Limpley Stoke may sound like an invented place from the script of The League of Gentlemen but it adopted far greater significance yesterday. Neil Mulholland, who trains in the village near Bath, upheld a measure of British honour amid the Irish domination and became the first of a promising young generation to saddle a Festival winner this week.
Mulholland took the first handicap chase of the meeting with The Druids Nephew, who romped to victory under a composed ride from Barry Geraghty. The trainer seemed still more imperturbable but his emotions were doubtless churning within.
“This is our World Cup. It’s the big stage and we’re on it today,” he said. “It is a fantastic feeling, no matter how calm I look, but it will take a while to sink in. We’ve been at the Limpley Stoke yard for two-and-a-half years and you can see we are getting that little bit more out of the horses.”
The Druids Nephew is among the favourites for the Crabbie’s Grand National next month but both trainer and jockey raised doubts about him running. “His jumping is adequate but I’m not sure Aintree is the place for him yet,” Geraghty said.
The day’s other non-Irish winner was trained in remote west Wales and ridden by an Irish-based jockey. Irish Cavalier, from the yard of Rebecca Curtis, completed a double for Paul Townend, Ruby Walsh’s deputy in the Mullins yard.
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Mullins seemed as delighted by this as anything else on his remarkable day. “Paul is very good and still very young,” he said. “It’s not easy being No 2 to Ruby and I wouldn’t want him to go elsewhere.”
Ireland lead Britain 5-2 after the opening day yet are still easy to back in the Betbright Prestbury Cup, which has made the age-old duel between nations more official. William Hill shortened an Irish win to 13-8 from 3-1 but Britain remain odds-on.
New record crowd
A crowd of 63,249 smashed the record for the Festival opening day by more than 2,000. It was also 6,166 up on the corresponding day last year.
The previous best Tuesday attendance came in 2002, when spectators were starved of their Cheltenham fix after the 2001 Festival was abandoned during a foot-and-mouth outbreak.
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Yesterday’s crowd is expected to set a trend of advances through the week and Ian Renton, Cheltenham’s managing director, confidently expects the total attendance to surpass 240,000 for the first time.
Codd battered
Cause Of Causes gave his owner J P McManus a special 64th birthday present when opening his account over fences in the Toby Balding National Hunt Chase.
Jamie Codd kept the Gordon Elliott-trained seven-year-old at the rear of the field for most of the four-mile stamina test before producing him to lead before they steered round the bypassed final fence.
There was a sting in the tail for Codd, however, as he was given a ten-day ban and fined £400 after the stewards found him guilty of misusing his whip.
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Nicholls out of luck
As a contrast to the domination of Willie Mullins, Paul Nicholls made his now customary quiet start to the Festival, with none of his runners in the frame. Nicky Henderson, the last man before Mullins to saddle four winners in a day, was deprived of an early strike by a head in the mares’ hurdle.