On March 16th 2018 we saw an unforgettable duel between Native River and Might Bite in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, alongside that there were 1,233,439.38 units in the Placepot but after 6 legs only 28.06 remained, winning a huge dividend of £32,088.70. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and see exactly how it was won.
Triumph Hurdle
Going into day four of the Festival, Britain had already lost the Prestbury Cup with Ireland winning 15 races in the first three days and Britain only managing 6 victories. But heading into day four, the British fans hoped we could at least manage double figures starting with the favourite in the Triumph Hurdle.
The Nicky Henderson trained Apple’s Shakira had been chosen by 59% of the pools, so it was always going to be the deciding leg in which direction the Placepot went. Redicean was picked by 11.89% of the pool so when neither of them placed, the dividend was blown wide open.
After the first leg, just over 12% of the pool remained with Irish trained Farclas (6.04% winning the race followed by two of Willie Mullins horses Mr Adjudicator (6.46%) and Sayo (0.27%) placing.
County Handicap Hurdle
Only 157,491.66 units went into leg two and they were met by a wide open County Handicap Hurdle. British fans continued to support their own with 13% of the pool going for the favourite Flying Tiger, however they had chosen the wrong British horse on this occasion.
Warwickshire based Dan Skelton had given a leg up to Bridget Andrews who, at the time, had a 3 pound claim on Mohaayed, his second choice horse in the race, he was an outsider who less than 1% believed would place. However impressively he won by nearly 3 lengths to another outsider in Remiluc (0.43%), Whiskey Sour (9.31%) in third and Chesterfield (4.17%) in fourth.
Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle
After a British trained horse winning the last race and pulling one back, the British fans continued to stay loyal to their own with a huge 26% of the pool picking Santini, however he only managed to finish third.
However, in a positive turn of events, Britain finished with a 1-2-3 with Kilbricken Storm (0.61%) winning the race for Colin Tizzard, bringing Harry Cobden his first Cheltenham Festival winner followed by a Nicky Henderson combo of Ok Corral (5.02%) and Santini.
Cheltenham Gold Cup
Starting the day, there were 1,233,439.38 units in the Placepot, at the halfway stage that was slashed to just 7,507.50 units heading into the big race of the day, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
British racing fans really had decided to get behind their runners on this final day with just under 50% of the pool choosing Might Bite (26.87%) and Native River(20.94%). Jumping the final fence, they were neck and neck before Native River pulled ahead for Colin Tizzard and Richard Johnson, eventually winning by 4 and ½ lengths, with Anibale Fly (0.39%) not too far behind.
With a more favoured result, just under half of the remaining units, 3,680.96, went through to the next leg.
Foxhunter Challenge Cup
Moving into the penultimate leg and if it wasn’t hard enough already, this leg was about to remove a huge majority of the remaining units. With Colin Tizzard bringing up the double the British horses were flying and British fans were keeping the faith that they could finish the day on at least double figures. Just under ⅕ of the remaining pool chose Paul Nicholls’ Wonderful Charm but with him being pulled up and the heavily selected Burning Ambition (29.87%) only managing to finish 8th, making it to the final leg was almost an impossible mission.
Keeping with the form of the day, British horses once again managed to perform better than the Irish in this race with another 1-2-3 in the race. Pacha Du Polder (2.04%) carried a massive 12 stone to victory under Harriet Tucker for Paul Nicholls. With Barrel Of Laughs (1.01%) and Cousin Pete (0.39%) also managing to place.
Only 3.64% of the pool managed to make it to the final leg.
Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle
The remaining 134.17 units were completely split with their selections in this race with 12% going for Diese Des Bieffes, 11% going for Flawless Escape and 10% going for Deal D’estruval.
But it was the 9% who went for Blow By Blow who were victorious when he won by 5 lengths to Discorama (0.15%) in second place. Also placing in the final leg were Early Doors (3.39%) and Sire Du Berlais (8.37%).
So after a very tough day of betting, only 28.06 units won the Placepot with a dividend of £32,088.70. It certainly wasn’t a day to choose the favourites, instead choosing the big priced outsiders won very few people, a lot of money. Were you one of them?
