Fans of point-to-pointing and hunter chasing are in for their annual Cheltenham Festival treat when the St James’s Place Foxhunters’ Chase (4.40) takes place on Friday.
Yet there is a good smattering of former British point-to-pointers in action before and after the ‘amateurs’ Gold Cup’. Tomorrow (Thursday) two mares represent the sport, starting with Just A Rose who lines up as one of 24 declared runners in the Gr.2 Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle (1.20).
A winner for Warwickshire’s Tom Ellis at Chaddesley Corbett in December 2023, she was subsequently sold into Paul Nicholls’ yard for £175,000 at a Tattersalls Cheltenham sale, and in January won a 12-runner maiden hurdle at Taunton. Freddie Gingell rides Just A Rose.
Just A Rose (Jack Andrews) scores at Chaddesley Corbett in December 2023 (Sweet Photography)
Sine Nomine was a Festival heroine last year when winning the St James’s Place Festival Hunters’ Chase for trainer Fiona Needham. This season she was switched into racing under rules, but has been out of luck in two runs when unseating and then falling. John Dawson will once again be in the saddle when Sine Nomine lines up in the third day’s final race, the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase (5.20) for amateur riders.
Friday’s card sees a quartet of former British pointers line up, in addition to the 13 home-trained representatives in the hunters’ chase.
Yellow Car (Toby McCain Mitchell) on his way to victory at Kingston Blount in May
First up is Yellow Car, who won at Kingston Blount in May for Graeme McPherson’s stable and has landed three hurdle races this season, including a Gr.2 event on his latest start. He faces a stiff task in the Gr.1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (3.20), and a similar remark applies to Ahoy Senor, who takes his chance in the feature race of the week, the Gr.1 Boodles Gold Cup.
After winning a maiden point-to-point for Mel Rowley at Kimble in 2020 he became a star for Lucinda Russell’s stable by winning or running in a succession of top-grade races. On Friday he makes his first start since a wind operation.
The hunters’ chasers take to the stage immediately after the Gold Cup, with a split of 13 British and 11 Irish runners. The Paul Nicholls-trained Shearer is the shortest-priced British runner having won two hunters’ chases this season, but a number of horses with recent point-to-point form could have slipped slightly under the bookies’ radar, while What A Glance, who came to his best in the spring last year, is a big price considering he won at the course and then landed the Pertemps Champion Hunters’ Chase at Stratford.
The final race of the meeting, the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle includes two former British pointers. No Questions Asked won at Edgcote for Tom Ellis in April 2022, a month after Doyen Quest had looked sure to score for trainer Tom Weston at Maisemore Park, only for the saddle to slip. Ben Pauling now trains No Questions Asked, while Dan Skelton handles Doyen Quest.