The luck of the Irish has shone through on day three of the Cheltenham Festival. A. P. McCoy has won the Ryanair Chase on Albertas Run and Ruby Walsh remained in the spotlight, winning World Hurdle with Big Buck's.
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year rode Albertas Run to victory, despite a course invader running onto the track. Albertas Run's trainer Jonjo O'Neill spoke to BBC Radio 5 straight after the race, expressing "We work all year for cheltenham, it's a magical week. Everyone's having a great time and it's great to be part of it".
This was only the beginning. The main event of the day - The World Hurdle was won by Ruby Walsh, who certainly hasn't been keeping quiet during the festival. On "Ruby Tuesday" he won a hat-trick of races, but Walsh was extremely complimentary of his steed. "He's an aeroplane, you can't fault him. I knew it would be tactical but this horse no longer needs to be kept behind, he can stretch in front".
There was a tense moment between Big Buck's and challenger Grands Crus, ridden by Tom Scudamore, but Walsh ultimately was the first past the post.
Scudamore gracefully accepted a very worthy victor: "It was a great advert for racing. We've beaten by a great horse. The best compliment we can pay Big Buck's tonight is he knows he's been in a good race and will sleep well tonight. We'll try chasing next year".
Winning trainer Paul Nicholls admitted "The best horse won on the day but it was an awesome performance by both horses. I think that's arguably Big Buck's career best".
Cheltenham has provided a very memorable St. Patrick's Day, but theres still plenty more to come on its final day. A. P. McCoy had hoped he would ride Binocular in Tuesday's Champion Hurdle, but will ride Kempes in tomorrow's Gold Cup - "You have prepared all year for this and everyone in the stables has done their utmost so you are praying nothing goes wrong... And when it all comes right it is just unbelievable. The cheers you receive can't be beaten".
No comments:
Post a Comment