The final day of the Cheltenham Festival saw the cool, dry conditions continue. The ground remained Good to Soft but was clearly drying a little. The feature of the final day was the Blue Riband for the staying chasers, the Gold Cup. The opening race, however, was the championship race at the very other end of the jumping spectrum - the Triumph Hurlde for the 4-y-o over 3200m. Eighteen runners of which eleven came from the Willie Mullins yard but the money was for the English trained EAST INDIA DOCK from the James Owen yard, who had been decent on the flat and had looked very good on three hurdling runs, winning them all easily including one over the course and distance. He was 5/4 favourite with Gavin Cromwell's HELLO NEIGHBOUR supported in to 7/2 and Nicky Henderson's LULAMBA third in at 11/2. I've heard it said if you throw enough darts at the board, you'll eventually get a bullseye but I doubt Willie Mulllins thought PONIROS was his most likely bullseye darty but in yet another dramatic race, the 100/1 shot swooped to cut down LULAMBA and EAST INDIA DOCK up the run in with only connections, bookies and one punter who had £100 each way at 100/1 cheering. Coming towards the last, however, the bookies must have been quaking as, having brushed off HELLO NEIGHBOUR, EAST INDIA DOCK and LULAMBA looked set to fight out the finish but Jonjo O'Neill junior brought the outsider with a superb late run to lead close home. A shock? Well, the Triumph had been won by a maiden over hurdles (though rarely) but this was the first time a horse on hurdling debut had won the race. It would be the equivalent of putting an unraced 3-y-o in the 2000 Guineas or the Derby and that horse winning. However, dip into the form a little and perhaps not quite as much a surprise as might seem the case - PONIROS was rated 91 on the flat and indeed had been favourite for the Cambridgeshire, a hot autumn handicap at Newmarket, when trained by Ralph Beckett (trainer of the Arc heroine BLUESTOCKING among others). Previously, he had finished down the field in the King George V Handicap over 2400m at the Royal meeting but on that occasion he was five and a half lengths in front of a certain EAST INDIA DOCK. PONIROS is also a son of Golden Horn, the 2015 Derby and Arc winner. The plan is for PONIROS to be a dual purpose horse with runs in the Ascot Stakes over 4000m at the Royal Meeting and then a possible trip to Flemington for the Melbourne Cup (another looking to be on the plane to Weribee is Champion Hurdle runner up BURDETT ROAD in the same colours as EAST INDIA DOCK). This is Mullins re-defining what you do with horses and how you run them and it's staggering to think you can take an admiittedly decent Flat horse and bring them to the top juvenile hurdle race without having jumped one in public, win the race and start talking about a 3200m handicap on the other side of the world. LULAMBA and EAST INDIA DOCK both ran well in defeat and I suspect they will rematch at Aintree while the fillies LADY VEGA ALLEN and PLACE DE LA NATION both ran very well for Mullins and you could see one or both of them in the Mares division next season. The staying novice hurdle championship race is the Albert Bartlett over 4800m and this is a race which often throws up future champions - two Gold Cup winners have come from it - and it's one to review if you're looking at the future stars of the novice staying chase division next season. A big field and a wide open betting heat saw the sole mare THE BIG WESTERNER with the French raider JET BLUE and the Gordon Elliott trained WINGMEN also supported. The Mullins juggernaut rolled on with yet another Grade 1 winner as JASMIN DE VAUX put up what I thought was an impressive performance to hold off THE BIG WESTERNER with the front two nicely clear of three other very promising types. JASMIN DE VAUX is clearly a 4800m type - he was well held by THE YELLOW CLAY and FINAL DEMAND who both ran in the Turners over the shorter 4200m trip - and the extra yardage certainly brought about some improvement. He could be anything over fences of course. THE BIG WESTERNER did very little wrong in defeat - possibly the ground was quick enough for her - and I look forward to seeing her over fences as well. DERRYHASSEN PADDY lost his unbeaten record in third but he's an old fashioned stamp of a chaser and I could see him in a Grand National in 2027 if he's not up to Gold Cup class. He's trained by Lucinda Russell who of course had CORACH RAMBLER. In fourth was YELLOW CAR at 33/1 from the David Killahena stable, one of the smaller yards, and this will be his standard bearer for the next couple of years. The unlucky horse was WENDIGO and this is why I bet with a bookies who pays five places in big fields - he was travelling well until getting chopped for room and stumbling badly at the top of the hill. He ran on bravely to be a close fifth and while I'm not saying he would have won with a clear run, I am saying he would have been a lot closer and he's another I will be following closely if and when he jumps a fence. On then to the race to which many of the connections of those who ran well in the Albert Bartlett might aspire, the Gold Cup, over the full 5200m of the New Course. Winner in 2023 and 2024, GALOPIN DES CHAMPS, was 4/7 to join an elite club consisting of Golden Miller, Cottage Rake, Arkle and Best Mate, horses who have won three Gold Cups. There was support for INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN, who had been supplemented for the race at a cost of £25,000 while King George winner, BANBRIDGE, was also fancied despite stamina concerns. It wasn't to be as GALOPIN DES CHAMPS was decisively outpointed by INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN who propelled himself to the top of the tree with a magnificant display of fencing. This was a brutal race run at an end to end gallop - they ran 6 minutes 40 seconds for the 5200m - a full 11 seconds below Standard.  The winner was always travelling while in truth GALOPIN DES CHAMPS wasn't - post race jockey Paul Townend admitted what many of us could see, the horse wasn't travelling comfortbaly or within his rhythm. Courage and class kept him in the race but Townend thought the ground was perhaps quick enough for the dual winner. Maybe, but it might just be there's a new young star on the block and GALOPIN DES CHAMPS isn't quite the champion he was. Either way, I imagine FACT OR FILE (in the same ownership as INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN) will be the next one waiting in the wings for the Gold Cup winner back over the 4800m trip. The front two were well clear of GENTLEMANSGAME and MONTY'S STAR who both ran with credit in third and fourth. BANBRIDGE didn't stay though I doubt he'd have beaten the winner at 4200m let alone 5200m and this was a disappointing effort while unfortuntely CORBETTS CROSS, who might well have been placed, took a fatal fall at the second last. INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN is in the Grand National with just 11 stone 5 lbs so gets 7 lbs from last year's winner I AM MAXIMUS. The immediate bookie response was to slash INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN's price to 5/2 but with no decision on the horse's participation at Aintree made as yet and with owner J P McManus having other cards to play, the price has eased to 4s. I don't think the Gold Cup/Grand National in the same season double has been achieved since Golden Miller in the 1930s not that many have tried. L'Escargot won the National (beating Red Rum) but a couple of years after he'd won the Gold Cup. A few postscripts to the meeting - the overall attendance was about 212,000 over the four days - Wednesday was very quiet at just over 40,000 but there were nearly 70,000 on Gold Cup day so the numbers weren't quite as bad as the course CEO had feared but still well down on the 280,000 in 2022 (though that was post Covid). Some concern over the number of false starts - the rules are slightly different in Britiain and Ireland and in the excitement and anticipation of the big races there were some problems. The Irish won all the races on the final day as they had last year so the final score in the Prestbury Cup was Ireland 20 (Willie Mullins 10 of those), Britain 8. Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the British racing press and the paucity of British runners in the Supreme and the Brown Advisory spoke volumes but the stronger UK contingent in the Triumph suggested perhaps the tide was starting to turn. Fot the bookies, an unbelievably good week - LOSSIEMOUTH, KOPEK DES BORDES and FACT OR FILE went in but with the favourites in all four championship races, CONSTITUTION HILL, JONBON, TEAHUPOO and GALOPIN DES CHAMPS all losing and outsiders coming in the books clearly had the best of the week. J P McManus re-established himself as the leading owner, Willie Mullins was the leading trainer by a mile and Paul Townend won the jockeys' title comfortably. On then to Aintree where I suspect the British will be a lot stronger and eventually Punchestown with any number of Cheltenham rematches.

Amazing how ppl are now so  suddenly concerned about a sitting President of the US of A talking rubbish and lying through his teeth Yet the past 4 years everyone was hush hush with the previous President ( wont even bother with Obama ) with all his consistent lies and corruption - if are looking to score points over Trump , then you are all blind -ignorant and  hypocritical  and probably deserve to be in the losers corner  TDS at it's finest 

Leadership , Trumps doing what others should have done some time ago . Dozens of people have been reported killed after US President Donald Trump ordered “decisive” military action against Houthi rebels in Yemen, opening a new salvo against the Iran-backed group that has targeted shipping lanes in the Red Sea. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the US would deploy “overwhelming lethal force” against the Houthis “until we have achieved our objective,” signaling the start of a major operation that could last weeks and prompting the Houthis to warn of escalation. The strikes killed “multiple” Houthi leaders, according to US national security adviser Michael Waltz.  The Houthis, based in Yemen, started launching drone and missile strikes on vessels in the Red Sea in late 2023 in what they say is revenge for Israel’s war in Gaza. The sustained strikes significantly impacted global trade.

Seven weeks in advance of the Kentucky Derby, Journalism, powerful winner of the San Felipe Stakes, closed as the 5-1 favorite in Pool 5 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager with Fountain of Youth winner Sovereignty the 7-1 second betting choice. View the full article

But, the deaf, dumb and blind kid, sure plays a mean pinball. 👍

You must be fucking blind, deaf and dumb…….🙈

I really rate Ohoka Connor . It was good to see him pace a lot better as he was rough as in some of his recent starts . But you are right with Duchess Megxit she had no hope of running the leaders down .

Trump rarely exaggerates; he just straight out lies. At least one between every breath. Maybe that's how we can tell he's about to spit out another giant porky. He takes a breath 🤣

Probably the stripes in the same place as when Zachary never put Duchess Mexit into the race fresh up the week before - the first time she's ever finished neither 1st nor 2nd in a race - even changing lanes at one point to ensure she was stuck behind other horses. She powered home for fourth, as her target is the Cambridge slot race. Punters conned again. Tim Williams drive on Ohoka Conner in the same race was just as appalling. The second best horse in the race rushed around the field as if it was going tp go to the front, but then he pulled it back to get the death seat, and got out finished by a much lesser performed horse. Two shockers in one race.  

I feel sorry for the punters with both Regan's horses because from the start they didn't have any chance of winning . But to be fair if you look at most races from Addington how many times do you see no moves until the last 500m ? Those horses may as well have stayed home . That's the trouble with this stupid push out rule , horses can walk in front and give nothing a chance back in the field , yeah I know it's safer but not the same as when we drove back in the 80's , 90's because horses pushed out had to go forward and put pressure on the leader so they couldn't run slow sectionals like they do now 

Been 55 years since they won a major trophy and boy did they want this. No set of fans deserved it more than the Geordie horde. Liverpool just didn’t have the legs after their mid week exertions and were second best today.    

Saturday's canceled card will be moved in its entirety to March 18. First post at 12:45 pm CT. The season will end with a six-day racing week, culminating with the Louisiana Derby Day card March 22 and closing day March 23.View the full article

Just over a decade after Colonial Downs was shuttered, the track, which re-opened for Thoroughbred racing in 2019, enjoyed arguably its finest day March 15. View the full article