The ground was tacky and soft on Wednesday after the rain but with almost two drying days of sun and breeze we could see the ground returning to close to good in places. While Shishkin vs Energumene in Wednesday's Champion Chase was the most keenly anticipated contest of the week, this afternoon's Gold Cup remains the ultimate test of steeplechasing in the jumps calendar.Ī tough examination of speed, stamina and jumping accuracy, 11 horses will go to post to race over three miles two-and-a-half furlongs and 22 fences of Cheltenham's new course. Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the fourth and final day of the Cheltenham Festival.
Having got into a stamina-sapping battle from some way out with Minella Indo last year, Blackmore had clearly given it plenty of thought about how she might turn it round and the difference this time was that she rode A Plus Tard for speed. In future it will just be taken for granted big race, Rachael got there first.Ī year ago she finished a length and a half second to stablemate Minella Indo on Henry de Bromhead’s eight-year-old but this time they reversed the form - at early 1980s interest rates.įrom the last it really was a case of ‘see you later’ as her French-bred mount skipped away up the hill to win by 15 lengths, the longest winning margin in a Gold Cup since Master Oats in 1995, and she became the first jockey since AP McCoy in 1997 to win the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup in the same year. It will never have be written again but in doing so she became the first female jockey to win the sport’s blue riband. Rachael Blackmore already has two Champion Hurdles and a Grand National on the mantlepiece at her Carlow home but on Friday her solo rocket reached the sport’s final frontier when she and 3-1 favourite A Plus Tard were runaway winners of the Boodles Gold Cup.
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