| Cheltenham Festival 2022 |
|---|
| Dates: March 15-18 Campus: Cheltenham Racecourse Races: 13:30-17:30 GMT Main race: 15:30 |
| Coverage: Commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, feature live Radio 5 races. Racecards, live text, results and reports on the BBC Sport website and app. |
Tiger Roll was denied a fairy tale farewell at the Cheltenham Festival by his partner Delta Work in an extraordinary Cross Country Chase.
The two-time Grand National winner looked poised for a record sixth Festival win, but fell behind by three-quarters of a length.
Some spectators booed jockey Jack Kennedy when he returned with the winner.
But the two horses entered the winners’ enclosure together when Tiger Roll was encouraged to leave.
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“I’ve won at Cheltenham and I’m disappointed,” said Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, whose Gigginstown House Stud owns both horses.
“We blew up the dream. Tiger Roll is a warrior. He came out with his coat of arms and he is the horse of a lifetime”.
In the 45th race of his career, the heavy terrain seemed to have gone against Gordon Elliott-trained Tiger Roll.
O’Leary said before the race that anyone supporting him “needed to have their heads examined.”
However, the diminutive gelding, with the heart of a lion, put on a typically gutsy performance and nearly added a fourth cross-country victory to victories at Cheltenham in the Triumph Hurdle and National Hunt Chase.
Davy Russell’s mount came out on top at 24 of 32 hurdles, but Delta Work, on their first attempt over the Cross Country hurdles, inched closer and pulled ahead 200 yards from the line.
“He went down fighting. Sure, it’s fantastic,” said Russell, who rode him to both of his national wins in 2018 and 2019.
Kennedy said he understood the taunts but was delighted to have won.
“Obviously everyone would have loved to see Tiger Roll win, but you can’t take my horse away from him either,” he said.
“I thought I was always going to get there. I knew I could be the most hated man in Cheltenham on Wednesday night if I won.”
Kennedy missed the chance to race last year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Minella Indo in Friday’s feature race when O’Leary said Delta Work would be her Gold Cup runner before changing her mind.
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