Cheltenham Festival Newswire

Mon, Mar 15, 2010

Cheltenham Festival 2010: Battle of the Gold Cup grooms
I was gobsmacked to get the chance to look after Denman in the summer after his Gold Cup win. He’s a bit of a bruiser, most of the time straightforward and a real pro but with the odd grumpy moment, pulling a few faces and having a daily snap of the old teeth.
view full story at telegraph.co.uk

Cheltenham bid to get punters to Ireland
A novel twist to the Cheltenham racing festival, which gets under way tomorrow, will be a drive by Horse Racing Ireland to lure British punters to come to Ireland to enjoy racing here.
view full story at irishtimes.com

Qaspal The Cheltenham Bounty Hunter
The JP Mcmanus owned Qaspal could now head to Cheltenham in pursuit of a £75,000 bonus after winning Saturday’s Imperial Cup at Sandown.
view full story at freebettingonline.co.uk

Cheltenham wait on watering
Conditions at Cheltenham are reported to be perfect ahead of the four-day Festival that starts on Tuesday. Officials stopped watering both Old and New courses on Thursday, but it is possible more could be put on the New course, which is used on the last two days of the meeting, as not much rain is forecast.
view full story at PA

Bad fall shatters Sam’s racing dream
Abergavenny jockey Sam Thomas’ dream of lifting a second Cheltenham Gold Cup are over for this year at least, after he fractured a vertebrae in a fall.
view full story southwalesargus.co.uk

Native leads Champion dozen
Go Native will face 11 rivals as he bids to secure a £1 million bonus in Tuesday’s Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. Noel Meade’s charge is seeking the bumper payout after winning both the Fighting Fifth and Christmas Hurdles this term, with betting firm WBX.com putting up the extra prize for completing the hat-trick.
view full story at PA

Jockey Graham Lee is fine to ride at the Cheltenham Festival despite weekend scare
Jockey Graham Lee will be fit to ride when the Cheltenham Festival gets under way tomorrow despite a scare over the weekend.
view full story at liverpooldailypost.co.uk

First day of Cheltenham a hot one for Irish challengers like Dunguib
The opening day of the meeting will play a major role in determining the success of the Irish challenge. Go Native, Dunguib, Captain Cee Bee, Garde Champetre and Quevega are all hugely fancied to win on Tuesday, which could be a make-or-break day for many punters.
view full story at mirror.co.uk

Andy Stewart: dropout turned multimillionaire behind Festival charity
Andy Stewart smiles broadly when you describe him as an outsider. “A massive outsider,” he says, and though he is talking about jump racing – “there aren’t many City people involved in National Hunt” – it would be a fair working title for his biography too.
view full story at guardian.co.uk

McNamara keen on chances
Andrew McNamara feels the Edward O’Grady-trained pair Tranquil Sea and Alaivan are his two best chances of glory at the Cheltenham Festival. The jockey teams up with them in the Ryanair Chase on Thursday and the JCB Triumph Hurdle on Friday respectively.
view full story at PA

Bold George lays down the law
Tom George made a timely double visit to the winner’s enclosure ahead of his Cheltenham Festival raid when Bold Punt and Overlaw were successful in the hands of Denis O’Regan at Market Rasen.
view full story at PA