Cheltenham Festival Irish Winners
In Ireland as important as winning the all Ireland football Final is having Irish-Trained Winners at the Cheltenham Festival. There is more interest aroused during the Cheltenham racing festival than at any racing in Ireland during the year.For Irish racegoers, the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival is a mecca - an event with almost religious significance, as Ireland is a great breeder of trainers and jockeys, as well as horses.
An estimated 5,000 racegoers make the trip from the Emerald Isle for the four-day meeting and there has always been a huge incentive to get one over on the old English enemy on their own soil and have a Cheltenham Irish winner.
The desire for Cheltenham Irish-Trained winners stems back to the days when Vincent O'Brien ruled at Cheltenham he notched up no fewer than 10 Gloucestershire Hurdles, along with four Gold Cups, three Champion Hurdles and five other races. That feat is recognised by the powers that be as the County Hurdle of old is now known as the Vincent O'Brien County Handicap Hurdle which is a fitting recognition for services rendered.
Legendary racehorse Arkle really started the ball rolling with his defeat of English star Mill House in the 1964 Gold Cup, the Festival's feature race.
Mare Dawn Run produced another Irish fairytale by becoming the only horse to complete the Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double, winning the second leg in 1986.
And more recently, Istabraq beat all England - and France - had to offer with three consecutive Champion Hurdle victories.
The whole season, from early winter, builds up to Cheltenham and a winner there is the ultimate for all concerned and many of those first past the post are ridden by English-based jockeys who hail from across the Irish Sea.
Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Mick Fitzgerald, Norman Williamson and Jim Culloty are all Irish.
About a sixth of the 350-plus runners at the Festival can normally be expected to have travelled over.
Every year, bookmakers offer odds on the number of Cheltenham Irish-trained winners, with between four and six the most popular. In recent years the Irish have being more successful having around 5 winners over the last couple of years.
Each of these winners is greeted by a triumphant roar and wild celebrations around the winners' enclosure.
