THE FESTIVAL 2017 MEDIA GUIDE

Galmoy, the first horse to achieve
glory in successive years, was the best
winner to that time. Trained by John
Mulhern and ridden Tommy Carmody,
he triumphed by six lengths in 1987
and seven lengths the following year,
on both occasions providing Ireland’s
sole victory at The Festival from 18
races. Galmoy also finished second
in 1989.
Since moving to its present Thursday
slot in 1993, the race has been
scheduled for the New Course. It is
arguably the toughest of The Festival
championships; long-distance hurdlers
do not get as much of a respite
in the air over obstacles as do
staying chasers.
And from 2002, the Stayers’ Hurdle
has achieved real recognition and its
competitors a substantial fanbase,
thanks to the exploits of three multiple
winners – Baracouda, Inglis Drever
and Big Buck’s - and the substantial
increase in the prize fund. The 2017
total prize fund stands at £300,000.
Baracouda was the first specialist
stayer to be rated the season’s best
hurdler by Timeform. Trained by
Francois Doumen near Chantilly
in France, Baracouda burst on the
British scene as a five-year-old with a
14-length victory over Deeno’s Beano
in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot
in 2000.
The foot-and mouth outbreak denied
him his chance of Festival success
at Cheltenham that season, but he
made no mistake in 2002 and 2003,
with the trainer’s son Thierry up on
both occasions, by which time he was
carrying J P McManus’s colours.
On his first visit to The Festival, he
won the stayers’ crown by a neck from
Bannow Bay; on his second he scored
by three quarters of a length from Iris’s
Gift, with Limestone Lad third. The
three were in the air together at the
last in what was regarded as the race
of the meeting.
Baracouda, due to his quirks, had to
be delivered with perfect timing but
the excitement and uncertainty of
his running style endeared him to the
public. The French horse lost his title
to Iris’s Gift in 2004, finished second
again in 2005 (to Inglis Drever), when
hot favourite both times, and came
fifth, aged 11, in 2006, his final race. In
all, he was successful on 18 of his 27
starts over hurdles, including seven
Grade Ones.
Inglis Drever, who beat Baracouda fair
and square by three lengths under
Graham Lee, could not defend his title
in 2006 after damaging a tendon but
regained it in 2007 and kept the
status in 2008, becoming the first
three-time winner.
Though the little Flat-bred gelding,
trained by Howard Johnson in County
Durham for then-newcomers Andrea
and Graham Wylie, had his physical
problems, he was thoroughly genuine;
a little streetfighter with an admirable
attitude at the sharp end.
His only three Grade One victories
came at Cheltenham, where the
finishing hill played to his strengths;
in 2007, with Paddy Brennan up, he
bettered Mighty Man by three quarters
of a length after a tremendous scrap,
and though the Doumen-trained
Kasbah Bliss made him work in 2008,
with Denis O’Regan in the saddle,
and was only a length behind at the
line, the third success and his place in
history was never in doubt.
Events at Newbury in November that
year determined the future course of
the long-distance hurdling division. The
career of Inglis Drever came to an end
as he sustained a hock injury on his
seasonal debut, and that of Big Buck’s
changed direction as he clumsily
unseated his rider at the last fence in
the Hennessy Gold Cup.
Big Buck’s, trained by Paul Nicholls,
had been a smart four-year-old hurdler
in his native France and his reversion to
the smaller obstacles created a legend.
His victory off top-weight in a handicap
hurdle at Cheltenham in January, 2009
set up a winning streak of 18, a record
for a Jump horse, beating Sir Ken’s
series of 16 set during the early 1950s.
Big Buck’s 10 Grade One victories
included an unprecedented four
Stayers’ Hurdles under Ruby Walsh,
his runners-up being Punchestowns
(beaten 1¾l), Time For Rupert (3¼l),
Grands Crus (1¾l) and Voler La
Vedette (1¾l).
Big Buck’s, who carried the colours
of the Stewart family, was another
perceived to have recidivist tendencies
– he sometimes hit a flat spot and
tended to idle in front - but his
domination of the division was
absolute.
After his first Stayers’ Hurdle success,
the third win of his sequence, he always
started at odds-on. His wins came by
an aggregate 82¾l and he always put
daylight between himself and his rivals,
with a minimum win margin of a length
and three quarters.
Big Buck’s last victory came, by nine
lengths at odds of 1/12, in the 2012
Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury, four
years to the day after his Hennessy
blunder.
A minor tendon injury then ruled him
out of action until January, 2014, when
he finished a close third at Cheltenham,
before ending his magnificent career
at The Festival with fifth in the Stayers’
Hurdle to then-unbeaten More Of
That, trained by Jonjo O’Neill for
McManus. Star mare Annie Power lost
her unbeaten record when second
but went on the win the Stan James
Champion Hurdle in 2016.
Thistlecrack utterly dominated the
staying hurdle division in the 2015/16
season, winning on all his five starts.
At The Festival, he had no difficulty
in the Stayers’ Hurdle as he powered
home seven lengths clear of Alpha Des
Obeaux for an easy and impressive
victory.
In the 2015-2016 official Anglo-Irish
Jump Classifications, Thistlecrack was
rated 174, the same as Big Bucks.
He was switched to fences in 2016/17
and is set to attempt to follow in
the footsteps of Captain Christy
and Coneygree by winning the
Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup as a
novice chaser.
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