Why Are So Few Yorkshire-Trained Horses Heading to the 2021 Cheltenham Festival?

“Cheltenham racecourse“ (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Carine06 

Just a handful of jumps racehorses trained in Yorkshire were given early closing entries for the Cheltenham Festival Grade 1 races this year.  

Some of these have already been scratched from heading down from the equine hubs around the market towns of Malton and Middleham to the Cotswolds for the four-day National Hunt extravaganza on between March 16 and 19. That’s a real shame. 

It is possible that the White Rose county won’t have a single runner in the big Festival races. There may be some representation in the handicaps, but Cheltenham odds today are hugely competitive due to the strength of southern and overseas stables, with the Gold Cup sporting an Irish favourite in Al Boum Photo. 

You may be wondering why Yorkshire yards’ participation is set to be so low or nonexistent. There are two major reasons which explain this. 

Irish invasion fills Festival 

The Cheltenham Festival is often billed as the best of British against Irish racehorses. There is the odd French-trained runner and winner from time to time, but it’s mainly the home team taking on raiders from the Emerald Isle. 

As the number of northern horses involved has dropped in recent years, those coming over from Ireland has increased significantly. With The Prestbury Cup, introduced in 2014 and awarded to the country which has the most winners at the Cheltenham Festival, this sense of Anglo-Irish competition has only intensified. 

After winning that in the first couple of years, Britain hasn’t got the better of Ireland since. The Prestbury Cup was shared in 2019 when both nations saddled 14 winners apiece. 

Such is the strength-in-depth among Irish racehorses that it is often enough to scare northern trainers away from the Festival. Don’t say it too loudly, but there are other big horse racing meetings in the National Hunt calendar besides Cheltenham. 

There’s always Aintree 

One spring Festival that isn’t so oversubscribed with Irish runners is the three-day meet at Aintree in April that has built up around the Grand National. Those on the Emerald Isle have Punchestown at the end of that month to prepare for. 

While there are still many horses from Ireland entered in the world’s most famous steeplechase, other races at the Grand National Festival will have smaller uptake from them. This is why northern yards, like those in Yorkshire, often prefer skipping Cheltenham in favour of running at Aintree three or four weeks later. 

This is precisely what Malton trainer Ruth Jefferson is doing with King George VI Chase runner-up Waiting Patiently after he forfeited all of his Cheltenham entries. She has kept her stable star away from the Festival throughout his career. 

The Melling Chase over two-and-a-half miles or the extended three-mile Aintree Bowl are alternative targets for Waiting Patiently, who finished third when supplemented for the Clarence House Chase at Ascot in January. 

Placing horses in the right race is as much a part of the sport as anything. If Aintree offers less competition than Cheltenham, but still has the prestige of hosting Grade 1 events, then it makes sense for any Yorkshire-based or northern horse in general to go to Liverpool instead.