Irish trained horses enjoyed a St Patrick's Day bonanza at Cheltenham with only the Ryanair World Hurdle winner Thistlecrack preventing an unprecedented clean sweep of all seven races on a festival card for the raiders.
The all-conquering Willie Mullins-Ruby Walsh team headlined Ireland's six winner haul with a hat-trick topped by an overwhelming victory for Vautour in the Ryanair Chase. Once before, on Day 2 in 2011, had Irish horses won six races.
Bu the end, Walsh, the festival’s most successful ever jockey, had reached 52 career victories here on the back of other wins for Black Hercules in the JLT Chase and Limini in the mares novice hurdle which mean both he and Mullins are on seven winners for this week alone, firmly on course to set new Cheltenham records.
Walsh requires just one more to break his own mark while Mullins needs two more to break the trainer record he set last year. With Irish trained horses leading their British counterparts 11-10 going into the final day, it isn’t impossible that the previous Irish record festival total of 14 set in 2013 and last year could be in danger.
However if Mullins is the festival's dominant figure, he enjoyed considerable third day support as Gordon Elliott supplied Cause Of Causes to land the Kim Muir and the former Champion Hurdle winning trainer Colm Murphy returned to form with a vengeance courtesy of Empire Of Dirt's success.
And the little known Co. Galway handler Pat Kelly got in on the act too with a first ever Cheltenham winner, Mall Dini, who was ridden to Pertemps success by Davy Russell in the colours of Philip Reynolds, son of the late Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds.
There’s no doubt though that it is the remorseless Mullins bandwagon which is underpinning the Irish dominance and Walsh summed up most opinions when he said: “Willie has the horses in unbelievable form. It’s a great team to be part of.”
In fact the sole hiccup in the champion trainer's week to date has been criticism earlier this week of a late decision to switch Vautour from the Gold Cup to the Ryanair, a move which saw owner Rich Ricci apologise to punters but justify on the basis the shorter race was an easier option.
Pitched the inevitable ‘any regrets’ question about dramatically and controversially switching Vautour from the Gold Cup, Mullins’ response was unequivocal - “I’m delighted we made the switch - because he’s won.”
However although there was little arguing with a first ever Irish success in a Cheltenham’s newest Grade 1 chase, it was also hard to blame any mind wandering towards ‘what might have been’ territory with Vautour.
Reports of his persistently underwhelming home workouts didn’t prevent the evens favourite leading from four fences out and overwhelming Valseur Lido and Road To Riches by six lengths with his ears pricked.
“The whole hullabaloo over the Gold Cup: the (2015) Gold Cup third, Road To Riches, was third in that race - what could have been?” even Ricci queried afterwards.
In fact Mullins outlined weeks of pre-festival anxiety about why the brilliance which had previously taken the horse to Supreme Novice Hurdle and JLT glory wasn’t being seen on the gallops.
Walsh admitted he wouldn’t have brought the horse to Cheltenham at all. Mullins said if it was any other animal he’d have agreed. But banking on Cheltenham’s allure reigniting Vautour’s enthusiasm paid off in style.
“Last Wednesday or Thursday, in my mind, I could not bring him for a Gold Cup or a Ryanair. I brought him over but said to myself I might not even run him. It is really only in the last day or so that he showed any inkling of what he was before,” Mullins said. “He must have a huge engine to do that on the prep he came here with.”
After Annie Power’s Champion Hurdle and Vroum Vroum Mag’s OLBG wins on Tuesday, the odds-on Limini maintained her unbeaten record over jumps with an odds-on victory in the Trull House Stud Novice Hurdle.
It completed a clean-sweep of the mares events this week for the Mullins-Walsh team.
