Day three of the Cheltenham Festival has come and gone and there was further success for Irish jockeys and trainers as the action unfolded.
Rachael Blackmore delivered in the first race of the day, the Turners Novices' Chase, as she guided the Henry de Bromhead-trained Bob Olinger to victory.
The opener looked set to go the way of 5/6 favourite Galopin Des Champs who had Paul Townend on board until the pair suffered a costly fall at the last fence.
The favourite had cleared the fence but then suddenly stumbled before becoming grounded. It left Blackmore and Bob Olinger in the clear to pick up the pieces, and afterwards she was happy to hear there had been no injuries arising from Townend's fall.
She said: “It’s great to see Paul and Galopin are up and OK. It was their race to win.
"I don’t know what to say really, it’s fantastic to win, I’m delighted to win. I didn’t get into as good a rhythm as I thought I was going to. I thought that was my fate turning in, but that’s jumps racing.”
Next up, Tom O'Brien scooped a win on 25/1 shot Third Wind in the Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle.
There were no problems in the Ryanair Chase for hot favourite Allaho who was ably guided by Paul Townend to register another win for Willie Mullins.
Incredibly, the Irish made it four out of four as the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle came next.
That went the way of Danny Mullins on Flooring Porter who retained the race having also had success in 2021.
Flooring Porter ran out a comfortable winner by two and three-quarter lengths from Thyme Hill with Paisley Park a nose away in third place. The Gavin Cromwell-trained seven-year-old ran a fantastic race and Cromwell himself was hugely pleased.
He said: “The plan was to make it, but of course he has the issues with the start. We wanted to make the running and he was foot perfect everywhere.
“Danny was fantastic on him, when he jumped the third last he eased off and let him fill up, but to be honest I was worried he might get done for a turn of foot. Danny was cool though and knew what he was doing.
“I wasn’t too bad when he was down at the start as I was pretty confident he was going to be OK today, he seems to have matured and he’s behaved himself all the time he’s been here.
“At Leopardstown (at Christmas) Klassical Dream got a flyer and we didn’t, and it made the difference – he was beaten just over two lengths. We didn’t want the same to happen in this race.”
And Cromwell lavished even more praise on Mullins for his hand in the victory.
He continued: “He maybe did get an easier lead this year, whether they might not have felt he was as good as he was, I don’t know.
“His jumping is unbelievable, he jumps more like a champion hurdler, he’s so slick, long or short, he gains ground at every hurdle.
“Last year was great but the crowd here is magic. I came here and won the Champion Hurdle with Espoir D’allen but he was an outsider. To win a big race with a fancied horse was brilliant, it all worked out.
“We’ll try to get him back here next year.”
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