racing_news/

Grand National Winner Mon Mome on Parade at Cheltenham
09/04/09

Racing returns to Cheltenham for the first time since The Festival with three fabulous days of The April Meeting on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (evening), April 15, 16 and 17.

The highlight of the six-race programme on Wednesday, April 15, is the £53,000 ESN Silver Trophy Chase, a limited handicap with Grade Two status. Last season the two mile, five furlong event went the way of Grand National-winning trainer Venetia Williams’ Stan, who was registering a quick-fire double having won at Aintree’s Grand National meeting. Action gets underway at 2.10pm with the V-IT Services Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle and runs through to 5.05pm with the Cheltenham Racing Ltd Novices’ Chase (5.05pm).

After racing on Wednesday, the Centaur at Cheltenham Racecourse plays host to the Brightwells April National Hunt Sale which has proved to be a great source of winners since its inauguration in 2004 with two winners at The Festival in 2009, Tricky Trickster and Andytown, having been sold at the sale previously.

Mares take centre stage on Thursday, April 16, when the feature contest of the six-race card is the £30,000 Listed raceodds.com Mares’ Handicap Hurdle, won by One Gulp in 2008. Once again, racing commences at 2.10pm with the Messier-Dowty Landing Gear Novices Hurdle and concludes at 5.05pm with Buy Your Winners At Brightwells Sales Mares’ Bumper.

On Friday, April 17, the action moves to the evening with a six-race card getting underway at 5.00pm. The star of the evening will be this year’s 100/1 John Smith’s Grand National hero Mon Mome, who will be on parade and has a raced named in his honour, the Mon Mome Handicap Chase (7.20pm) over an extended three and a half miles. Mon Mome’s trainer, Herefordshire-based Venetia Williams, and his owner Vida Bingham are due to be in attendance.

Edward Gillespie, Cheltenham’s Managing Director, commented: “People always like to see the Grand National winner.

“As we were planning for next week's meeting, we thought this was the next obvious opportunity for people to congratulate Mon Mome and his connections.

“Mon Mome won here in December and he's trained fairly locally, which was a good start, and as it's a long-distance chase, the race was the right one.”

“We do like to honour our own and show our appreciation while they are still with us and we normally find that people react positively and enjoy seeing people and horses being celebrated.”

The April Meeting brings Cheltenham’s professional season to a close and there are several prizes up for grabs.

The Cotswold Life Gloucestershire Trainers' Championship charts the success of trainers based within the county throughout the season, with each yard given a handicap rating based on their number of horses in training and their recent number of winners and runners. For every winner trained in Britain between October 17 and April 17, yards have been awarded the same number of points as their handicap rating with any Cheltenham winner or winner, priced 25-1 or longer, being awarded double points. Currently vying for this year’s championship are Sezincote-based Charlie Longsdon, who had a handicap rating of 60 and Tom George’s Slad yard which had a handicap of 30. The lucky winner will win the use of a hospitality box at Cheltenham’s opening fixture next season, The Showcase in October.

Cheltenham’s Frequent Runner Championship also concludes on April 17. Supported by Irish Thoroughbred Marketing, Theault horse boxes and Blue Chip Feed, the scheme rewards trainers who run horses most often at Cheltenham between October and April. This year’s competition is between champion trainer Paul Nicholls and local Naunton handler Nigel Twiston-Davies. The winner will receive a free 12-month lease on a Theault horsebox, while a free 12-month lease on a Citroën C-Crosser will be the prize for the runner-up.

Stable staff are also not forgotten and the wonderful prize of a Mark Stoddart sculptured coffee table will be presented to the lad or lass responsible for the most best-turned out awards at Cheltenham during the season. Susannah Bagnall, who works for Nigel Twiston-Davies, currently leads this competition.

Meeting - The April Meeting; Dates - Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, April 15 - 17
First race -2.10pm (Wednesday & Thursday), 5.00pm (Friday)
Tickets available from www.cheltenham.co.uk or by calling 08445 793 003