Champagne Fever: Cheltenham winner, active retirement and recent death - 'The horse of a lifetime' Champagne Fever was a dual Cheltenham Festival winner for trainer Willie Mullins and top connections during a relatively short but eventful racing career. He was owned by Rich and Susannah Ricci and spent almost five years as a racehorse before his early retirement from the sport and an opportunity to enjoy a second career in eventing. That saw him joining forces with top eventer Harriet Colderick in Sussex and he became a regular participant in the Cheltenham Festival's Retraining of Racehorses parade at the Cotswolds showpiece every March. Just after Christmas, Colderick announced the sad news of Champagne Fever's passing at home in her yard, aged 18. Rapid rise to Cheltenham glory Champagne Fever debuted on the track at Leopardstown in a bumper on St Stephen's Day in 2011 under Patrick Mullins and finished second to Thomas Edison. It was to prove the only setback of that first four-race season. He easily scored on his next start at Fairyhouse in January and went straight to the Cheltenham Festival, where he was a 16/1 hope under Patrick Mullins once more as they proved too strong for favourite New Year's Eve under Barry Geraghty for trainer John Ferguson in the Champion Bumper. Champagne Fever went on to land a second Grade 1 bumper win at Punchestown on his final start of the campaign. Novice hurdle campaign His novice campaign over timber yielded three wins from six starts as Champagne Fever showed he was far from unbeatable and prone to an off day. He won on debut at Cork but was only second to future Champion Hurdle winner Jezki in the Royal Bond at Fairyhouse next time out, before a lacklustre showing in a Grade 2 at Naas in January 2013. He left that behind to win the 2m2f Deloitte Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown in February and that teed him up for a tilt at the Supreme on the opening afternoon of the Cheltenham Festival. He made all that afternoon under Ruby Walsh and repelled the challenges of future Grade 1 stars My Tent Or Yours and Jezki up the Cheltenham hill. He remains the only one of Mullins' 14 Champion Bumper winners to add the Supreme Novices' Hurdle. At Punchestown that spring, Jezki delivered a super statement run, winning the Champion Novice Hurdle by 16-lengths as Champagne Fever finished third in what would prove their third and final meeting. Unfulfilled potential over fences The popular grey never quite managed to fulfil his potential as a chaser. He ran 11 times over three years, his time interrupted by a setback that caused him to miss 576 days off the track. He took a beginners' chase at Punchestown on his first start with Walsh on board in November 2013, but came up shy in a trio of Grade 1s afterwards, agonisingly inched out in the Arkle at Cheltenham as Western Warhorse won by a head for David Pipe and Tom Scudamore, getting up on the line to deny Champagne Fever. The following season he landed a pair of Grade 2s in Ireland and finished fourth as Silviniaco Conti won the King George at Kempton. He was a major contender for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in 2015 until an unfortunate bite from a stablemate in transit led to his withdrawal from the race. His spring ended with defeats in the Melling Chase at Aintree and the Punchestown Champion Chase, after which he was absent for 19 months. His final start brought a gutsy win at Thurles in a Listed Chase over 2m6f where he got the better of former Gold Cup winner Lord Windermere by a head in November 2016. Still aged just nine, that was to be his final start on the track as complications took their toll. Eventing career rewards for popular Fever He made his switch to Colderick afterwards and enjoyed a second career in eventing where he posted some fantastic runs and double clears at BE100. Colderick admitted that Champagne Fever 'never loved human attention that much', but instead 'thrived on work and horse socialisation and so that was the life we gave him', as he enjoyed his time doing eventing, dressage and galloping around the Ashdown Forest. She announced his passing occurred on December 23, 2025, adding via Instagram that: "He could not have wanted for more or been more loved by us, but in particular Georgia Marsland, whose love, hard work, dedication and patience was the making of him. Thank you Fever."
