The final day of the Cheltenham Festival saw Irish jockeys and trainers yet again catapult themselves to glory on the big stage as Rachael Blackmore made more history and Paul Townend secured the Jockeys Title for most race wins.
Undoubtedly, the highlight of the day was the Gold Cup-winning performance from Blackmore aboard A Plus Tard, with the County Tipperary jockey going one better than last year's second-place finish.
However, there was Irish successes everywhere you looked on the final day of the Festival.
Midleton man Paul Townend continued his brilliant week as he secured a double on the final day, the first of those coming on Vauban in the JCB Triumph Hurdle.
He followed that with another win in the McCoy Contractors County Handicap Hurdle as he guided favourite State Man home to victory and, in doing so, sealed his title of leading jockey for the 2022 Cheltenham Festival.
Those two pivotal wins from Townend for Wille Mullins-trained horses were followed throughout the day by three other Mullins-trained winners, making Mullins the leading trainer for the ninth time.
Mullins paid tribute to his whole team afterwards, saying: “I’m delighted with the whole team and I’m going to accept the award with all my team because they are the ones who do it in the background leaving me free.”
There were also race wins for Sean O'Keeffe, Patrick Mullins, Mark Walsh and Mark McDonagh on a day where the Irish swept the board to secure the Prestbury Cup.
But the headlines were stolen by Rachael Blackmore who was wonderfully resilient on board A Plus Tard and stormed home to win the Gold Cup, becoming the first-ever female jockey to do so.
Blackmore finished second in the race 12 months ago after opting to ride A Plus Tard over Minella Indo, but she gradually took control of this year's showpiece and ended up winning by a huge margin.
Blackmore felt like a "rockstar" after the race and said: “I can’t believe [winning the Grand National] is not even 12 months ago. I don’t know how I am this lucky! It’s phenomenal.
“I was happy, I was kind of where I wanted to be, there were probably more horses in front of me throughout the race than I wanted. I had the three horses around me that I wanted to be around me, I had a wall of horses in front of me turning in, but they made sure I didn’t go too soon like I did last year. It’s just incredible. I tried to hold onto him a bit more this year and look, it worked.
“I was happy if [Minella Indo] did go and I didn’t get him, I was just happy I wasn’t upsides him this year and I was trying to do something different. I kind of knew after the second last that I had more horse under me than I did last year, I didn’t think I would be 15 lengths clear though."
And the Cheltenham heroine described how she had never even allowed herself to dream of Gold Cup success before.
She continued: “When I took out my licence, I didn’t think I would be riding at Cheltenham, let alone a favourite in the Gold Cup. I’m so lucky to be getting the chance to ride horses in these kinds of races. This is the Gold Cup, you know what I mean?
“I never even dreamt I could be doing this and I am. What I’m doing now is a dream I could never allow myself to have because it was not even in my reality. You can never dream too big because this is something I never thought would be possible.”
