Cheltenham flaw: Like Liverpool and Real Madrid playing Europa because better chance of winning it than Champions League
Wodhooh and Jack Kennedy win for owners The Sundowners Partnership and trainer Gordon Elliott. Pic: Healy Racing
The Ryan Air Chase, or the Festival Trophy to give its formal title, comes of age today when it celebrates its 21st birthday with an interesting duel between the increasingly lovable Jonbon and last year’s winner, Fact To File. Jonbon, a younger brother of the great Douvan, rarely puts a in a bad shift at the office. Now a ten-year-old he has won twenty races and been placed in the other seven, collecting the guts of €2 million in prizemoney along the way.
Fact To File is a year younger, less consistent and on his day an immaculately brilliant steeplechaser. His wins in the Ryanair last year and in The Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown last month were hugely impressive performances. So, what’s not to like?
The Ryanair was introduced in 2005 and is run over a ‘makey-up’ intermediate distance of two-and-a-half miles when the festival was extended by a day. Its presence has undoubtedly diluted the quality of the fields for the traditional chasing title races, the Champion Stakes and The Gold Cup.
If the Ryanair Chase didn’t exist, Fact To File would be running in Friday's Gold Cup and would start a warm favourite. Jonbon’s logical Cheltenham Route would be the two-mile Champion Chase won by Il Est Temps yesterday. Both the big races would have been a lot stronger for their presence. It’s as if Liverpool and Real Madrid elected to play in the Europa Cup because they had more chance of winning it than the Champions League.
Both horses are owned by JP McManus, whose rational objective is to win as many races and as much prize money as possible to help support his immense personal investment in the sport. Interestingly, he also owns Inothewayurthinkin, last year’s Gold Cup winner, but who has run like a hairy goat in his three races since. There are growing rumours that he is ready to shine again in the springtime sun. Maybe that’s why Fact To File has been relegated to the Europa Cup.
Speaking of make-up races, two on the card today are restricted to mares, the opening novice hurdle, and the Grade One hurdle over two and a half miles at 2.40. While the legitimacy of the Ryanair chase is a reasonable debate, it’s much more difficult to argue that these two contests add greatly to the quality of the overall festival experience. Quevega, Lossiemouth and Honeysuckle are all multiple winners of the Mares Hurdle when clearly, they would have all had chances to do the same in the Champion Hurdle proper as Honeysuckle and Lossiemouth proved when allowed run.
This afternoon’s race looks like a penalty kick for Wodhooh, but there is no question she has the class and ability to compete at the higher grade. With only six opponents taking her on, she will start at short odds-on to add a second festival victory to her win in the Martin Pipe last year.
It looks as if Bambino Fever is on a similar mission in the novice. Likely to start odds on, even though she has 21 opponents to beat, she should add a second festival success following her thrilling win in last year’s champion bumper. Again, like Wodhooh, she has more than enough talent to have competed against the boys in Tuesday’s Supreme Novice and would have had a decent chance of becoming the first mare to win that race since Like-a-Butterfly in 2002.
On the other side of the argument is the value to their owners. There are 29 runners combined in today’s two races and none of them is dual-owned and 13 of those owners are either syndicates, partnerships, or clubs. If their mare wins or is placed and they can have a good ‘yell and a shout’ while their photo is taken in the winner’s enclosure, they won’t be too worried about quality dilution at the festival when they look at that picture on the mantel as the years go by.
There is nothing made up about The Stayers Hurdle, a staple of the festival card since 1912 and always one of the more eagerly anticipated contests of the week. The longevity of the horses contesting staying hurdles builds a lot of familiarity among racegoers and always adds a layer of intrigue to the proceedings. This afternoon’s race (3.20) looks as interesting as ever.
Teahupoo is on a recovery mission having won it a couple of years ago before finishing to Bob Ollinger last time. Both are getting on in years, nine and 11 respectively, and there are plenty of young whippersnappers biting at their heels. The two main British contenders, Honesty Policy and Kabrai Du Mathan are a mere six years old, babies in comparison and Ma Shantou is just a year older.
Another couple of 11-year-old old troopers who have stayed around for another battle today are the Cork-owned, and named, Home By The Lee and the legend that is Hewick. This is Home By The Lee’s fifth attempt to win this race, his best outcome was when he was second to Teahupoo in 2024.
Hewick, famously bought cheaper than a well-bred puppy, is nearing the end of a fairytale of a career, equally laced with drama and joy. He will be ridden tomorrow by 18-year-old Paddy Hanlon, son of Hewick’s trainer, Shark, who said recently that his “heart will be in my mouth but it’s going to be something great. Paddy is eighteen and the horse is 11 so there’s not much between them.”
