Dream start turns to nightmare for Ruby as Benie crashes out
In the latter stages of his career in the saddle he may be but the joy of riding a winner at the Cheltenham Festival commands a broader-than-ever smile from Ruby Walsh, who didn’t have to wait long to make that familiar walk back to the winner’s enclosure.
In a sight we’ve become accustomed to, Walsh stood up in the saddle, turned to the crowd and waved his whip in the air in delight as he and Klassical Dream crossed the line clear of the field in the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. It’s a sight we’ve been treated to six times in this race. From Noland all the way back in 2006, to consecutive wins from 2011 with Al Ferof, Champagne Fever, Vautour and Douvan, it’s a race that has been good to Walsh and, conversely, one in which he has been particularly good to punters. But this one was special. Ruby, who would not want to talk himself up, may disagree, but this was poetry from the saddle.
So keen was his mount that he almost didn’t get to the start. An incident on the way out onto the course almost resulted in a parting of the ways, but Walsh held firm and the duo eventually made their way to the tape.
And the drama didn’t stop there. Keen to get on with proceedings, Klassical Dream jumped forward prematurely, resulting in a false start– an occurrence which roused an ironic chorus of boos from an expectant crowd waiting to give the traditional Cheltenham roar which gets the meeting underway.
At the second attempt, the race got underway without further ado, and Walsh and his mount jumped off prominently as outsider Brandon Castle set the pace. With head bowed low, Klassical Dream kept his rider busy, demanding his attention as he tried to go a stride quicker than his rider would like. But Walsh kept a lid on his mount and thereafter the two moved through the race always looking the likely winners.
Still going best coming down the hill and into the straight, Klassical Dream moved easily clear in the closing stages to beat the running-on Thomas Derby, with Itchy Feet in fourth and four-year-old Fakir D’oudairies snatching fourth place on the line. The winning ride was all the more special for the fact it was Walsh’s first since being side-lined after a fall from Harrie at Thurles almost three weeks ago. Eleven times the champion rider at the meeting, there have been moments over recent seasons in which we doubted we would see him in the saddle at another Festival, but the lure of the meeting means Ruby keeps bouncing back.
Back to his best.
“It gets the monkey off the back – it’s a relief,” beamed Walsh. “The last time I was here was a sad enough day so it’s great to be back,” he added, referring to his early exit from the meeting in 2018, following a fall from Al Boum Photo.
It’s a wonderful place, we don’t get to do this often enough as jockeys, running in front of this atmosphere – it’s unique. He (Klassical Dream) was magic every step of the way. He was very professional, very accurate. We’ll have the usual row, the Arkle or the Champion Hurdle.
“I kind of thought Al Dancer and Angels Breath were easier to take on than the horses in the Ballymore on Wednesday so that’s why we swung around. Al Dancer’s form was coming through handicaps and Angels Breath, to me, at Kempton he looked vulnerable. You make a call. Sometimes you’re right, sometimes you’re wrong, but that’s what we decided.”
Referring to the pre-race drama, Walsh explained: “He got his head under the railing going out and obviously his head went under his neck and he caught me on my knee and spun me on his back – I was lucky to stay on him, but he was fine then. He caused the false start. He barged forward and that didn’t help. I hate when they happen, and I hate being the cause of them.”
Winning trainer Willie Mullins, for whom it was a sixth win in the race, added: “It’s terrific. He’s a very, very good horse. We took a risk running him on goodish firm ground at home, but we thought he had a fair engine all along. His work last weekend at the Curragh, we came away thinking here’s one who will take a lot of beating at Cheltenham, no matter what he came up against.”
As all national hunt participants are all too aware, if it can raise you up, it can bring you back down. And the vagaries of the sport were in unfortunate evidence just hours later. A day which had been going along swimmingly for Mullins and Walsh crashed back to earth with a bang when Benie Des Dieux fell at the last with the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle seemingly at her mercy. In an incident strikingly reminiscent to that of Annie Power in 2015, the odds-on favourite appeared to jump quite high, clip the top of the hurdle on the way down, and then crash to the turf.
Whereas in 2015, when another Mullins-trained mare, Glens Melody, stepped in to claim a fortunate success after the fall of Annie Power, this time the Dan Skelton-trained Roksana spoiled the party, staying on to deny two Mullins-trained horses, Stormy Ireland and Good Thyne Tara.
“It has been a very difficult week, but the horse is great and Ruby is fine, which is the most important thing,” said Benie Des Dieux’s owner, Rich Ricci, who also owned Annie Power. “I don’t want the trolls to attack Ruby. He is the best jockey in the world, and it happens. I just hope he is protected from the same nonsense he got the last day.
“Benie Des Dieux was going very well and she is a very good mare. We will mind her, bring her back and she will win again, but I am just so sorry and it’s just difficult. Her getting up is the most important thing and that’s what we have to remember. This game is tough, and I take a lot and I’m tough. The fact that she got up should make everybody happy.
“I am sorry for people who punted her and I know that I will get stick for that as well, but it just doesn’t matter - if she’s up, that’s fine.”
