Going - Good to Soft.
Jackpot Pool - £136,145.44 Not Won. Carried forward to Cheltenham on Friday 14th March. Placepot Pool - £1,398,278.25 Dividend - £80.30 Winning Units - 12709.3. Quadpot Pool - £120,957.09 Dividend - £7.80 Winning Units - 11460.6.
Air Of Entitlement swoops late for Mares’ glory
We knew we had the stamina and obviously the New course suits. We always worry about being too handy in this race and Rachael got it spot-on. I thought they went a really good gallop and she gave her some spin. She stayed on really well. I thought when we winged the last we had a chance and I knew Keith (Donoghue, riding Sixandahalf) was up there the whole way, which historically hasn’t worked. It’s a long way up that straight, I thought we had a chance after jumping the last and I’m delighted.
Caldwell Potter provides Nicholls with landmark 50th Festival win
We switched him into John’s colours, I don’t think we even told the other boys we were going to do that and Pat (Hales, wife) is obviously delighted. I knew we had him right, he’s taken a long while to get right. He’s done some good work at home but he’s had some problems with his feet and that’s all disappeared of late. He had a positive plan, he jumps brilliant. Everyone was trying to tell me what to do and what not to do trip-wise, I felt he wants a trip and I think he’d gallop forever. It’s just good to get him back. He’s such a brilliant jumper and such a genuine horse. Just because he had a big price tag, he’s had to put up with plenty of stick but it doesn’t matter, when they come through that front gate, they’re all worth the same. You’ve just got to work away to get them right and today he was right.
Doddiethegreat becomes another poignant Cheltenham winner
We all like Doddie; he’s named after Doddie Weir and it all goes to the foundation. He got the most horrible overreach and spent time up in Ayr. It didn’t look like he would get back to a racecourse, but thankfully he did.
Fact To File coasts to impressive Ryanair Chase victory
It was a hell of a field and he won very easily, he’s a proper horse. They went a good gallop and he just stayed with them and got his jumping right and coming off the bend I don’t think Mark was worried, he just needed to get over the last two fences and he did that well. It’s a surprise the manner he has won it and I was hoping coming here he was good enough to win it and he would win it, but when you’ve got Il Est Francais and Protektorat in the field, they are good horses and horses of a lifetime for some people. He was able to beat them like that, which is huge. Every day of the week, I think he would be the one to give Galopin Des Champs the biggest problems, I do, and he was in the Gold Cup but we felt it was better to bide our options and let him come to this race. He could be a Gold Cup horse next year and he will be a year older, we just felt at this stage of his career, a hard race in the Gold Cup if it turned up soft is not what he wants. That was the way our thinking was all season and JP was very pro that, we just didn’t want him to have a hard race in a Gold Cup, as sometimes that can ruin a horse’s career. I’m not going to talk about two-year plans after Lossiemouth, but I imagine that’s where he will be going next year.
Bob Olinger battles to dethrone Stayers’ Hurdle champ Teahupoo
It’s unbelievable, a super ride from Rachael and great work from all the team at home. To get him back like that is incredible and I’m delighted for everyone. Davy Roche, my assistant, he’d take a bullet for him – he adores him. He said he worked well the other day and he’ll be ecstatic. He’s just a class horse and he was unbeaten here. I was at a preview event a few weeks ago and I wasn’t looking at the betting, but he was 66-1 and I was thinking ‘oh my God’, I couldn’t believe it. He’s a bit of a poser and a dude who loves the attention and deserves every bit he gets. He comes alive here and obviously loves it here. We had a couple of funny years with him, but he’s back now. You always hope they’ll come back and win another big one, but I never foresee anything winning anything!. You live the dream and you hope and try to maintain them as well as you can. It’s so hard to get a good horse, so when you get a good one, you want to try and maintain them for as long as you can and I really feel we try to do that. It’s brilliant for Rachael. She’s just so good and is such a professional who works so hard. When she came back from injury our horses hit a bad patch of form, but she just does what she does – she’s class.
