Thursday 28 April 2016

Cheltenham Festival - Festival Trophy Handicap Chase


Another old race at the Old Course on the opening day of the old festival. There is, however, nothing rusty about this race that forms part of the opening day events at the annual festival. Every year, horses of age five and above line up behind the gates and give the track a galloping as intense as if they were running the Gold cup.

This race is rated grade III by the National Hunt rankings. The ranking should however give no illusions about its quality. Competitors give their all as they round the three miles one furlong (5029 m) of turf in a bid to get the best of the £105,000 purse.

The horse-man team of Un Temps Pour Tout, Tom Scudamore (jockey) and Martin Pipe (trainer) swept both the 2016 and 2017 events to join the record ranks. Temps joined two other horses who have won the race twice, the other record having been set in 1983. The horse will be aged nine in the 2018 event and still in good shape to set a new record.