Your Cheltenham cheat sheet to beat the bookies on the ultimate day of the Festival, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary’s large purchase, and the ex-Premier League boss held up by Gemma Collins: CHELTENHAM BREAKFAST
It’s been quite a week for Michael O’Leary, boss of Ryanair, scourge of Elon Musk and relentless pursuer of Cheltenham victories.
You may remember in January that O’Leary found his business model questioned by Musk on X and gleefully took what he saw as a glorious open goal and used their ‘spat’ as promotional tool to sell seats on his planes. It worked a trick.
O’Leary might have had a frustrating couple of days in terms of results at Cheltenham – he took Brighterdaysahead’s defeat on the chin in the Unibet Champion Hurdle, as he did the reverse of Favori De Champdou in the Glenfarclas Cross Country – but he moves on regardless.
There was some compensation at Limerick when two of his horses – which run under the banner of Gigginstown Stud – bolted but the best result he had on Thursday was the news he had purchased one of the most expensive horses ever sold at Cheltenham.
The Goffs Festival Sale was held in battering down rain, after many racegoers had gone home, but O’Leary’s brother, Eddie, made a successful bid of 530,000 guineas for a four-year-old gelding called Monster Truck. He will go into training with Gordon Elliott.
It is an extraordinary figure for a future National Hunt horse, in the same vicinity of the record 570,000 guineas that was paid at Goffs for Jonbon in November 2020 and Classic Getaway the following month.
Jonbon has won more than £1.3million in his exceptional career but hasn’t quite hit the heights expected of him – his prize money haul is just £85,022. What Monster Truck goes on to achieve can only be speculated but the investment shows O’Leary’s interest in racing isn’t waning.
Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary has had quite the week – his brother, Eddie, successfully purchased a gelding called Monster Truck for 530,000 guineas!
Dan Skelton lauds TWO horses including one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s…
It is hoped readers picked up on the information that Dan Skelton provided in his interview with Daily Mail Sport on Tuesday. During an opening at his yard last month, the Champion Trainer-elect was meticulous in how he outlined the chances of his runners.
Madara, in Tuesday’s Plate, and Supremely West, in Thursday’s Pertemps Final, got the kind of glowing appraisal that left you in no doubt he would have been disappointed had the pair not exploited what he perceived to be favourable handicap marks.
They have been the easiest winners of the week to date but on the same morning, Skelton’s eyes lit up when he talked about two other horses – both of whom are being unleashed this afternoon: Maestro Conti, in the Triumph Hurdle, and Panic Attack in the Mares Chase.
Skelton said ‘whatever beats Panic Attack will win’ and he described Maestro Conti as being in his top two leading chances. The four-year-old is owned by Sir Alex Ferguson and his cohorts and confidence has been building. The names should be followed.
Dan Skelton’s eyes lit up when he talked about Panic Attack and Maestro Conti, who race today
Cheltenham’s poor viewing experience
Walking around the course when it is early and nobody has come through the gates offers a tremendous chance to look at the landscape.
There is a plaque on one side of Cheltenham’s grandstand that states how the late Queen Mother opened it in 1979; this arena remains magnificent but this particular stand is starting to look all of its 46 years.
The viewing experience jars in comparison to other venues. The lower tier of the grandstand has a number of concrete pillars and there aren’t many places where you will have an obstructed view when there is a top level sporting occasion.
Guy Lavendar, Cheltenham’s recently appointed Chief Executive, is committed to continually improving the arena, and it is impossible not to see a point in the not too distant future when a redevelopment takes place. Carrying on without doing anything would be negligible.
The viewing experience at Cheltenham is somewhat poor compared to other venues
Steve Bruce’s (right) entry on Thursday was held up by Gemma Collins’ (left) photoshoot
Steve Bruce held up by Gemma Collins
It is fair to say the crowd on course is ‘eclectic’, as seasoned racegoers mix with first-timers and country folk mingle with those from an urban background. Then you get a situation where a reality TV star leaves a former Premier League manager dumbfounded.
Gemma Collins was her larger-than-life self on course on Thursday and there was never a point when photographers were not in close proximity. What Steve Bruce must have thought, as he was told to wait where he was while some pictures were taken of GC, can only be surmised.
