Cheltenham Festival memories: David Ord 2007 reflections

Cheltenham Festival racegoers are a hardy breed. Long before the Atkins or Keto Diets were even dreamed up – we were living them.

Four or five nights of full cooked breakfasts, red meat and battered fish washed down by Guinness, bitter, red wine, brandy or whiskey – a cider as a palate cleanser with the morning fry-up – it took a toll.

The results would have had even Gillian McKeith running for cover and the sorry figures cut by racegoers when they returned home are said to have inspired the writers of The Walking Dead.

Did we get sympathy? No. We weren’t even allowed to watch the Midlands National on the Saturday afternoon.

In 2007 my best friend was enjoying the Festival of Festivals. A dedicated follower of the Alan King team, he was already flush following the victories of My Way De Solzen (Arkle) and Voy Por Ustedes (Champion Chase) and now waiting on Katchit in the Triumph for the pay day of all pay days.

But that Friday morning – as he clambered out of the single bed in our twin room in the resplendent Evesham Premier Inn - he sunk back onto the mattress, clutching his head in his hands. ‘No Mas, No Mas’ he cried.

So instead of heading to Prestbury Park to witness his finest hour, the beleaguered and troubled traveller got no further than the bar of the Cheltenham Tigers Rugby Club, a mere Spanish stones throw from the action itself and where the car for the journey home was safely parked.

There he sat on the table closest to the toilets waiting for the action to appear on the TV, sipping a diet coke and vowing never again.

45 minutes later Katchit delivered, the diet coke replaced by a pint of Hook Norton. The amazing restorative powers of a Cheltenham winner shone through, although not the medicine McKeith would have prescribed.

When I grumpily marched up the hill from the press room to take my place in the drivers’ seat for the trek back to Yorkshire, the three passengers were already in the silver VW Golf and fast asleep.

They stayed in that state all the way home, leaving me with a radio stuck on 88 to 91FM listening to Ken Bruce’s Friday Night Is Music Night. It was two hours jam-packed with orchestral versions of Andrew Lloyd Webber classics.

A low-key end to a wonderful Festival.

Kauto Star won a first Gold Cup despite the sort of last-fence mistake that became his trademark before he got too old and wise for that malarkey.

Around 48 hours earlier Denman delivered in the Sun Alliance Chase to park his tank on Kauto’s lawn, where it was to stay for four glorious years.

AP McCoy endured the sort of frustrating week his natural facial expression was made for but there was a broad smile when Wichita Lineman won the Albert Bartlett to give him a first winner of the week on the Friday. There was more to come from that particular story.

As there was in the tale of Inglis Drever who won a first World Hurdle, fleetingly deciding upon not doing a jot in front as his way of getting the adrenalin flowing through his supporters before replacing it with a late flat spot instead.

If you backed Ferdy Murphy’s two winners, Joes Edge (50/1) and L’Antartique (20/1), you flew home. Trebled them up with Willie Mullins’ only runner in the Supreme, Ebaziyan (40/1), and you’re probably still there.

The old gunslingers Brave Inca and Hardy Eustace threatened to take a stranglehold in the Champion Hurdle only to be swept aside by Sublimity, enjoying by some distance his finest hour for Bill Hennessy and John Carr.

Voy Por Ustedes won a Champion Chase which saw 2/1 favourite Well Chief depart at the second fence. His trainer David Pipe enjoyed better luck on day one as Imperial Cup heroine Gaspara put her Fred Winter rivals to the sword to swag a £75,000 bonus from Sandown sponsors Sunderlands.

It was Pipe’s first season with the licence and Gaspara mattered given the act he was trying to follow.

Robert Thornton was top jockey with four winners, Paul Nicholls the leading trainer with the same number. They even made it easy for the presentation party by combining to win the Grand Annual with Andreas.

Nicholls and King will be fighting the good fight again this year, the latter without his cheerleader who has relocated to America.

Mullins won’t have a 40/1 chance in the Supreme, though, and the Cheltenham Tigers Rugby Club is set to host a fan village for 300 avid racegoers who can ‘glamp’ their hearts away for £950-a-week in pop-up units that are set up as either twin, quad or en-suite rooms.

It’s a funny old game.

What were your favourite memories of the Cheltenham Festival of 2007? Email them to racingfeedback@sportinglife.com...

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.