Ruby Walsh: Cheltenham results prove government investment in racing is justified

Jack Kennedy (left) and trainer Henry de Bromhead celebrate with Minella Indo after winning the WellChild Cheltenham Gold Cup 

I suppose the ante-post betting suggested it could be a dominant week for Irish horses, but I don’t think anybody, no matter how green-tinted their glasses, could have foreseen the absolute whitewash that happened at Cheltenham this week.

Irish-trained runners not only broke the previous record, they smashed it. The tally of 19 wins to Britain’s nine at the 2017 Festival was an incredible result but it was clear from a very early stage this week that it was going to be surpassed. It quickly became a question of just how many winners we would get, and when Galopin Des Champs took the Martin Pipe Hurdle for Willie Mullins and Sean O’Keeffe it was 23 – yes, 23 – for Ireland and five for the home team.

From our perspective, the meeting had everything. Earlier in the week we had Appreciate It’s stroll in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle; Honeysuckle’s dazzling performance in the Champion Hurdle; Jack Kennedy’s brilliant ride on Galvin in the National Hunt Chase; the Ballymore success of Bob Olinger – what a future he has – and the unbelievably tenacious Put The Kettle On in the Champion Chase.

Add Paul Hennessy, Richie Condon and Heaven Help Us making all to win a Coral Cup – it’s just not done. And then Sir Gerhard and Kilcruit in the bumper, and the spellbinding Allaho in the Ryanair. And Gavin Cromwell, Danny Mullins and the six-year-old Flooring Porter making all to win the Stayers’ Hurdle. It was all incredible to watch.

And Fridat provided an incredible end to an incredible week. After five winners on Tuesday, six on Wednesday and the same on Thursday, it’s incredible to think that being beaten a short head in the Foxhunters’ made the difference to it being a clean sweep on Friday.

Cheltenham Festival

The latest news, views, analysis and opinions on Cheltenham from the Irish Examiner sports desk and our  team of award-winning horse racing writers, tipsters and fans

Go

What a week it was for Henry de Bromhead. Minella Indo beating stablemate A Plus Tard in the Gold Cup topped an incredible meeting for him. Minella Indo jumped the best. Jack Kennedy had him in a good position every step of the way and he was in control of his own destiny from a long way out. I felt Al Boum Photo was a bit flat, and A Plus Tard didn’t jump as well as the winner.

I was delighted for Jack. With all the injuries he has had for the age he is, and to keep coming back is the mark of the young man. He’s 21 and has broken his leg four times, his collar bone God knows how many times, and to keep the mental resilience he has I think is incredible.

But the week was about so many people. Rachael Blackmore got nearly as many falls as she did winners but kept picking herself up and deserved to be leading jockey at the end of the week. I think the barrier she has knocked down, being widely recognised as the brilliant jockey she is – not a female jockey, a jockey – was one of the highlights of the week.

Tactically she is so, so good. She’s in the right place every day, doing the right things. And she has spills as well as thrills. She got a few crunching falls, but she keeps getting back up. She’s tenacious and resilient and hard. She has it all and deserves every plaudit she will get and every bit of success that will come her way.

Paul Townend must have felt he was banging his head off a wall for most of the week, but to pull it out of the fire on Colreevy was fantastic. And Willie winning the last two races gave him six for the week meant, with placed runners coming into the reckoning, that he was crowned leading at the meeting for an eighth time.

It also meant a lot to see Danny Mullins ride his first winner here, and likewise Jordan Gainford, Richie Condon, Sean Flanagan, Kevin Sexton and Sean O’Keeffe - lads that work so hard and are getting the reward.

Danny had five seconds here previously and might, at times, have been wondering would it ever happen. But then to get a winning spare in a Grade 1 was some story. You felt for Johnny Moore, but you were delighted for Danny Mullins.

From a training point of view, it was great to see so many names on the scoreboard this week. Besides Willie, Henry and Sneezy, to see Emmet Mullins, Ian Ferguson, Paul Hennessy, Paul Nolan, Gavin Cromwell, Noel Meade and Peter Fahey amongst the winners was brilliant.

Overall, what has been achieved by the Irish has been amazing to watch condensed into four days, but it didn’t just happen overnight. It’s down to a lot of things, from the breeder to the pinhooker, to the people buying the stores as point-to-pointers, to the trainers getting the horses to the track. It all needs investors at the other end, and that’s the owners.

And the big thing for Irish racing is what HRI has done, the programme it has put in place and the prize money it has means a lot of people not living in Ireland are investing in Irish horse racing. And that feeds back to everyone in the industry. It goes all the way back down.

This has been building for some time and now it has happened - indeed, is happening - it’s something Irish racing should be very proud of. It was an amazing week for Irish racing, and it justified every penny the government invests in the industry.