Quality rather than quantity has always been the Venetia Williams way and the trainer’s golden run through the opening weeks of the winter campaign continued on Saturday as the front-running Gemirande held off the late challenge of Madara, the favourite, in the December Gold Cup, the feature event of Cheltenham’s Christmas meeting.
It was the stable’s 17th success of a season which officially opened in early May, but it was Williams’s sixth victory in a race worth £40,000 or more to the winner since the start of November.
Charlie Deutsch, Williams’s stable jockey, has played a vital role in many of the big-race successes, including on Saturday when, in physical terms at least, he was a shadow of his normal self.
He had not weighed out at 10st 2lb since New Year’s Day, but his determination to make the weight on Gemirande was rewarded as his partner found a final effort in the closing stages to deny Madara, after the favourite had appeared to be the likelier winner at the last. A pound is generally reckoned to be equivalent to a length over jumps and Gemirande was a length to the good at the line.
Carlisle 11.55 Wellington Arch 12.25 Cold Sobar 1.00 Lathan 1.32 Lounge Lizard 2.07 D Art D Art 2.42 Rock Of Star 3.15 Oh Clare
Windsor 12.12 Ma Shantou (nb) 12.45 Helnwein 1.20 La Pinsonniere 1.55 Tanganyika (nap) 2.30 Bellbird 3.05 Hasthing 3.40 Loverdose
“Charlie wasn’t quite sure how he was going to do the weight and I didn’t know what he was going to amputate,” Williams said. “He could have gone for a couple of easier weight options at Doncaster, but he was very keen to come and ride him.
“We’ve always thought that he [Gemirande] had more to come. Charlie said that he couldn’t use his stick on the run-in because the other horse was so close to him, but he’s such a genuine horse that he was doing his best anyway and he wouldn’t have done any more.”
An increasing number of owners based in Britain have been sending their horses to be trained in Ireland in recent seasons and there was a variation on the theme in the card’s only Graded event as Professor Caroline Tisdall’s Jet Blue, from David Cottin’s stable in France, registered a smooth six-and-a-half length win in the Grade Two Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
The success was only the second here for James Reveley, Jet Blue’s jockey, and came nearly 16 years after his first, on 1 January 2009. “What a birthday present,” said Tisdall, who was 79 on Saturday. “I want to cry.
Southwell 11.52 Mistymal 12.22 Margaret’s Legacy 12.52 In The Age 1.22 Land Of Moon 1.52 Bond Broker 2.22 Jesuila Des Mottes 2.52 Easter Icon 3.22 Magical Arthur
Plumpton 12.40 Epic West 1.10 Diplomatic Ash (nap) 1.40 Jail No Bail 2.10 Lady Balko 2.40 Tara Iti 3.10 Mutual Respect 3.40 Mustang Betty
Wolverhampton 4.30 Kyber Crystal 5.00 Well Enough 5.30 Lovesick 6.00 Misty Sky (nb) 6.30 Forge Valley Lad 7.00 Jack Mcnamara 7.30 Bungle Bay 8.00 Port Noir 8.30 Not Just Yet
“Before the race, he looked very young and small compared to our great big English chasing types, but he is a tough little horse. This is a new boy and it was his first race for me. He was the baby to help celebrate my birthday.”
Jet Blue was introduced to the betting for the Grade One Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle back here in March at about 20-1, but the most significant mover in the ante-post markets for the festival meeting was Majborough, last season’s Triumph Hurdle winner, after an early and very impressive debut over fences at Fairyhouse.
Majborough quickened impressively to beat the useful Tullyhill by six and a half lengths and was cut to about 6-1 (from 12-1) to become the first five-year-old to win the Arkle Trophy Novice Chase since Voy Por Ustedes in 2009.
