Cheltenham Festival comes just in time for British racing

The race distances range from two miles to nearly four. The purses run from $59,000 to $818,000. The runners are as young as 4, while some are teenagers. The interest is more difficult to quantify.

The Cheltenham Festival is nearly here. From Tuesday through Friday at Cheltenham Racecourse about 100 miles west of London, 28 races will be contested, mostly over hurdles and steeplechases.

By the end of the week, about 250,000 people will have attended, many of whom arrive via plane or ferry from Ireland. The four days of racing has an 'Us vs. Them' feel, with the us or them depending on whether a person is British or Irish. Both countries run many of their finest jumpers.

The event comes at a good time. British racing has had a rough start to the year, with a weeklong interruption last month caused by an outbreak of equine influenza and a more recent boycott of several racetracks because of poor prize money.

Then, there is the little matter of Brexit, which dominates the news headlines.

Much of that will be forgotten at 9:30 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday when the tapes go up for the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at about two miles. Fittingly, Al Dancer, trained by Willie Mullins and unbeaten in four hurdles, and Angels Breath, trained by Nicky Henderson, were the market leaders over the weekend.

Mullins is the all-time winningest trainer at the Cheltenham Festival with 61 wins, one more than Henderson. They have been helped by an expanded week of racing from three days to four since 2005 that has seen the Festival week grow from 20 races to 28.

Mullins and Henderson figure to dominate the proceedings through the four days along with Ireland’s Gordon Elliott, who led all trainers by winning eight of the 28 races last year.

Tuesday’s main race is the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle at about two miles, which is led by the heavily favored Buveur D’Air, trained by Henderson. An 8-year-old gelding from the stable of leading owner J.P. McManus, Buveur D’Air can win the Champion Hurdle for a third consecutive year and give McManus and Henderson an unprecedented eighth career win in the race.

On Wednesday, the Henderson-trained Altior will be another heavy favorite to extend his winning streak to 18 races in the Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase at about two miles. Altior, unbeaten in 12 starts over fences, won the 2018 Queen Mother Champion Chase.

On Thursday, the speedy Monalee will be among the selections in the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase at about 2 5/8 miles. He led throughout the Grade 2 Red Mills Chase at Gowran Park in Ireland on Feb. 16 in his final prep.

The richest race of the week is Friday’s Grade 1 Cheltenham Gold Cup, a race that compares well to the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the United States as the leading weight-for-age contest of the year. The $818,000 Gold Cup is run at 3 1/4 miles over 22 fences and is expected to include the first three finishers of 2018 – Native River, Might Bite, and Anibale Fly.

Native River, trained in England by Colin Tizzard, figures prominently in the betting this year along with Clan Des Obeaux, who won the Grade 1 King George VI Chase at Kempton Park outside of London on Dec. 26, and Ireland’s Presenting Percy, who won his only start of the current season in a hurdle race on Jan. 24.

A race later, amateur riders are on the course for the Foxhunters’ Chase at 3 1/4 miles for horses that have run in hunter chase races or in point-to-point races for amateur riders. This is the sort of race that gives the Cheltenham Festival a distinct atmosphere, with amateur riders competing a race after the most prestigious event of the week.

There are three 13-year-olds among the nominees, though they will be longshots.