With just a few days to Cheltenham Festival it always evokes memories as a young boy waiting for Christmas and Santa to arrive! Counting down the days with so much anticipation and excitement, looking forward to unwrapping each present and loving the joy of it all.
Well for me over the years Cheltenham Festival has replaced Christmas by about 10 fold and it’s by far the best week of the year!!
The bug bit me in in my early twenties and now 30 years on it’s fair to say I have gone through the full range of emotions, from pain and despair to absolute joy and wonder.
I have come to love and admire the bravery of each horse, and jockey, that takes on the challenge of Cheltenham. You don’t really appreciate the speed of the 2 mile races on television, you need to see them live, especially the Queen Mother Chase which is a combination of almost complete madness and sheer brilliance. The power, athleticism and speed of horse combined with the skilful jockey working in harmony. The bond of complete trust between the two is just a sight to behold.
The configuration of Cheltenham racecourse just adds to the unique equation, it’s undulations that some horses just can’t cope with , tricky downhill fences that catch out suspect jumpers and then the famous uphill finish testing the stamina, guts and sheer will to win of each equine star.
Some horses rise to the challenge, others faulter. It finds out the weak, any chinks are exaggerated, and class always rises to the top. Winners really are Champions and the equine Kings and Queens that go on to a second, third or fourth year glory truly deserve to be remembered as legends and immortals.
The road to Cheltenham adds to the excitement. Would-be contenders come and go, many reputations are quickly in tatters but for some they grow to gargantuan proportions as each test is passed, some are justified, some are not. The biggest reputations clash at Cheltenham Festival and only one can be crowned the Champion. The rest are left to reflect and regroup for hopefully another tilt the following year.
If you love a puzzle then the handicaps provide your biggest test, these are proper head scratchers, which can only be navigated by huge skill or a bit of luck, or possibly a bit of both! For most Owners these are the races that offer the most realistic dream to win at the Festival. To have the best chance you need to plan and plot your way to the Festival to peak, but that doesn’t guarantee success. Far from it. But the dreams come true for the lucky few and those remarkable memories will last a lifetime.
Time stops for no man, or horse, so Champions reigns are tested the following year by young pretenders, maturing improvers and those whose reputations were shattered the year before and are looking for another tilt at glory. Some Champions will go onto legendary status, for others a new Champion is crowned. And so the role of honour continues year upon year.
So when I reflect upon the choice between Santa and the Cheltenham Festival there is only one winner. The joy of all that is Cheltenham Festival wins, on the bridle, by a distance!!
