Cheltenham Festival: Captain Guinness wins Champion Chase as El Fabiolo pulled up
- Published
Captain Guinness finished second in the same race last year
Cheltenham Festival 2024 |
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Dates: 12-15 March Venue: Cheltenham Racecourse Races: 13:30-17:30 GMT Main races: 15:30 |
Coverage: Commentaries on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, with feature races on BBC Radio 5 Live. Racecards, live text, results & reports on the BBC Sport website and app. |
Captain Guinness was a shock winner of the Queen Mother Champion Chase under Rachael Blackmore after hot favourite El Fabiolo was pulled up.
El Fabiolo was odds-on to give trainer Willie Mullins a historic 100th Cheltenham Festival win but his chance went with a bad early blunder.
Blackmore's 17-2 shot Captain Guinness, trained by Henry de Bromhead, beat Gentleman De Mee.
Mullins later reached the landmark with Champion Bumper winner Jasmin De Vaux.
That became a family celebration as his son Patrick rode the 9-2 chance to victory.
El Fabiolo was sent off 2-9 favourite but made a mistake at the fifth fence and sprawled on landing before being pulled up by jockey Paul Townend.
Edwardstone led for much of the race but fell at the second last after Captain Guinness came to the fore.
Gentleman De Mee threatened to seal the Mullins milestone, but Blackmore's mount scored by one and a quarter lengths.
"He travelled incredibly and he jumped really well, but it felt like a long hill today," said Blackmore.
"It's incredible. I'm so pleased for his owner as he's been knocking on the door in these big races but this is the biggest of his division."
De Bromhead paid tribute to Blackmore, who made history as the first woman to be leading rider at a Cheltenham Festival meeting three years ago.
"She is riding out of her skin and deserves every success she gets," he said.
Mullins had closed in on being the first person to train 100 Festival winners with earlier wins via Ballyburn and Fact To File.
British trainer Dan Skelton secured a double thanks to Langer Dan and Unexpected Party.
Ballyburn is seen as a Champion Hurdle contender for next year
Ballyburn won the opening Gallagher Novices' Hurdle, leading home a 1-2-3-4-5 for Mullins.
Regarded as 'banker' of the meeting for many, Ballyburn justified his reputation with a comfortable 13-length win from stablemate Jimmy Du Seuil.
Townend was so in control, he could afford a look round at his rivals turning for home.
"He was very good, jumped brilliantly. He is 'wow'," said the jockey.
Fact To File confirmed his standing as a Cheltenham Gold Cup contender for next year with an impressive victory in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase, pushing clear of runner-up Monty's Star.
The triumph vindicated Mullins' decision to skip hurdling and go straight over fences with the seven-year-old.
In the 10th race of the meeting, only the second British-trained winner came courtesy of Langer Dan.
The 13-2 chance, ridden by Harry Skelton for his brother Dan, followed his 2023 victory to become the first dual winner of the Coral Cup.
And the brothers teamed up to triumph again with 12-1 chance Unexpected Party in the Grand Annual Chase.
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