Sir Alex Ferguson hailed his “greatest day in racing” as his long wait to own a winner at the Cheltenham Festival ended with a quickfire double that summoned memories of his Manchester United side’s Champions League final win in 1999.
It turned out to be a day for footballing legends at the Festival, as one of Ferguson’s former rivals in the dugout, Harry Redknapp, also saw his colours carried to victory later on the card as Shakem Up’Arry took the £64,000 first prize in the Plate Handicap Chase.
Ferguson, who has been an owner for a quarter of a century both on the Flat and over jumps, famously enjoyed a treble on the opening day of the Grand National meeting at Aintree three years ago, and also has a part-share in Spirit Dancer, the recent winner of a Flat race in Saudi Arabia worth nearly £1m.
Those successes could not compete with Ferguson’s afternoon on Thursday, however, as Monmiral initiated his 246-1 double with a 25-1 success in the Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle, before Protektorat (17-2) held off the challenge of Envoi Allen, the favourite, to win the Grade One Ryanair Chase, one of the feature events on the card.
“It’s a special occasion,” Ferguson said after Protektorat’s success. “You’ve got the FA Cup final, you’ve got the Derby, you’ve got Cheltenham, the three most important venues in the sporting world, so to do it here is unbelievable.”
Ferguson had earlier reflected on his long wait for a winner at the Festival after Monmiral had powered up the hill to win one of the most competitive races at the meeting. “I’ve waited a long time for this, but it is fantastic,” he said. “The jockey [Harry Cobden] was absolutely brilliant on him. What I was thinking at the tapes was: ‘What the hell is he doing at the back?’ But he crept forward and judged it perfectly. I couldn’t understand, before he came to the last, why John [Hales, a co-owner of Monmiral] was saying he had won, but that is experience for you. I was just saying: ‘Just jump the bloody last!’
“It has been probably 20 years that I’ve wanted to have a winner here as when I first started [in racing] I just had Flat horses and no National Hunt ones. I got interested in the jumps with Ged [Mason, also a co-owner of Protektorat] and John. It 100% makes it more enjoyable having a winner with friends.
“Everyone looks forward to Cheltenham, while on the Flat you have the Derby. These two events are unsurpassed.”
Redknapp was also in ecstatic mood as he got perhaps the biggest cheer of the week when returning to the famous winners’ enclosure with his horse. “I named him after a guy who used to stand behind me when I managed West Ham,” Redknapp told Racing TV, “and for 90 minutes, he’d shout: ‘Shake ’em up, ’Arry,’ and on Saturday night it was all I could hear in my head.
“He’s been great, he really has, a real joy to own. He won on Trials day [at Cheltenham in January] but there’s nothing like winning at the Festival. He jumped for fun and Ben Jones gave him an amazing ride.
“It’s a special day for me, I can’t tell you how pleased I am. Here today is the Champions League of racing. To have a winner at Cheltenham is a dream.
“It was great to see Alex have two winners today, he’s a great man and we had some great times playing against each other so many times over the years. It’s a good day for the pair of us, a couple of old boys had a couple of winners.”
Betfair reported later that one of its customers had placed a £5 treble on the three football-related winners, winning a payout of £16,195.
Teahupoo, trained by Gordon Elliott, won the day’s other Grade One contest, the Stayers’ Hurdle, galloping on strongly from the last to beat Flooring Porter, the winner in 2021 and 2022, by nearly four lengths.
A postscript to the race, meanwhile, was the retirement of the Emma Lavelle-trained Paisley Park, one of the most popular hurdlers of recent years and the winner in 2019.
“He’s been marvellous and he’s had a great career,” Andrew Gemmell, Paisley Park’s owner, said.
“The race I remember best was at Haydock [in November 2018] where he was miles off jumping the last but came and won. It was unbelievable, and before he came to Cheltenham [in 2019] I had to persuade the trainer that he should come here.”
