Izzy Phillips: My Top 5 Cheltenham Festival Memories

With the countdown well and truly on until the 2023 Cheltenham Festival and the Cheltenham Odds beginning to take notable shape ahead of the four-day National Hunt showpiece, which gets under way on Tuesday 14th March, our top columnist Izzy Phillips has gone down memory lane and picks out her Top 5 Cheltenham Festival memories...

The Cheltenham Festival is for racing fans what the Champions League is to football fans or the Superbowl in the NFL. It’s a spectacle where the best of the best take each other on in 28 of the best races of the year. It’s so monumental that it seems like the whole National Hunt season is overshadowed by its presence on the racing calendar. For many of us the reason The Festival is so special is that there are specific moments that seem to live with us forever. We remember where we watched the race, who we were with, how we felt and most importantly, who won! In my list I've tried to include my favourite performance from each of the big four races of the week (Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup). So here it goes, here are my top 5 Cheltenham Festival memories.

No. 5 - 2013 Neptune (now the Ballymore) Novices' Hurdle: Winner - The New One 

As a follower of the Nigel Twiston-Davies stable The New One is one of my favourite horses of all time. My Grandad had been telling me for weeks that Sam had a great chance of a winner at the Festival. Grandad told me all about The New One and how fast he was and how he’d get away from this field easily. Well, Grandad was right and he did just that! Safe to say I was sitting with Grandad in his living room when The New One romped home. He shared his winnings with me and we had a take away that night too! I always felt The New One should have won a Champion Hurdle and even made a pilgrimage to Cheltenham in hopes he would take the crown in 2015 after appearing unlucky in running in 2014. It wasn’t to be in the Champion Hurdle for The New One but he will always be one of my Cheltenham greats.

No. 4 - 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle: Winner - Paisley Park

Paisley Park gives a whole new meaning to the term ‘staying hurdler’. In 2019 he looked beaten turning for home. I’ve never seen a horse come from so far off the pace to get a victory. His amazing story with his owner Andrew Gemmell touches my heart and he’ll be one Cheltenham winner that I will never forget. What’s amazing about Paisley Park is that it was no fluke, unfortunately he hasn’t managed to notch up another Stayers’ Hurdle, but he has gone on to treat racing fans to many more of his signature staying performances. After his victory at the Cheltenham Festival in 2019, his second most memorable would be the 2022 Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham where he gave a little whip around at the start giving the field 20 lengths to begin with and still managed to get up to win. Could he prevail in the 2023 Stayers' Hurdle?

No. 3 - 2022 Champion Hurdle: Winner - Honeysuckle

For me this performance really epitomises GIRL POWER! There have been some amazing mares to win the Champion Hurdle over the years, a couple of the most recent being Annie Power and Epatante. However, unlike those last two, Honeysuckle was also partnered by a female jockey in Rachael Blackmore and they were vying for an impressive 15 wins on the bounce. There was much speculation around Honeysuckle’s 2021 victory in the Champion Hurdle; there were those who doubted her greatness because of her ‘weight allowance’. All that added to the suspense of the 2022 Champion Hurdle and to prove the doubters wrong Blackmore dominated the Festival in 2022 and Honeysuckle was really the shining star of it all. They put up a stunning performance nipping through the middle of Appreciate It and Zanahiyr; going on to win impressively. Honeysuckle is a horse of a lifetime and her partnership with her pilot Blackmore is such a beautiful one. There’s loads of drama this year surrounding Honeysuckle’s last race and whether it is right for her to go to the Mares and not to defend her Champion Hurdle crown. I for one am just grateful I got to witness Honeysuckle in all her glory and hope that she can go out on top with one last win at the Festival.

No. 2 - 2009 Cheltenham Gold Cup: Winner - Kauto Star 

Kauto Star is one of racing’s favourites. He was such a popular horse who broke many records and his biggest was being the first horse ever to regain his Cheltenham Gold Cup crown. He was good when he won the race in 2007. Then in 2008 he was beaten by his stablemate, the tank, Denman. In 2009 Kauto Star and Denman eyeballed each other almost the whole way round, until three fences from home where Kauto put in a beautiful leap to take him into the lead. It was a foot perfect performance by Kauto Star and one that rightly puts him at number 2 on my list. Kauto Star went on to appear in three more Gold Cups after this and set records by winning his fifth King George at Kempton on Boxing Day in 2011.

No. 1 - 2016 Queen Mother Champion Chase: Winner - Sprinter Sacre

Clearly I love a comeback story so my top Cheltenham Festival memory is Sprinter Sacre regaining his Champion Chase crown. The commentary for this is ingrained in my brain. This was my biggest ever Cheltenham Festival winner. My Grandad backed him in 2013; I remember that he’d got Sprinter in so many accumulators at the time. In 2013 Sprinter Sacre was one of Grandad’s biggest successes and he ended up buying my Nan a new mattress with his winnings.

In 2016 Sprinter Sacre was three years older and coming back from an injury. He wasn’t fancied to win the race, but I think there was a part of me that kept the faith in him just because I felt Grandad would have. We lost my Grandad in December of 2015 so the 2016 Cheltenham Festival was our first without him. There was a real sense of emptiness without him and it was really difficult not having him to talk to about the build up and the races themselves. I’ve mentioned in previous articles how each member of our family has a selection of ‘old horses’ (ones that you always back), it was really poignant for us that one of Grandad’s came back with such an incredible win at this time.

In the race itself Sprinter Sacre looked to be going well, but Un De Sceaux and Ruby Walsh began to control the race from the front. The camera angle was at a head on shot so it was difficult to tell just how close Sprinter Sacre was, then on the turn for home the camera angle suddenly switched and you could see he was steaming past Un De Sceaux and he’d kicked for home. Dad and I were jumping around in Nan’s living room screaming and shouting. The commentary rang out ‘The old Sprinter coming up the Cheltenham hill here…the impossible dream coming true…he regains his title!’. I remember Channel 4 did a whole feature on Sprinter Sacre with Andy Williams’ The Impossible Dream. I actually went to the Festival the following day (in hopes of seeing Cue Card win the Gold Cup) and I played The Impossible Dream so many times on the way there and back. Magic.

Everybody has their own list of top Cheltenham Festival memories. Who would you have on yours? I struggled so much as there are so many legends of the turf that I could have put here. I’ve gone for the ones special to me but I always love hearing about the ones special to you. Please tweet us at @Horseracing_net to let us know! I wonder whether this year’s festival will throw up any performances that will make it onto your list?