Cheltenham Festival 2019 awards: Mullins, Frost and Tiger Roll among stars to shine at Greatest Show on Turf

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The Greatest Show on Turf rarely fails to deliver, and the 2019 Cheltenham Festival certainly lived up to the billing, with four days of enthralling racing.

Legends of the game, both equine and human, cemented their places in history, while several new stars emerged to transcend the sport and make front page headlines.

Here, Standard Sport looks back on an incredible week...

Moment of the week

It’s perhaps both the obvious answer (and cheating) to define a period of an hour as a ‘moment’, but Thursday afternoon was as good as it gets in the sport.

The feel-good factor around the course (no doubt helped by a run of wins for favourites) after Bryony Frost’s landmark win on Frodon in the Ryanair, and then Paisley Park’s stunning win in the Stayers’ Hurdle to give Andrew Gemmell a Cheltenham winner was just magic.

Owner Andrew Gemmell, blind since birth, celebrates as Paisley Park romps home
Getty Images

Racing crowds have come in for an awful lot of criticism in recent months, particularly in reference to violence at courses, but they are as knowledgeable and as passionate about their sport as any fans in the world, and the ovation that both horses and jockeys got was fantastic.

Performance of the week

Honourable mentions to Altior equalling Big Bucks’ unbeaten record with victory in the Champion Chase, as well as A Plus Tard’s run in the Close Brothers, but Tiger Roll’s 22-length win in the Cross Country was just brilliant.

This little horse has a frankly ridiculous range of versatility and the way he destroyed this field has raised what are now very valid questions about whether a tilt at the Gold Cup could be on the cards next year. If he can defend his Grand National title at Aintree next month, his CV will be up there with the very best horses of all time.

The brilliant Tiger Roll defended his Cross Country crown in style
Getty Images

Ride of the week

Barry Geraghty produced an absolute peach on Defi Du Seuil to win the JLT, stalking Lostintranslation all the way and squeezing the button at the perfect moment, but what he did on Sire Du Berlais shortly after was just obscene.

The horse endured a nightmare passage, needed encouragement miles out, and even from the last it looked beat, but Geraghty somehow got him up to win the Pertemps.

Jockey of the week

Nico De Boinville’s winners could hardly have come in more contrasting fashion, sending home the shortest price favourite of the week in Altior, in between victories on 28/1 and 20/1 shots.

Nico De Boinville has now ridden Altior to four successive Cheltenham Festival wins
Getty Images

He’s become tactically one of the very best around, and the man you want on board your big name fancy on the biggest stage, but he also showed a different side of his game with a great recovery on Pentland Hills on the way to winning the Triumph Hurdle.

A word too for Jamie Codd, who cemented his status as the very best amateur jockey around by somehow taking Le Breuil to National Hunt Chase victory, and then winning the bumper on Envoi Allen, who looks every inch next year’s Ballymore winner.

Trainer of the week

When Ruby Walsh and Paul Townend rode Klassical Dream and Dus Des Genievres to wins in the first two races of the week, the Willie Mullins Show looked set to dominate. However, as the ground dried up so too did the winners, with 50-1 poke Eglantine Du Seuil in the Mares Novices’ Hurdle his only other triumph across the first three days.

However, on Friday, thanks to Al Boum Photo, Mullins ended a frankly bizarre barren run in the Gold Cup, a race in which he’d had six runners-up but never a winner, securing the top trainer’s title in the process.

Mullins, representing Ireland, shares the Prestbury Cup with Nicky Henderson of Britain, who he also pipped to the top trainer title
PA

Shock of the week

For upset value, it takes something to top the three main contenders in the most talked up Champion Hurdle in years all failing to hit the frame, but Benie Des Dieux’s fall at the last sent shockwaves round the Cotswolds. Four years on from Annie Power doing the exact same thing, in the same colours, under Ruby Walsh, the Irish banker of the week came crashing down.

For pure shock though, Sir Erec’s death was an absolute sickener, and an ugly reminder of the perils of the game just as the sport was basking in the glory of that memorable Thursday.

Benie Des Dieux's fall when clear at the last denied Ruby Walsh a double on Tuesday
PA

Race of the week

The number of long shot horses to hit the frame this week will tell you how rare it is to get three top class horses at the top of their game (pardon the pun) battling it out up the Cheltenham Hill, but that’s exactly what we got in the RSA.

Delta Work ran a stormer in third, during a difficult week for Gordon Elliott and Gigginstown, while Santini defied a disrupted preparation with a coming of age performance in second, but it was Paul Nicholls’ monster, Topofthegame, who produced a brilliant leap at the last to take a high-quality renewal. It would be a pleasure to see all three back again for the Gold Cup next year.

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