England: Goshen among favorites in return to Cheltenham

Everything was going fine for Goshen in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham Racecourse in England last March until he reached the last of eight obstacles.

Holding a lead of about 10 lengths, Goshen stumbled over the final hurdle and unseated jockey Jamie Moore. The 5-2 favorite, Goshen went from a near-certain win to leaving the uninjured Moore on the ground in despair.

Goshen is back at Cheltenham for the first time since December in Tuesday’s Grade 1 Champion Hurdle over 2 1/16 miles. Trained by Jamie’s father, Gary Moore, Goshen has had mixed form during the current jump-racing season. Goshen was last of 10 in the International Hurdle at Cheltenham in December, but rebounded to win his only subsequent start in the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton Racecourse on Feb. 20, a key prep for the Champion Hurdle.

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The latest win has left Goshen among the favorites in a competitive running of the $469,732 Champion Hurdle, the richest of seven races on Tuesday’s first day of the four-day Cheltenham festival for hurdlers and chasers held 100 miles west of London.

Friday’s Cheltenham Gold Cup is the highlight of a week of racing that will be held without fans because of the pandemic. Even owners will not be in attendance at a race meeting that drew more than 250,000 last year and was the last major sporting event in England before closures forced by the pandemic.

First post time is 9:20 a.m. Eastern. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

Goshen, a 5-year-old gelding, was 7-2 in future-book betting on Sunday, the same price as Epatante, a 7-year-old mare who scored a convincing win by three lengths in the 2020 Champion Hurdle.

Trained by Nicky Henderson, Epatante won the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle in November in her first start of the current season, but was a disappointing second at 1-5 in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park near London on Dec. 26. Epatante was beaten 6 1/2 lengths by Silver Streak, an outsider in the Champion Hurdle.

Honeysuckle, the undefeated 7-year-old mare, will be a slight favorite in the Champion Hurdle. A 10-time winner trained in Ireland by Henry de Bromhead, Honeysuckle won the Grade 1 Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2020 and has won two starts this season – Grade 1 hurdle races at Fairyhouse in November and Leopardstown on Feb. 6.

There are three other Grade 1 races on Tuesday’s program.

Appreciate It is one of Ireland’s top chances of the week and starts in the opening race, the $130,481 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at 2 1/16 miles. Appreciate It was 6-5 on Sunday. Metier, trained in England by Harry Fry, was 4-1 and is unbeaten in three starts over hurdles.

Shishkin will be an odds-on favorite, and one of the shortest prices of the week, in the $182,673 Arkle Chase at about two miles. Trained by Henderson, Shishkin has only five rivals. Shishkin won the 2020 Supreme Novices Hurdle and is unbeaten in three starts over tougher fences this year, winning by a minimum of 8 1/2 lengths.

Concertista won the Grade 2 Mares’ Novices Hurdle at the 2020 Cheltenham festival. Her two wins in graded stakes over hurdles against open company in Ireland this year have made her the 6-5 favorite to win the $125,262 Mares’ Hurdle on Tuesday.

Willie Mullins trains Appreciate It and Concertista and is expected to be the leading trainer after the 28th and final race of the week is run on Friday.