The Five Best Moments Of The Cheltenham Festival

The feature race of the festival as it always is on the Friday of the four days saw the 2019 Gold Cup and this year for the first time it went to Cheltenham Hall of Fame trainer Willie Mullins with his horse Al Boum Photo staying on well to take the glory at 16/1.

Exactly 20 years on since the Irish trainer had fielded his first runner in the Grade 1 contest he finally got rid of his curse and landed the contest.

Al Boum photo under a superb ride by Paul Townend jumped the last clear of a chasing pack of four other runners to see off a staying on Anibale Fly up the hill.

Mullins previously in his efforts to land the race had come close on six other occasions with second places but the 2019 Cheltenham Gold Cup is now the trainers.

Credit Racing TV and Cheltenham Racecourse

Arguably the story of the week was Bryony Frost on board the mighty Frodon when she gave him the ride of the week in the Grade 1 Ryanair chase on the Thursday of the festival.

As ever, Frodon went from the front and made every stride to take the contest but the partnership that Frost and the horse have is just remarkable and her interview after it will be remembered for years to come.

Why this win was so emotional and special was because Bryony Frost became the first female rider to and a Grade 1 contest at the Cheltenham festival.

It was very much the ladies week at Prestbury Park as Rachael Blackmore picked up her first ever festival winner and then in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett on Friday she became the second woman to win a Grade 1 at the festival.

Also in the week Lizzie Kelly picked up another festival winner for herself and representing woman in the sport when she landed the Brown Advisory Plate with Siruh Du Lac.

This festival was full of great stories but when Bryony Frost got Frodon back in front after falling behind after jumping the last fence the whole racecourse rose to there feet.

Such a special and well deserved win for he young female rider and a record she will hold forever.

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Again, another one for the record books and another great story to come out of Cheltenham last week was when the Emma Lavelle trained Paisley Park went on to win the Grade 1 Stayers Hurdle.

One of the most well backed favourites all week and he did not disappoint the screaming Cheltenham crowd after he was given a patient ride by Aidan Coleman to stay on up the hill and land the contest.

This was huge for Coleman, as it was his first ever festival winner. This was the same for trainer Emma Lavelle who landed here second ever Grade 1 with the horse who won her, her first ever black type win as a trainer.

One of the main reasons why this was such a fairytale story is because Andrew Gemmell, the owner of Paisley Park, was diagnosed blind from birth.

He has been in horse racing for many years and listens to the commentary of his horses and the scenes when Paisley Park crossed the line first were incredible.

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The Wednesday at the festival, Ladies Day, was a much better day for punters after Tuesday was a complete wipe out with the favourites getting beat and trying to pick a winner being very hard.

However, one of the performances of the week and one of a few favourites that went on to win on the Wednesday was Tiger Roll in the Cross Country Chase.

The 2018 Grand National winner and fan favourite to many was the stand alone favourite in this race that he won last year as well.

However, after slightly drifting on course to 11/8, the performance that came was completely unexpected as he went on to win eased down by jockey Keith Donoghue to a 22 length victory over the rest of the field.

This was the nine year olds fourth win at the festival and a perfect preparation run for his defence of the Grand National at Aintree at the start of April.

This Gordon Elliott trained monster is one of the best horses in the world over longer trips but has also showed how versatile he is by cruising to a win at Navan in a Grade 2 2 mile 5f hurdle contest.

He is an enigma.

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The biggest shock of the week produced one of the most emphatic wins of the four days when the Gavin Cromwell trained Espoir D'Allen went on to land the Champion Hurdle at 16/1.

The five year old became the first horse of the same age to do so since 1985 but one of the most surprising things was how far he went on to win by.

The race was highly talked about before the start of the festival and was built as the best race of the four days with the three favourites at the top of the market gaining most the attention.

However it was Espoir D'Allen that pundits should have been talking about after dual winner of the race Buveur D'Air fell, Apple's Jade was highly disappointing and Laurina found nothing up the hill.

This was a super performance with second being Melon for Willie Mullins and third with a huge run at odds of 80/1 was Silver Streak for Evan Williams.

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