CHELTENHAM
202271 Jockey’s silks
2 This is the number on the
horse’s saddlecloth
3 Six-figure form guide
Key F: fell; P: pulled up;
U: unseated rider; B: brought
down; S: slipped up;
R: refused; D: disqualified;0: unplaced; Dash is the
cut-off from previous season
4 Horse name
5 Days since latest outing;
sometimes followed by an ‘F’,
which means that race was
on the Flat
6 Conditions and equipment
informationKey W: horse has had wind
surgery. Horse is wearing
B: blinkers; T: tongue strap;
V: visor; P: cheekpieces;
H: hood; E: eyeshield. Horse
has won previously: C: at this
course; D: at this distance;
CD: course and distance. BF:
beaten favourite last timeout. Going on which horse
has won (F: firm, good to
firm, hard; G: good; S: soft,
good to soft, heavy)
7 Timekeeper’s speed rating
— how fast the horse has run
in the past
8 Trainer
9 Owner
10 Age of horse and the
weight it is going to be
carrying — in this case the
horse is six and will be
carrying 11st 3lb
11 Jockey plus allowance (in
brackets), which is given to
novice riders and represents
the weight in pounds
advantage that they are given9 111-12 EPATANTE 80 (BF,CD) 150
N Henderson (John P McManus) 7-11-3 B J Geraghty1How to read a racecard2 38 9 10 114 5 6 7Day. They lifted jockey Danny Mullins
onto their shoulders, did victory chants
and came out with the sort of one-liners
that put Michael O’Leary’s big book of
aphorisms to shame.
Enter Ned Hogarty, one of the friends
who bought the horse for €6,000 (about
£5,000). “It shows you don’t have to be a
sheikh to win a grade one,” he said.
Admittedly, that may have been over-
egging the divide — the owner of the
third-placed horse, and former winner, is
a blind ex-council worker who once
stood on a picket line with the miners —
but you got the drift.
Hogarty runs a carpet and flooring
business. Two of his partners are
publicans. The name is a cocktail of the
two. Gavin Cromwell, the trainer, said:
“They’re country people and they’re
making sure they are enjoying it. I have
a feeling there will be more than one
night of celebrating.” Ah, those country
people. You can imagine some in their
Cotswolds second homes with their
marble duck ponds thinking this was all
a bit unedifying, but they should
probably undo the top button.
Hogarty said that he had watched the
rerun of last year’s race 100 times. Of
course, the syndicate and associates were
not here during the lockout in 2021.
They partied by proxy. Good but not the
same. Given the owners’ prize money
yesterday was £139,880, it was good
business, but it was better sport. “You
don’t have to be in the elite to win at
Cheltenham,” reiterated Mullins. “That’s
the magic of jump racing.”
Sport often gets a kicking from outside
and much of it is merited. But there isT
his was good craic. Over there
was a man clad as Cruella de
Vil in a black and white faux
fur coat. Over here was a man
with a fag waggling from the
corner of a crooked grin. Some wore
jeans. “I’m not f***ing leaving,” shouted
another. If you wanted a result to debunk
the myth that racing is all toffs and
tweed this was, hands down, the knees-
up of the week in the winners’ enclosure.
Flooring Porter retained the Paddy
Power Stayers’ Hurdle title at 4-1, but the
facts masked the fun. Presentations are
usually formal affairs at Cheltenham, a
stiff handshake and a smile for the
camera. This was more like a late-night
photo at a wedding disco. Five syndicate
members from Galway were lost in a
throng of well-wishers on St Patrick’s
good too. Marcus Rashford feeds
children. World champion boxers fight
Russia. In its own small way this race
was a reminder of how sport can just
touch people and provide a lift, if not a
cure for anything major. “The horse was
due it,” Hogarty said. “We were due it,
the parish was due it and the country
was due it. This is after bringing a group
of people together who are lifelong
friends. It’s memories we’ll have forever.”
Last year, when the 12-1 Flooring
Porter’s jockey, Jonathan Moore, stood
himself down after suffering a fall the
previous Sunday and reasoning he would
not be able to do the horse justice, it was
a noble act in a world of rare
opportunities. Mullins had taken over
with barely an hour to spare and said:
“That was a bittersweet moment for him
and a real mark of the man.” He has
been on the horse for three of his four
races since.
This time Mullins and his mount
controlled the race. They eked out an
easy four lengths and although that was
trimmed, it was comfortable. He veered
left at the last but Cromwell said it was
just one of the quirks of a horse that hasnever been straightforward. The margin
was almost three lengths from Thyme
Hill, with Paisley Park, the 2019 winner,
inches behind. Flooring Porter will be
back for a hat-trick attempt next year.
Paisley Park, owned by Andrew
Gemmell, may return, too, after finishing
strongly. Emma Lavelle, his trainer,
enthused about his speed up the hill. “He
needs to grow a longer nose,” she said
after almost snaffling second place.
There are different ways to toast a win.
You can do it the Flooring Porter way or
you can do it like Evan Williams, the
trainer of Coole Cody, a 22-1 winner of
the Craft Whiskey Co Plate Handicap
Chase. It has been 14 years since
Williams’ last winner at the festival and
his follow-up was ripsnorting fare. His
horse was cut up on the bend, but jockey
Adam Wedge said that made an angry
horse angrier. Evans took this dramatic
surge in his own particular stride.
“I’m the most boring person in the
world,” he said. “I enjoy a glass of beer
and I enjoy a glass of wine but I’m more
a cup of tea and digestive man. It’s not
about popping champagne corks for me.
I get an awful lot of enjoyment out of
every single moment — the good, the
bad and the ugly.”The five syndicate
members who own
Flooring Porter could
properly enjoy their
horse’s success this year,
having missed their 2021
win due to Cheltenham
being closed to fansFlooring Porter delivers a dose of fun
Irish syndicate’s Stayers’
Hurdle success shows
that racing is not just the
preserve of the ultra rich,
writes Rick Broadbent
SEB DALY/SPORTSFILE“
You don’t have to be in
the elite to win at
Cheltenham. That’s the
magic of jump racing
RECORD 73K CROWDAn all-time record
crowd for a single day’s
racing at Cheltenham of
73,754 attended the
Festival yesterday.
The figure was nearly
2,000 more than the
previous best of 71,816
on Friday, the Gold Cup
Day, at the Festival in- Tuesday’s crowd
this week was the
record for the Festival’s
opening day. “It’s
always fantastic when
St Patrick’s Day falls
during Festival week,”
Ian Renton, managing
director for the Jockey
Club’s west region, said.