Cheltenham, the sedate Georgian town nestled in the Cotswolds, turns green this week with the annual migration of tens of thousands of racegoers from across the Irish Sea.
Their destination, Prestbury Park racecourse and the four-day Cheltenham Festival starting today, Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Jump racing's Olympics pits the equine might of Ireland against the best of the home nation, with Ireland led by master trainer Willie Mullins enjoying the whip hand recently in the Anglo-Irish rivalry.
While they may be hard pushed to repeat their 2021 success when they took home 23 of the 28 races, all the signs are green for another memorable week for the visitors.
Only two of the week's favourites are trained in the host country.
AFP Sport takes a look at the three cornerstone races around which the meeting has flourished into a one billion pound betting behemoth.
Champion Hurdle
The two-mile hurdling championship looked to be at the mercy of last year's winner Constitution Hill until trainer Nicky Henderson was forced to withdraw his under-the-weather stable star this month. State Man, a distant runner-up in 2023, is the new long odds-on favourite to step up and play the leading role. Winner of the Irish equivalent in February he is aiming to give Mullins a fifth Champion Hurdle. The eight-time Grade One scorer faces only seven rivals, Henderson's hopes now resting with Iberico Lord and Luccio. But a bigger danger could come from Gordon Elliott's classy Irish Point, dropping back significantly in distance.
Champion Chase
Like its hurdling equivalent, Wednesday's two mile crown for chasers will have a new name on its roll of honour with the injury-enforced absence of 2023 and 2024 winner Energumene. And also like Tuesday's showpiece Mullins it is who has the short-priced favourite in El Fabiolo. He found his way to the hallowed winner's enclosure at last year's meeting after landing the Arkle Chase. He recorded a top notch win at the Dublin Racing Festival last month when Mullins hoovered up all eight Grade One contests at Leopardstown. Jonbon, the horse that got closest to El Fabiolo in the Arkle, is back to take him on again with trainer Henderson looking forward to the rematch despite a shock defeat in his warm up at the track in January when he paid the price for a jumping error. "Until he made that mistake coming down the hill everything had gone really nicely" said the trainer. Edwardstone, a 40 length winner of his prep race, looks best of the rest.
Gold Cup
Mullins' Galopin Des Champs heads the betting to follow up last year's success in the blue riband of National Hunt racing celebrating its 100th birthday. If he does so he will become only the eighth multiple winner of the Gold Cup, the last was Al Boum Photo trained by -- Mullins. Two Grade 1 wins in the past couple of months suggest the reigning champion will be hard to defeat for a trainer who needs 'only' another six winners this week to reach a remarkable milestone of 100 Festival successes. Bravemansgame got closest to Galopin des Champs in last year's Gold Cup and is back for another tilt. He was second to another contender, Hewick, in the King George VI Chase at Kempton over Christmas. Shishkin unseated his jockey Nico de Boinville leading the King George after the penultimate fence, and Henderson believes that despite his charge's somewhat roguish reputation his 2021 Arkle winner compares "very favourably" with his two previous Gold Cup winners Long Run in 2011 and Bobs Worth two years later.
