Cheltenham 2019: Espoir D’Allen steals the headlines on a memorable day of emotion and upset

Buveur D’Air fell early in its Champion Hurdle defence and well-fancied Apple’s Jade failed take advantage as 16/1 outsider Espoir D’Allen stole an unlikely win in the feature race

Cheltenham Festival Champion Day condensed the emotion and upset that is often spread across the whole week into just one day.

Buveur D’Air fell early in its Champion Hurdle defence and well-fancied Apple’s Jade failed take advantage as 16/1 outsider Espoir D’Allen stole an unlikely win in the feature race.

The five-year-old travelled menacingly to put itself into contention and sealed a 15-length lead for Mark Walsh, his second Festival win.

A day of drama may well be followed by a day of emptiness as Cheltenham puts plans in place to move Wednesday’s card to Saturday if the forecasted heavy wins arrive. Storm Gareth is set to hit the West Country on Wednesday and the 50 mph gales it brings poses a risk to some of the racecourse’s temporary structures.

An inspection will take place at 8am and a decision will be made whether to postpone the card, which includes the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

Before the day's upset came the emotion. Klassical Dream won the curtain-raising Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in stylish fashion seven months after its owner John Colean died from bone marrow cancer.

His wife, Jo Coleman, now owns the horse and travelled to Cheltenham from Essex and brought with her John’s ashes in her handbag so he could fulfil a dream of seeing Klassical Dream run at Cheltenham.

Fate was kind to the connections and Ruby Walsh produced a worthy performance to see it first past the post ahead of a competitive field.

“It seems such a shock to be here to see John’s horse run, let alone win,” said Jo Coleman, full of emotion. “He bought Klassical Dream two years ago and dreamed he might be a good horse, and he’s proved it. He never got to see the horse run at all.

“I don’t know if I can put into words how I feel,” she added. “I was too nervous to watch.”

Klassical Dream came close to being favourite at the off, but what followed was a series of outsiders taking the spoils.

5/1 Duc Des Genievers won the Arkle to make it two from two for Mullins and 10/1 Beware The Bear kickstarted Nicky Henderson’s Festival with a good ride in the Ultima Handicap Chase.

The day of intrigue then produced a shocking result in the Champion Hurdle, where neither heavily fancied Apple’s Jade or Buveur D’Air delivered for punters.

Espoir D’Allen enjoyed a successful day (Getty)

The Henderson-trained favourite was bidding to become the first horse to win the Champion Hurdle three consecutive times since Istabraq, but it’s hopes of victory, and a slice of the £450,000 prize pot, were quickly over when it fell at the third.

Apples Jade did not fare much better. A reasonable start set it nicely to track Melon, who took an early lead, but it lost pace three out after a series of underwhelming jumps.

The field opened up without the big hitters and Espoir D’Allen took full advantage with an impressive finish.

It’s trainer, Gavin Cromwell, only recently turned his hand to training horses to supplement his finances, but landing JP McManus’ eighth Champion Hurdle has propelled him onto racing’s biggest stage.

Mark Walsh poses for the cameras (Getty)

“I’m lost for words,” said the softly spoken farrier. “Espoir D’Allen is French-bred and they do mature earlier.

Despite his success, Cromwell will still be shoeing horses once the elation dies down.

“I started training a few point-to-pointers and enjoyed it, and it went from there. We’ll still do a little bit of farriery because it’s the only way to make it pay. You have to need (to train) 145 horses otherwise.”

Elsewhere, Walsh saved the bookies an estimated £5m when he fell at the last with evens favourite Benie Des Dieux well ahead in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle, with some drawing comparisons to his late collapse on Annie Power in 2015. Roksana took advantage and handed the Skelton partnership an unlikely win.

Later in the day, Rachael Blackmore became the first female rider to win at this year’s festival with a strong performance on A Plus Tard.

Le Breuil then held off Discorama’s late attack to claim the National Hunt Challenge Cup Amateur Riders’ Novices’ Chase after 14 of the 18-strong field failed to finish.

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