The Cheltenham Festival and the Luck of the Irish

The Cheltenham Festival is as important an event for the Irish as it is for the English. Every year over 10,000 Irish people make the journey from the Emerald Isle to this small patch of green located in the middle of Gloucestershire and traditionally they leave with a disproportionate number of winners and trophies. In 2006 ten races were won by Irish trained horses and in 2009 the tally was nine. These were Weapons Amnesty, Go Native, Garde Champetre, Forpadydeplasterer, Nintieth Minute, Quevega, Dunguib, Mikael D’Haguenet, and Cooldine

This year the Cheltenham Betting ante-post money has been pouring in on Irish horses and again it is anticipated that the luck of the Irish will ensure that many races are bagged by them. Some of the Irish horses that have been tipped to do well are Dunguib who is the odds on favourite to win the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle; Smurfit Kappa and Captain Cee Bee which are highly favoured for the Irish Independent Arkle Challenge Trophy; Garde Champetre, a horse that already has won at the Festival on five previous occasions is favoured to again win in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase; Quevega is anticipated to again win the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle, a race in which she pummelled the opposition last year; Rite Of Passage looks strong for the Neptune Investments Novices’ Hurdle; and Elegant Concorde is tipped for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper. This race has been run on seventeen previous occasions and in all but three of them it was won by an Irish trained horse.

Of course, the 17th March should be a day when the Irish do particularly well. It is St Patricks Day and a cause of much celebration at the festival. It will be on that day that Forpadydeplasterer races in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Just a little while ago it had been reported that the horse was lame and odds lengthened to over 100/1. In the end it turned out that the horse had only a stone bruise, and soon he was back on form. Odds shortened to around 10/1 and although these are well off the odds on favourite Master Minded, anyone who managed to back Forpadydeplasterer at 100/1 would certainly have some of the luck of the Irish.