It may have been one of the worst results for Irish horses in Cheltenham in years but at least Meath jockey Barry Geraghty came out on top when he was crowned leading jockey at the four-day festival.
It was also a good festival for Limerick’s JP Manus, owner of the Gold Cup winner Synchronised. It was his second win of the day, with both horses steered to victory by Northern Irish jockey AP McCoy.
He went on to have a third win in the last race of the festival with Paul Carberry on board Bellvano in the Grand Annual Steeple Chase Challenge Cup.
AP McCoy said he knew it was going to be a good day when he woke up this morning. “I said to the boss this morning, I said, today is the day,” he said. “I said it’s going to happen today. I just felt it. Maybe I was getting my confidence back or something but I felt like something was going to go right.”
He paid tribute to the enthusiasm of Mr McManus and said the satisfaction he got out of watching a horse winning on a Monday was immense. “He’s got a great love for the game and we’re very lucky to have him.”
There was disappointment when the fairytale ended for the people’s favourite Kauto Star. He bowed out early in the Gold Cup race and spectators gave him a rousing round of applause as he pulled up.
There was also disappointment for Fresh by Nature, the syndicate borne out of the Dublin Fruit and Vegetable Market. Their horse Citizenship, trained by Jessica Harrington didn’t live up to expectations in the Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle. Had he won the race, he would have also garnered a €100,000 bonus from Boylesports because of his win in Leopardstown.
“We were hoping for better but sure that’s racing,” said syndicate member Kevin Raftery afterwards. “We’ll always get another day, please God.”
Irish trainers were soundly trounced by their UK colleagues this year, largely due to the success of Nicky Henderson, who surpassed Fulke Walwyn's festival record of 40 winners on Wednesday when Barry Geraghty rode Simonsig to victory in the Novices' Hurdle.
The final tally of Irish-trained winners was five, compared with 13 last year .Willie Mullins was the only Irish trainer to offer any resistance. He amassed three victories courtesy of Quevega in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle, Champagne Fever in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper and Sir Des Champs in the Jewson Novices' Chase.
The bookmakers were happy at the end of the festival, after a challenging day yesterday, according to Leon Blanche from Boylesports. “Synchronised was not the worst result for us in the Gold Cup,” he said. “The worst result would have been Long Run.”
The talk at the racecourse this morning was all about the Irish stable employee belonging to the Nicky Henderson stable who reportedly won £1 million (€1.2 million) yesterday in an accumulator bet on five of the yard's runners.
Conor Murphy (31), a Cork native, reported for work as normal today, according to Henderson.
The win fell into place when actor Jimmy Nesbitt's horse Riverside Theatre won the Ryanair Steeple Chase yesterday afternoon. The other horses in the bet were Sprinter Sacre on Tuesday and Simonsig, Finian's Rainbow and Bobs Worth on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Phil Williams, owner of Son of Flicka, reportedly collected £900,000 after his horse's victor in the Coral Cup on Wednesday.
