and the Cheltenham Gold Cup with See More Business. The
latter was all out to beat 66/1 outsider Go Ballistic by a length,
but ultimately did just enough to make Nicholls leading trainer at
the Festival for the first time. Mick Fitzgerald, who rode Call
Equiname and See More Business, also added Katarino in the Triumph
Hurdle and Stormyfairweather in the now-defunct Cathcart Challenge
Cup for Nicky Henderson to become leading jockey.
Elsewhere, Istabraq was long odds-on
(4/9) to win the Champion Hurdle for a second year running and did so
with a minimum of fuss, beating Theatreworld by 3½ lengths having
led going well at the second last flight. The Stayers’ Hurdle
produced a surprise, with 40/1 chance Anzum producing a strong finish
to edge out 2/1 joint favourite Le Coudray by a neck. So, too, did
the Weatherbys Champion Bumper, with 50/1 chance staying on gamely
under Brendan Powell Snr. to beat Golden Alpha by 1½ lengths.
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