The extraordinary career of Tiger Roll concluded in suitably remarkable circumstances here on Wednesday, as the winner of five Festival races and two Grand Nationals was denied a swansong success just a few strides from the line, by a stablemate in the same colours of Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary.
Tiger Roll and Davy Russell, his partner for so many big-race wins, had a narrow lead over the last in the Cross Country Chase, a race he won three times in the last four years. He was still in front with less than half a furlong to run, but was overhauled by Delta Work, the 5-2 favourite, within sight of the post, finishing second by three-quarters of a length.
The result brought a loud chorus of boos from the packed grandstands, an unprecedented greeting for a winning favourite at the Festival meeting but seemingly borne of frustration rather than any ill will towards the winner.
“It’s understandable,” Jack Kennedy, Delta Work’s jockey, said. “Obviously everybody would have loved to see Tiger Roll win, but you can’t take away from my horse either. I thought I was always going to get there [and] I knew I could be the most hated man in Cheltenham on Wednesday evening if I won.”
Tiger Roll would have equalled Quevega’s all-time record of six Festival successes with a final win, but still retires with a unique record of five wins at the meeting in three different races – the Triumph Hurdle, the National Hunt Chase and the Cross Country Chase – in addition to being the first horse since Red Rum in the 1970s to win two Grand Nationals.
“Of course, I wanted Tiger to win,” Gordon Elliott, the trainer of both Tiger Roll and Delta Work, said afterwards, “but once I won the race, I didn’t mind especially because it was Gigginstown [O’Leary’s bloodstock operation] who are massive supporters of Cullentra [Elliott’s stable].
“Tiger has been the horse of a lifetime and he’ll have a brilliant retirement now with Gigginstown and Michael.”
If O’Leary was slightly conflicted about his latest Festival winner, it was a sharp contrast to the unbridled delight of Tony Bloom, the Brighton & Hove Albion chairman, 40 minutes earlier as his chaser Energumene won a much-anticipated renewal of the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
It was not quite the classic that many had hoped for, nor did it reveal definitively whether Shishkin or Energumene is the better two-mile chaser. In terms of the end-to-end drama, however, the race delivered in spades.
Shishkin, the odds-on favourite, struggled from the off on the rain-softened ground, and was briefly pushed along by Nico de Boinville after jumping the first. A series of jumping errors followed before his rider pulled him up after jumping the eighth.
That left Chacun Pour Soi, last year’s beaten odds-on favourite, in front, but moments later he too was out of the race, having stumbled and unseated Patrick Mullins five out. Energumene was now the best horse still standing by far and he proceeded to stamp his class on the race, eventually crossing the line an easy eight and a half lengths in front of Funambule Sivola, a 40-1 outsider.
The decision to water the Old course at Cheltenham on Tuesday evening when rain had been forecast for the second day of the Festival meeting was strongly criticised by Paul Nicholls, the champion trainer, on Wednesday, after he had been forced to scratch Bravemansgame, the likely favourite, from the Brown Advisory Novice Chase due to changing ground.
The ground at Cheltenham was officially good, good-to-soft in places on Wednesday morning, but rain arrived at the course around 10am and the going was changed to soft all over after the opening race at 1.30. Bravemansgame was announced as a non-runner in the next race, at 2.10, a few minutes later.
Asked by ITV Racing’s reporter, Rishi Persad, if he could understand why Pullin had decided put 5mm of water onto the course overnight, Nicholls said: “No, not at all.”
He added: “From Sunday, on the forecast, if you watch Countryfile, it was going to be a very wet day today. And why water when you’ve got a wet day forecast? It’s a hard job, I wouldn’t want to be the clerk of the course, but as from Sunday, it was always going to be a wet day today. Harry [Cobden, his stable jockey] actually got off Stage Star [after the first] and said “it’s heavy”, that’s what made me sway [towards scratching Bravemansgame].”
Responding to the criticism, Jon Pullin, who took over as Cheltenham’s clerk of the course earlier this season, said that the rain which arrived at the track was well in excess of that which had been forecast.
“Our regularly-used weather services each forecast total rainfall of between 2 and 2.5mm on Wednesday and jockey feedback was that the ground was quickening up rapidly by the end of racing on Tuesday,” Pullin said.
“Based on this, we applied up to 5mm of watering to just the fastest parts of the track to ensure Wednesday started on safe ground. This was supported by a range of participants we spoke to in advance and watering produced ground that was good, good-to-soft in places, before more than 20mm of rain fell that would fundamentally shift any going description.”
The final race on Wednesday, the Champion Bumper, was also delayed by around 15 minutes as ground staff worked to reconfigure the course to take out possible patches of false ground. The race was eventually won by Facile Vega, the favourite.
For Willie Mullins, Energumene’s trainer, this was a first victory in the two-mile chasing championship and one that filled the final gap on his outstanding record in the Festival’s Grade One races. He was quick to acknowledge, though, that the rain had robbed Shishkin of any chance to confirm the form of his one-length defeat of Energumene in January’s Clarence House Chase at Ascot.
“It wasn’t about tactics so much, Shishkin just didn’t handle that ground and Nico wisely pulled him up,” Mullins said. “I was very disappointed to see Chacun Pour Soi go out of the race early but I could see Paul [Townend] travelling and the horse loving the conditions here.”
Cheltenham 1.30 Galopin Des Champs, 2.10 Tullybeg, 2.50 Allaho, 3.30 Flooring Porter (nb), 4.10 Imperial Alcazar (nap), 4.50 Dinoblue, 5.30 Mister Fogpatches
Hexham 1.45 Shaka The King, 2.25 Minelladestination, 3.05 Dubai Devils, 3.45 Camdonian, 4.25 Croagh Patrick, 5.10 Classic Escape, 5.45 Onestepatatime
Southwell 4.20 Scarborough Castle, 5.00 Conservative, 5.40 Love Your Work, 6.15 Tommytwohoots, 6.45 Royal Heart, 7.15 Coolagh Magic, 7.45 Palifico, 8.15 Raydoun
Wolverhampton 6.00 Glorious Charmer, 6.30 High Velocity, 7.00 The Thin Blue Line, 7.30 Queen Aminatu, 8.00 Dingle, 8.30 Phantasy Mac
Nicky Henderson, Shishkin’s trainer, was philosophical in defeat and also reluctant to criticise the overnight watering of the track, which made little difference given the unexpected deluge that arrived on Wednesday.
“To be honest with you, you could nearly tell going to the first fence that he wasn’t where he wanted to be, and I knew why,” Henderson said. “He just couldn’t get out of it [the ground]. Yes, he’s won in soft ground, but you’re going round in heavy ground, and that is not his scene, obviously.
“Yes, they’ve put some water on it, because the boys [jockeys] thought last night, coming down the hill … was getting quick, and if they say that, you’ve got to act accordingly. The forecast obviously didn’t predict what we’ve had.
“So no, I’m not shouting and screaming. They’ve done their best, they took a decision and it is what it is, and there’s no point in crying about it or shouting about it.”
