Brit Insurance, it was backed by Albert Bartlett for the first time in 2008, coinciding with its upgrade to Grade One status. 2008 Racing could not take place on the second day of The Festival because of high winds and the third and fourth days had 10 races and nine races respectively to make up the backlog. The Howard Johnson-trained Inglis Drever, owned by Andrea and Graham Wylie, became the first triple winner of the Stayers’ Hurdle, following on from his wins in 2005 and 2007. 2009 Quevega won the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle for the first time. Her sixth success in 2014 set a record for wins in the same race at The Festival. The Willie Mullinstrained mare beat the record she previously shared with Golden Miller, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on five occasions between 1932 and 1936. Kauto Star became the first horse to regain the Cheltenham Gold Cup, after first winning the highlight of The Festival in 2007. 2011 The fastest winning time for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, 6 minutes 29.7 seconds, was set by Long Run and he was also the latest victor to be amateur-ridden, by Sam Waley-Cohen. Sizing Europe became the 21st Irishtrained winner of the Queen Mother Champion Chase. The JLT Novices’ Chase was introduced to The Festival and the novice chasing championship over two and a half miles was backed by Jewson from 2011 to 2013. The contest was elevated to Grade One status in 2014, with JLT taking over the sponsorship. Its distance falls between the two-mile Racing Post Arkle Novices’ Chase and the RSA Novices’ Chase, which is staged over an extended three miles. 2012 Big Buck’s created history at The Festival when becoming the first fourtime winner of the Stayers’ Hurdle, during a record 18-run unbeaten spell. Owned by the Stewart Family, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Ruby Walsh, he was also successful in 2009, 2010 and 2011, but injury ruled him out of challenging in 2013. He was fifth on his final racecourse appearance in the 2014 renewal. Edward Gillespie, who oversaw the phenomenal growth and development of Cheltenham in the modern era, retired after 32 years as managing director. His work at the track was recognised when he was awarded an OBE for services to Cheltenham racing in the 2015 New Year honours list. He was succeeded by Ian Renton. 2013 Hurricane Fly became the second horse after Comedy Of Errors (1975) to regain the Stan James Champion Hurdle. 2014 Jessica Harrington became only the second woman to train a winner of Stan James Champion Hurdle following Jezki’s victory (the first was Mercy Rimell with Gaye Brief back in 1983). Jim Culloty followed in the footsteps of Danny Morgan, Fred Winter, Pat Taaffe and Jonjo O’Neill by becoming the fifth man to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup as both a trainer and a jockey. Culloty was in the saddle for each of Best Mate’s three victories (2002, 2003 and 2004) and enjoyed a memorable victory as a trainer when Lord Windermere prevailed in the last strides of a thrilling renewal. After The Festival ended, work started on the latest development of the grandstands and buildings. The £45-million project has been the racecourse’s largest single investment, with funding including £25 million raised through the Jockey Club Racecourse Bond, the first retail bond in British sport. It brought the sum spent on Cheltenham’s facilities over 30 years to £80 million. The work, designed by Gloucester-based Roberts Limbrick Architects with the main contractor being local construction group Kier, was completed in late 2015, well before The Festival in 2016. It includes a new grandstand, alongside the existing main grandstand built in 1979, which offers annual members’ facilities, public viewing areas, private boxes and a Royal Box, plus elevated walkways overlooking the parade ring. 2015 Ireland’s champion trainer Willie Mullins sent out a record eight winners at The Festival as he captured The Irish Independent Leading Trainer Award for the third year in succession and a fourth time in all. The previous record for successes at a single Festival was held by Nicky Henderson, who saddled seven winners in 2012. Mullins’ eight triumphs were headlined by a memorable one-two-three in the Stan James Champion Hurdle, with Faugheen and Ruby Walsh making all to beat Arctic Fire and two-time champion Hurricane Fly. Coneygree became the first novice since Captain Christy in 1974 to win the highlight of the week, the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The Mark Bradstock-trained eight-yearold jumped superbly in front under Nico de Boinville before holding off Irish challengers Djakadam and Road To Riches on the run to the line. A P McCoy celebrated his final year at The Festival with victory aboard Uxizandre in the Ryanair Chase. The recordbreaking champion jockey, who gained his 20th consecutive title the following month, bowed out with 31 wins at The Festival in total. 2016 A record 260,579 racegoers attended The Festival, with new record crowds for the first three days – Champion Day, Ladies Day and St Patrick’s Thursday. The only reason why there was no record on the final day, Gold Cup Day, was because the attendance had been capped to help racegoers enjoy the climax to The Festival as much as possible. Ruby Walsh captured his fifth consecutive Boodles Leading Jockey at The Festival Award and 10th in total. He also equalled his best ever total at The Festival of seven winners (a record number he first achieved in 2009) and took his overall number of victories at The Festival to 52. He is the most successful rider of all-time at The Festival. Walsh also achieved the significant milestone of riding his fourth Stan James Champion Hurdle, courtesy of Willie Mullins-trained mare Annie Power, becoming only the second jockey to do so. Mullins won The Irish Independent Leading Trainer at The Festival Award for the fifth time in total and for the fourth year in succession with seven winners. Mullins has now saddled 48 winners at The Festival and is second in the all-time list behind Nicky Henderson, who grew his tally at The Festival to 55 winners with two successes, headed by the memorable victory of the Nico de Boinville-ridden Sprinter Sacre in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase. J P McManus, the leading owner of all-time at The Festival, saw his tally rise to 49 successes following five winners. A record total of 28 races were run at The Festival, thanks to the addition of a second race confined to mares, the Trull House Stud Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle. There was a thrilling end to the British v Irish competition, the BetBright Prestbury Cup, with a record 15 Irish-trained winners. Channel 4 Racing broadcast The Festival for the final time and the new terrestrial TV contract holder, ITV Racing, takes over in <strong>2017</strong>. 20
INCREDIBLE UNMISSABLE £10 FREE NO DEPOSIT NEEDE NEW CUSTOMER OFFER BETTING, BETTER E LE £10 FREE BET NO DEPOSIT NEEDED NEW CUSTOMER OFFER BETTING, BETTER Cheltenham Media Guide <strong>2017</strong> 21
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