KIM BAILEY, who trains just a few miles from the course at Andoversford, claimed after Charingworth had won the Opus Energy Amateur Riders Handicap Chase – the first race of the three-day Open Meeting – that it was his first visit to the Cheltenham winners’ enclosure in 14 years.
The man who trained Alderbrook and Master Oats to lift the Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double in 1995, joked: “Some years ago the Lord and I had a conversation and he said ‘if you win the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup just forget about having any more winners there’.
“I thought we were about to have another second.” Leading Northern point-to-point rider Harry Bannister’s mount appeared to have been beaten off by his principal rivals, Nigel Twiston-Davies’s Benbens (another Gloucestershire-trained runner) and the well-backed favourite Broadway Buffalo.
But the 11-year showed tremendous guts and determination to rally up the hill and win going away.
It was a measure of compensation for Bailey, Bannister and Charingworth who had been beaten two lengths in the same race last year.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article