Relentless rain turned Ladies Day at the Cheltenham Festival into a washout. Wet weather, which continued all day, changed the ground to heavy as fans on-course battled the elements.
Star runner Shishkin, the hot favourite for the feature Champion Chase, was defeated with his trainer putting his run down to the soggy turf. Jockey Nico de Boinville only got as far as the ninth fence on the 5-6 shot, as victory went to the Willie Mullins-trained Energumene.
Many racegoers took shelter from the rain indoors as the two-mile contest concluded – and the going was changed to its softest description shortly after. The rain was not to Tiger Roll's liking, but he still ran an honourable race on his final career start.
The dual Grand National winner and five-time Festival hero finished a close second to stablemate Delta Work in the cross country. Owner Michael O'Leary, who won the race with his other runner, hailed the equine legend as a "horse of a lifetime. "
The final event of the day, the Champion Bumper, was delayed by around 15 minutes as amendments were made to the track layout. Clerk of the course Jon Pullin told Racing TV his team were moving rails to go around some "false patches."
Facile Vega, one of the 'bankers' for punters on the card, defied trainer Willie Mullins' fears about the going by winning easily. Punters cheered the result, the fourth winning favourite of the day – and jockey Patrick Mullins treated fans to a flying dismount.
Stablemate Sir Gerhard, another strong market leader, had earlier landed the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle. The middle leg of his treble was Energumene in the feature. Owner Tony Bloom said: "I did believe (we could win). I believe in Willie and Paul, who rode a magnificent race. The rain really helped us as we were praying for rain. We’re all really wet, but we’re delighted. He’s an amazing horse and we were very confident. Full credit to Energumene, he’s an amazing horse."
At the start of Wednesday, the going was described as good, good to soft in places. As the rain poured down, Paul Nicholls pulled leading fancy Bravemansgame out of the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase.
Asked by ITV Racing if he understood why clerk of the course Jon Pullin watered the track the night before, the trainer said: "No, not at all. From Sunday on the forecast it was going to be a very wet day today and why water when you have got a wet day forecast? I'm not getting into any arguments about that but sometimes... it's hard. It's a hard job. I wouldn't want to be clerk of the course."
Officials checked the track before the finale, as jockeys waited patiently in the weighing room. Commander Of Fleet (50-1) and Global Citizen (28-1) were shock winners on the seven-race card. At the half-way stage of the four days, Mullins leads the 'top trainer' competition with four winners. His son Patrick, stable jockey Paul Townend and Nico de Boinville are tied at the head of the jockeys' standings win two triumphs apiece.
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