THE FESTIVAL 2017 MEDIA GUIDE

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STAN JAMES CHAMPION HURDLE THE FIRST OFFICIALLY-RECORDED HURDLE RACE OVER A SPECIALLY-CONSTRUCTED COURSE IN BRITAIN TOOK PLACE IN 1821 NEAR BRISTOL, RUN IN THREE HEATS OF A MILE WITH FIVE FLIGHTS IN EACH HEAT. But many years elapsed before racing over the smaller obstacles really found a mainstream place in public and professional consciousness. The first course to become a hurdling hotbed was Croydon, home of the Grand International and Grand National Handicap Hurdles until its closure in 1890. Hurdling was then primarily a gambling, rather than sporting, medium, which George Lambton, later a great Flat trainer but then an impecunious owner and amateur rider, used to his advantage in the Croydon races in 1886 and 1887 on his mare Bellona. At the turn of the century, the most valuable hurdle races were the £875 Jubilee Handicap at Manchester and the £825 International Hurdle at Gatwick. As a comparison, the Grand National was then worth £1,975. In 1907, another valuable handicap, the Imperial Cup at Sandown, was introduced to the racing calendar, worth £830 to the inaugural winner Carnegie. The development of racing at Cheltenham added the Gloucestershire Hurdle which in 1914 was the most valuable of that season at £827. The winner that year was Wrack, who carried top-weight of 12st 2lb to a 10-length victory. An entire, he was the best specialist hurdler of his era as well as being a useful Flat handicapper. Wrack went on to have a successful stud career in the States. But the best hurdler of the early 20th century was Trespasser, another dualpurpose entire. On the Flat, he won a 32
Queen’s Prize at Kempton Park and over obstacles three Imperial Cups (1920-22) and the 1920 County Hurdle at Cheltenham. At stud he sired Tickets, who became dam of the 1936 Champion Hurdle winner Victor Norman. The Champion Hurdle was founded in 1927 as a foil to the Cheltenham Gold Cup, too late for Trespasser to show his talents at The Festival. Appropriately, the first Champion Hurdle winner Blaris was ridden by George Duller, who was the outstanding hurdles’ exponent of his time, and had also partnered Wrack and Trespasser. But in those days hurdling was still very much a minor branch of the sport, regarded as a training ground for future chasers and indeed Blaris had won over fences at Newbury on his previous outing. He beat just three rivals at Cheltenham, where his £365 prize was the least valuable of the four hurdles, behind the County Hurdle (£830), the Stayers’ Selling Hurdle (£465) and the Gloucestershire Hurdle (£415). It was not until 1938 that the Champion Hurdle’s value crept past that of the County. The first sponsorship came from Waterford Crystal in 1978 (when the winner Monksfield earned £21,332); after which the Smurfit group took over until succeeded by Stan James in 2011. The 2017 first prize is £227,800 out of a total prize fund of £400,000. Grace (1949-51) and Sir Ken (1952- 54). The exploits of the trio, whose careers overlapped, did much to popularise their branch of the sport and make the Champion Hurdle a true championship. National Spirit, trained by Vic Smyth in Epsom, notched 19 wins over hurdles and 13 on the Flat in a nineyear career. His first Cheltenham victory may have been fortunate; the French-trained runner-up Le Paillon – who won the Arc later that year - was steered unconscionably wide the whole way by a young Alec Head and yet went down by only a length. There was a comfortable second victory for National Spirit in 1948. But back in fifth came an unheralded little Irish-trained eight-year-old, who by the following year had changed stables. It was not quite known yet outside Ireland what a genius was his new trainer, Co Cork-based Vincent O’Brien, but in winning the 1949 Champion Hurdle by six lengths under Aubrey Brabazon, Hatton’s Grace helped to spread the word. Hatton’s Grace won again in 1950, when National Sprit blundered at the last. A year on the contrasting pair - plain, pony-sized Hatton’s Grace, with Tim Molony up for the first time, and 17-hand pale chestnut National Spirit - were in the air together again at the last, only for the latter, under the greater pressure, to fall. Hatton’s Grace, whose career was late starting because of wartime restrictions, won his third Champion Hurdle aged 11, matched only by Sea Pigeon in 1981. He won over fences in Ireland at the age of 13, and then retired to O’Brien’s new premises, Ballydoyle, where he led the youngsters. “He was supposed to be too old to win at Cheltenham,” recalled O’Brien later. “But he never knew that so I nicknamed him Peter Pan.” The youngest Champion Hurdle winners have been four-year-olds Brown Jack (1928), Brown Tony (1930), Seneca (1941) and Forestation (1942). The next multiple champion, Sir Ken, was perhaps the first truly great hurdler. In the post-war era, trainers plundered France for precocious Jump-bred types who had been learning their trade from a young age; so there really is nothing new under the sun. Sir Ken was plucked from a race at Auteuil for £750 by trainer Willie Stephenson. He had failed to win over hurdles in France but proved a revelation after his transfer, with 17 straight wins, including one on the Flat. His first 16 hurdle victories included two of his three Cheltenham titles, but also some uncompetitive minor contests, one of which he won at odds of 1/33. Cheltenham Media Guide 2017 Probably none of the pre-war Champion Hurdle winners can be considered to be worthy of the race’s eponymous tag, not even the second winner Brown Jack, who later became a high-class Flat stayer and a public idol, or the first dual winner Insurance (1932-33), who took his first edition by 12 lengths - a record margin he shares with Istabraq (1998) – but who had only two rivals in the race’s smallestever field. The standard of hurdling improved markedly after the Second World War, when two Cheltenham victories for National Spirit (1947-48) were followed by three each for Hatton’s Winning jockey Ruby Walsh and trainer Willie Mullins celebrate with the trophy 33
Page 1 and 2: THE FESTIVAL 2017 MEDIA GUIDE
Page 3 and 4: WELCOME The build-up to this year
Page 5 and 6: A general view of the Vestey Bar at
Page 7 and 8: BRITISH RACING HAS A DUTY OF CARE T
Page 9 and 10: BETBRIGHT PRESTBURY CUP BRITAIN VER
Page 11 and 12: THE MCCOYS RECOGNISING JUMP RACING
Page 13 and 14: Cheltenham Media Guide 2017 mile co
Page 15 and 16: JON RICHARDSON THE OLD MAN 7th OCTO
Page 17 and 18: ARKLE FACTS Form figures; 341104-11
Page 19 and 20: Cheltenham Media Guide 2017 1997 A
Page 21 and 22: INCREDIBLE UNMISSABLE £10 FREE NO
Page 23 and 24: laying plans for the 12 months ahea
Page 25 and 26: THE FESTIVAL IN FIGURES Cheltenham
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Page 29 and 30: CALL US FOR CHELTENHAM BETTING NEWS
Page 31: Cheltenham Media Guide 2017 TIMICO
Page 35 and 36: Eborneezer (1961) and trained Bula
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Page 39 and 40: THE FIRST RACE AT THE CHELTENHAM FE
Page 41 and 42: The only horse since to have won th
Page 43 and 44: CHELTENHAM & SOUTH WEST SYNDICATE S
Page 45 and 46: ecognised start of the race that is
Page 47 and 48: WE ’ RE NOT HORSING AROUND PROUD
Page 49 and 50: short history, with three wins apie
Page 51 and 52: LEADING JOCKEYS AT THE FESTIVAL Rub
Page 53 and 54: William Alexander Baring Bingham, w
Page 55 and 56: at Cheltenham for 26 years altogeth
Page 57 and 58: of supporting races. The first Coun
Page 59 and 60: Bookmakers in front of the See You

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