Lossiemouth (11-8 favourite) stormed to victory in the JCB Triumph Hurdle on the final day of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.
Willie Mullins had five of the seven winners on the final day of last year's Festival and he started off this time with a winner in the Grade One opener. The County Carlow handler saddled seven of the 15 runners in the juvenile contest but it was Lossiemouth who came out on top ahead of stable-mates Gala Marceau (100-30), Zenta (12-1) and Gust Of Wind (22-1) to bring up a 1-2-3-4 for the Irish champion trainer on St Patrick's Day. Under Paul Townend, Lossiemouth powered through on the turn for home and took it up coming to the final flight. The grey mare was slick over the hurdle and powered up the hill to score by two-and-a-quarter lengths, with a neck back to Zenta.
It was the Closutton trainer's third win in the race in four years, having also scored with Burning Victory in 2020 and Vauban last year. It was also a fifth winner of the week at the Festival and Mullins said: "She travelled into the race at maybe the five-furlong marker and rather than fighting her Paul just let her gallop and held onto her as much as he could for a long as he could. He thought she was actually idling come up the straight and thinks there is a little bit more in the tank - she looks a star mare. But for the traffic problems in Leopardstown she'd be unbeaten for us. I'm very happy with how they all ran, bar Blood Destiny (finished ninth) who was disappointing. I don't know what happened to him, but all the rest ran their race. It's a nice start to the day."
READ MORE: Full 73 current entries for the 2023 Randox Grand National at Aintree
With four weeks between Cheltenham and the Randox Grand National Festival at Aintree Racecourse this year, Lossiemouth could bid for the Grade One double in the 4-Y-O Anniversary Juvenile Hurdle on the opening day on April 13. Although she could wait for the Punchestown Festival. Whatever happens over the next few weeks, Mullins intimated that she could return next year for the Champion Hurdle and a possible class with reigning champ, the mighty Constitution Hill. She is 12-1 with William Hill for the Champion Hurdle and 7-1 favourite for the Mares' Hurdle won this year by Honeysuckle on Tuesday. Mullins added: "She's a possibility (for the Champion Hurdle) the way she came up that hill there anyway. There's every possibility that she'll go down that route."
Delighted owner Rich Ricci was celebrating his 20th Festival winner. And the American said: "I felt unlucky on the day after her last run and I'm delighted the one who beat us that day was second as it franks the form. She's a lovely filly with a lot of scope, she's National Hunt bred and is very nice. Paul said coming down the hill she wanted to crack on, he held on to her just enough, she filled up and she responded to him which is great as it shows maturity. He said when he let him go she was great.
"I glad for Paul as Willie hammered him the last day. For the record I didn't think it was Paul's fault I thought the tactics were wrong so it's Willie's fault actually! Willie had his best Jose Mourinho moment and found someone else to blame, but on the day Paul was gutted. Sport is about redemption, I always say that.
"It's great to be a part of this, Tuesday was such a special day with Honeysuckle and Constitution Hill Hill, then yesterday with Henry (de Bromhead) winning on the day there was a race named after Jack (de Bromhead), it's a very special week. To have a winner is special, it's our 20th winner but you never take it for granted, we've had enough losers."
READ MORE: Grand National 2023: dates, tickets and how to watch on TV
Jockey Townend, who was riding his fourth winner of the week at Prestbury Park, added: “It wasn’t ideal at that stage in the race to be honest [that she was pulling my arms out at the top of the hill], but I wasn’t going to fight her too much, she was throwing her head about a bit, she just wanted to get on with it. I didn’t question her stamina, so I just wanted to keep at an even gallop. She was actually, I thought, was having a little look around up the straight. I think she is very good. She is very professional, even though she hasn’t had a whole lot of racing. Thankfully we were able to make up for the mishap at Dublin for Rich and Susannah.”
Favoir provided a 33-1 shock for trainer Dan Skelton and jockey Bridget Andrews in the McCoy Contractors County Handicap Hurdle. The eight-year-old came through on the inside rail, under an inspired ride by Andrews, and got the better of a real battle to the line with Gordon Elliott's Pied Piper (12-1). In a bobbing finish Favoir scored by a head, with Filey Bay (6-1) two-and-a-half-lengths back in third with the Willie Mullins-trained Sharjah (10-1) a further neck adrift in fourth.
It was a second handicap success of the week for Skelton, whose better fancied runner Pembroke, sent off the 9-2 favourite, made a bad mistake that virtually ended his race and faced to finish 17th. Skelton, who had previously won this race with Superb Story (2016), Mohaayed (2018) and Ch'tibello (2019), said: “I was watching Pembroke the whole way around and for a novice in a field like that when he made the mistake two out that was it. He will have his day as he is a very good horse. Trusting a novice in a big field like this is hard but all power to Bridget. Once he went down to the last like that I just felt it was possible. It is pretty good. That was absolutely brilliant Bridget. I was watching Pembroke the whole way round and old Favoir nips in up the straight and pulls out one of them.
“It was a great bit of riding from Bridget. She doesn’t get many dances on the big stage because obviously Harry takes precedence but as you can see she is more than capable and I’m very proud of her. I said on television before he went out there we thought he would win one of those big handicaps this season and he went to Newbury the other day and he said no way not on that ground. She has won a Grade Two on him and she has done plenty on him. He is just a good horse on his day and understands the big fields and that is the one thing I had in the back of my mind about Pembroke, but he is a very good horse and I’ve not lost faith in him.”
Winning jockey Andrews added: "Dan’s horses generally go for a bit of room and try to get a clear run round, but I actually had a really rough run round. But every time I thought I could switch out, I kind of felt like he was enjoying it - he’s that kind of character; stay in, stay brave, although I wasn’t feeling that brave at the time. He jumped great, and downhill I could just sit for a minute. Turning in it all opened up and I knew he would see it out well, although he can be a bit of a character. Dan would say don’t get there too soon, and I probably did get there too soon, but I was getting plenty of weight, so he could see it through.
“I know the horse is a monkey but I always felt like he was just keeping his nose in front and giving me everything. He’d never be a horse who would go on and go clear, but I always felt like I was just holding. He’s probably not the most natural jumper, but he keeps his head up and is very, very good with his feet. Even when he doesn’t see a lot he can kind of get his way out of trouble. He gave me his all today. Dan seems to be mastering them [big handicaps at Cheltenham]. I always felt so lucky that I had one winner here; there are far, far superior jockeys who have had no winners here, so to get a second one is pretty special.”
Stay Away Fay (18-1) gave Paul Nicholls a second winner of the week in the Grade One Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle (Registered As The Spa Novices' Hurdle).
Ditcheat handler Nicholls had drew a blank at the Festival for the past few years but following Stage Star's success in the Turners' Novices' Chase on Thursday, the trainer and jockey Harry Cobden brought up a Grade One double for the week with Stay Away Fay.
The six-year-old, on just his third start over hurdles, put his defeat to Maximillian in a Grade Two at Doncaster last time out behind him to score at the top level. Under Cobden, he battled well up the hill to beat Noel Meade's 125-1 outsider Affordable Jury by a length, with Sandor Clegane (28-1) a neck back in third and Letsbeclearaboutit (16-1) was a further three-and-three-quarters-of-a-length back in third.
A delighted Nicholls is likely to send Stay Away Fay to Aintree for the Grade One Cavani Menswear Sefton Novices’ Hurdle on Ladies Day at the Grand National Festival next month.
Nicholls said: "I thought he'd run well as he should have won the last day and he's taken a step forward since then and he looked fantastic. We were very positive on him today, he jumped really well and it's only the third run of his life, there's loads of improvement to come.
"We'll probably go to Aintree with him if he's all right, otherwise it will be chasing next year. He's been quite backward, that's the best he's jumped today, he's just a young, improving horse."
He added: "At home he does all his work with Hermes Allen as they are both a bit one-paced and he has taken a big step forward. He probably should have won at Doncaster, he's improved since and it's just fantastic. I think Hermes Allen will probably have a wind op but he'll go chasing too, they are two really nice horses to go chasing with."
