Tag: cheltenham festival

Who is John McManus?

John Patrick McManus, almost invariably known in racing circles as ‘J.P.’, is an Irish billionaire, best known as the largest owner in National Hunt racing. At the last count, McManus had over 550 horses in training; in the 2019/20 National Hunt season, his familiar green and gold colours – ‘borrowed’ from his home Gaelic Athletic Association club, South Liberties – were carried to victory 79 times, earning £2.14 million in prize money and making him Champion Jumps Owner in Britain by £1.39 million.

His biggest single earner in 2019/20 was Epatante, trained by Nicky Henderson, who collected £79,467 for winning the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Indeed, McManus is the leading owner in the history of the two-mile hurdling championship with nine winners, including the last four – namely Buveur D’Air in 2017 and 2018, Espoir d’Allen in 2019 and Epatante in 2020 – and a notable hat-trick by Istabraq in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

In fact, McManus is, far and away, the leading owner in the history of the Cheltenham Festival as a whole, with 66 winners. Of the main ‘championship’ races, aside from the Champion Hurdle, he has won the Stayers’ Hurdle three times, with Baracouda in 2002 and 2003 and More Of That in 2014, and the Cheltenham Gold Cup once, with Synchronised in 2012. He also famously won the Grand National with Don’t Push It – the one and only winner of the celebrated steeplechase for Tony McCoy – in 2010.

Which horse won the Triumph Hurdle Trial and the Triumph Hurdle in 2017?

The Finesse Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle also known, for sponsorship purposes, as the JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle, is a Grade Two contest, run over 2 miles and 179 yards on the New Course at Cheltenham and restricted to four-year-old novice hurdlers. The race is staged annually, in January and, as the name suggests, is intended to serve as a preparatory race for the Grade One JCB Triumph Hurdle, run over the same course and distance, at the Cheltenham Festival the following March. That said, since the inception of the Finesse Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle, in 1985, just two horses have won both races. Indeed, Katchit, who did so in 2007, went on to win the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival the following year.

A decade later, Defi Du Seuil, owned by John McManus and trained by Philip Hobbs, was sent off 1/5 favourite to beat three rivals in the JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle and did so in taking style. Always travelling strongly under jockey Barry Geraghty, the Voix Du Nord gelding went clear in the closing stages to easily beat Rainbow Dreamer by 9 lengths. Consequently, Defi Du Seuil again started favourite, at 5/2, for the JCB Triumph Hurdle and duly obliged once again. With reigning champion jockey Richard Johnson deputising for the injured Geraghty, Defi Du Seuil led between the last two flights and stayed on strongly to beat Mega Fortine by 5 lengths.

Who was David Nicholson?

David ‘The Duke’ Nicholson, born on March 19, 1939, was the son of champion jockey Herbert ‘Frenchie’ Nicholson and, although he was never champion jockey himself, rode 583 winners, including Mill House in the 1967 Whitbread Gold Cup, now the Bet365 Gold Cup. Nicholson was known for his forthright attitude, bordering on arrogance, which led to him being nicknamed ‘The Duke’ from an early age, when apprenticed to his father.

Following his retirement from the saddle in April, 1974, Nicholson went on to become an even better trainer than he had been a jockey. All told, in a 31-year career, he saddled a total of 1,499 winners and won the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship twice, in 1993/94 and 1994/95, making him the only trainer other than Martin Pipe to win the trainers’ title between 1988/89 and 2004/05. Notable winners included Charter Party in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1988 and Viking Flagship in back-to-back renewals of the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 1994 and 1995.

Nicholson, who died of a heart attack on August 27, 2006, is commemorated by the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle – known, for sponsorship purposes, as the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle and formerly as the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle – at the Cheltenham Festival, which was inaugurated in 2008 and is, nowadays, a Grade One contest.

Who is the most successful owner in the history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

In the history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which was inaugurated, as a steeplechase, in 1924, several owners have won what is, nowadays, the most prestigious race in the British National Hunt calendar three or more times. The three-time winners are, in chronological order, Frank Vickerman, owner of Cottage Rake, victorious in 1948, 1949 and 1949, and Jim Lewis, owner of Best Mate, successful in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Anne Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster, owner of Arkle – who completed a notable hat-trick in 1964, 1965 and 1966 – went one better, courtesy of Ten Up in 1975 and is, in fact, the only four-time winner in the history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

However, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most successful owner in the history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup was the Honourable Dorothy Paget, who was as eccentric as she was rich, but nevertheless amassed seven wins in the mid-twentieth century. The indomitable Miss Paget was, of course, the owner of Golden Miller, the most famous steeplechaser on the inter-war years, who completed an unprecedented five-timer in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935 and 1936. She also owned Roman Hackle and Mont Tremblant, winners in 1940 and 1952, respectively.

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