Rachael Blackmore has a long list of achievements to her name during one of the great riding careers over jumps, including wins in the Grand National and Gold Cup and the leading jockey’s prize at the Festival in March. But she has not, as yet, ridden a winner over the cross-country course at Cheltenham – a minor gap on her record that another Gold Cup winner, Minella Indo may help her to address.
Minella Indo, who took steeplechasing’s championship race in 2021, was only fourth behind Latenightpass on his first outing over the course’s unusual range of obstacles at Cheltenham on Friday. But few horses win first time up on this track, and those that adapt to the challenge tend to improve significantly for the experience.
Latenightpass is an obvious example, having finished a strong second on his cross-country debut in November before being steered to a comfortable four-length victory by Gina Andrews on Friday. But he was getting 20lb from Minella Indo, who was around six lengths behind him at the line after making eye-catching progress from the rear of the field in the final three-quarters of a mile.
“He ran super, really good,” Blackmore said. “The schooling that we’d done at home [at Henry de Bromhead’s yard], we were hoping that he’d put in a jumping performance like that. He had to carry a lot of weight, so I thought it was a really good run.
“He took to the fences really well and it was a very enjoyable ride around them. He was definitely competitive from the second-last, but it’s a long way up the hill. Henry and the Maloneys [Minella Indo’s owners] will decide [on whether to run at level weights in the Festival’s cross-country race in March] but I very much enjoyed riding him, anyway.”
Latenightpass, meanwhile, seems sure to return for the Festival’s cross-country event, but Dan Skelton, his trainer, knows that life will be more difficult at level weights. His major target is therefore likely to be April’s Grand National at Aintree, where he won the Foxhunters’ over the National fences in 2022. “It’s blindingly obvious [to aim for the National],” Skelton said. “I wouldn’t say he was superior [today] as you have the likes of Galvin and Minella Indo, who you’d meet off level weights at the Festival, but I think it’s very acceptable to run against them [in March] without the expectation that you are going to beat them.
“Silver Birch ran in the cross-country before winning the Grand National [in 2007]. I’m not saying we should be favourite for the Grand National, but I think he more than deserves his chance.”
Earlier on the card, Ginny’s Destiny made all the running in the two-and-a-half-mile novice chase, finding a little more for Harry Cobden whenever an opponent attempted to challenge and eventually finishing three-quarters of a length in front of the fast-finishing Grey Dawning.
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