Flo A Festival Winner!

Byrne Group Handicap Chase winner Salut Flo

He provided Tom Scudamore with only his second success at a Cheltenham Festival and you could see by his reaction how much these big race winners mean to all involved.

Salut Flo’s win was also payback for the tremendous patience that owner Allan Stennett has shown.  He was a very promising youngster for us, winning a valuable chase at Doncaster back in 2010 before succumbing to injury.  He was given 18 months off to recover and was in the process of running a big race in the Atlantic 4 Gold Cup at Cheltenham in December when a juddering mistake three out stopped him in his tracks.  Allan was then good enough to allow me to give him further time and bring him back in tip-top shape for the Festival.  Hopefully it is onwards and upwards for Salut Flo who won in the manner of a rapidly improving horse – I am sure the handicapper will hit him hard, but he is still only a seven year old with a very low mileage, so there is the prospect of more to come from him.

The Package (on his first outing in sixteen months), Battle Group, Close House and Kazlian all performed with enormous credit to reach the frame.  I would imagine they will next be seen in action at Aintree where The Package remains on course for another crack at the Grand National, while Battle Group clearly likes the place having won the Grade 3 John Smiths Handicap Hurdle there last year.

Sadly Grands Crus was unable to do himself justice in the RSA Chase on the Wednesday of the Cheltenham Festival and I am sure that he will prove this running to be all wrong in time.  While he jumped well enough, he didn’t travel as strongly as he has done in the past…he has always carried Tom Scudamore into his races before, yet on Wednesday for whatever reason he did not.  You could just tell that he wasn’t travelling as well as Tom would have liked and he was in trouble before the trip ever became an issue.  Nothing has subsequently come to light and it could be that the ground was fast enough for him (he is certainly better suited to softer ground), or he may just have had an off-day…we all have them.  Anyway, he has returned home safely which is the most important thing.

The Festival proved a revelation for Nicky Henderson, who sent out an incredible seven winners throughout the four days and congratulations should go to him and his team for this amazing performance.  It wasn’t just the trainer who enjoyed a good Festival however, with one of his stable staff winning £1million on a five horse accumulator – Chester beware, I will looking to get him on the Pipeline!

I was delighted that A P McCoy was able to add another Cheltenham Gold Cup winner on to his amazing CV.  The champ last won the race aboard the Noel Chance trained Mr Mulligan in 1997 and he gave Synchronised a trademark never-say-die ride.  I can’t imagine any other jockey being able to lift his mount home like that – his jumping was far from fluent and he looked like the first one beaten, yet he persevered and persevered and in the end was rewarded with the ultimate victory.  Well done to all involved.

Well done too to Simon Claisse and all of the staff at Cheltenham for the great effort that they made with the ground.  Nature was against them but they did a fantastic job in producing good safe ground for all four days of the Festival which is clearly what is best for the safety of the horses.

With the Festival over, many see the following Saturday as something of an anti-climax but I have to say that I quite enjoy it…especially as we landed the Midlands National (Listed) at Uttoxeter for a second successive year, this time with the valiant Master Overseer (pictured right).  He has had no end of problems throughout the years, but proved that there are few tougher horses in training with a dour staying performance under Tom Scudamore.

Finally, I would just like to add my congratulations to Newton Abbot, where they held there first meeting of 2012 on Sunday.  The course has just been presented with a Racehorse Owners Association Gold Award for the standard of race day facilities available to staff, owners and Racegoers alike and are only the eighteenth current track to hold the award.  It is a terrific effort from everyone at the track and I couldn’t be more pleased for them.  We were lucky enough to be on the mark with a winner courtesy of Swing Bowler (Lady Cricket’s daughter, who is now unbeaten in four starts) and she has now done enough for the season.  She will be off on her summer holidays soon and will be back stronger next season.