Il Etait Temps overcame a final fence scare to finally win the Cheltenham Festival in the captivating BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Willie Mullins’ pint-sized gray, who has failed on his last three visits to high-profile competitions, crashed at Ascot in his most recent start, but has regained the form he showed when winning at Tingle Creek in December.
Most of the early attention was on the stablemate and 5-6 favorite Majborough, who was placed slightly to the left at the start but quickly moved forward and cut a bold line of sight as Mark Walsh looked to put pressure on his rivals.
However, he pulled away from Birch with five outs, giving the chasing pack a glimmer of hope. And another botched jump with his pursuers hot on his tail prematurely ended Majborough’s efforts.
Henry de Bromhead’s Quilixios and Dan Skelton’s Rho de Sud took the lead on the home straight, but attention was drawn to a stationary Paul Townend aboard Ile Etaite Tan. His owners include former England cricketer Craig Kieswetter.
Leading the way to the final fence, the 8-year-old stalled on the landing side but edged out the speedy Liberty Hunter by 10 lengths at odds of 5-2, leaving L’Eau de Sud in second place at 50-1.
Reflecting on Il Etite Temps’ heavy fall in January’s Clarence House Chase, Mullins said: “It took him 24 hours to recover once he got home. He was a bit shaken up and then had to get on the ferry home, which isn’t what everyone wants, but it was a case of our actions and once he got home he got into a routine and recovered quickly.”
“We needed to get the spark back in him. We took the hood off, tweaked a few things at home and ran him a little differently, like at Lossiemouth (Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle winner), and it worked.”
“I thought Paul was very brave of him today because he obviously couldn’t run the pace they were setting for him in the first mile, but coming down the hill you could see Paul was happy and the position was coming into the last corner.
“Maybe the good ground helped him. I thought he was a horse who didn’t like this place, but after seeing how he did at Cheltenham, he found excuses every day.
“We took the hood off him because we needed to do something different. He was very enthusiastic since he was a young horse and always wore the hood, but when he was disappointed we said he had to change something.
“Paul was very good today. He had a little heart attack at the end, but it looked like he had enough horses under him.”
Kieswetter added: “I’m a little speechless to be honest. We all flew in from South Africa and our whole families are here.
“We have never had any doubts about Willie and Jackie (Mullins) and are happy to be part of the team.
“Compared to South Africa, it’s worth standing there in the cold. I’m really proud of everyone and it’s really great.”
James Bowen rides Jinko Blue after winning the BetMGM Cup Handicap Hurdle.
Jinko Blue puts James Bowen and Nicky Henderson in front again
James Bowen quickly doubled his Cheltenham Festival winnings on Wednesday after guiding 9-2 favorites Jinko Blue to overwhelming success at the BetMGM Cup.
Bowen, who returned to popularity from double-digit prices in the morning and opened his festival account in the final race of the first day, was always in control as he gained every yardage aboard Nicky Henderson’s 7-year-old.
A number of Irish challengers were closing in, but Jinko Blue was never going to catch him and raced up the Cheltenham hill to give Henderson his third win of the week.
“He’s not the simplest of horses, he’s always been a bit skittish, but he ran a good race here at Lerkeel on trial day and to go win a race like this, he’s definitely earned his corn for the year,” trainer Seven Burrows said.
“It will silence Tony Varney (owner) for at least one day, but God knows what will happen on Friday (against Django Bey in the Gold Cup)!”
“This horse couldn’t jump over fences and to be honest he was pretty sloppy over hurdles. But he felt good today and was a great rider, because running wasn’t in the plan!”
“Even James just said he got there in the end and actually just sped off at the end. No one else got involved in the end.”
HMS Seahorse, trained by Paul Nolan, crashed and sustained fatal injuries during its final flight.
Benicia Williams has endured a testing season but the 66-1 outsider Marteter was dealt a blow in the most important competition by denying Jazzy Matty Debenhams Johnny Henderson back-to-back Grand Annual wins.
“Everyone here knows that as National Hunt trainers you spend your whole life trying to win, and this season has been quite a challenge. We’ve all come through a very wet winter, which would normally be suitable, but it’s been tough,” trainer Williams said.
“From that angle, I didn’t know if he had won or not. I thought he had won, but the guys on the team around me were saying he might have won, so that’s when the doubts started.
“It’s very rewarding for everyone in the yard and all the effort they put in to get this horse to perform like that. He was a unique horse who always had a lot going on in his head, but when he went into the winner’s pen he was practically cantering.”
Final Order, ridden by Conor Stone-Walsh (left), aiming to win the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase
Connor Stone-Walsh makes first Cheltenham appearance in Final Orders
Gavin Cromwell won back-to-back Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chases at Cheltenham, but won in the final order rather than defending champion Stumptown, who was fourth.
Final Orders (7-1), who won on course and distance in December, was ridden by rising star Conor Stonewalsh, who won for the first time at the Festival.
As was the theme of the meeting, Stonewalsh controlled the pace from start to finish with Gordon Elliott’s trial day winner and 2-1 favorite Favori de Chandu never far behind.
The duo would still be in contention as the race began to unfold, but it looked like the market leader’s 8lb increase paid off in the end as Final Orders won by two and a quarter lengths.
Like Stumptown in fourth place, Cromwell also took home third place in Vanilliers.
He said, “I thought Final Order’s strengths would come into play as the ground dried out as the race approached, but at the same time Stumptown was very good around here. The ground was fast enough for him.”
“We knew the conditions were really suitable for Final Orders and Conor suited him very well. He ran really well on the day of the trial but the wind wasn’t that great on the soft track so we actually had a little wind surgery on him afterwards.”
“We were very confident that he would come here in great shape and it was a great result.
“If he can get in, he might be able to go to the Grand National.”
Cromwell have had a quiet season by their own high standards, highlighted by a dominant performance from last year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Inotewayursinkin, who will have much to prove on Friday as he defends his title.
“We’ve got some great horses here this week, but they were still very difficult horses and we probably had some flashier horses last year. It’s great to have horses on board,” the trainer added.
