‘Small and Mighty’: Il Etait Temps Bags Champion Chase Honours

[Wandering Eyes]

CHELTENHAM, UK — Craig Kieswetter has been a top-class sportsman in his own right but the former England and Somerset cricketer was emphatic in his assessment of what mattered most to him after his family's Il Etait Temps (Jukebox Jury) won the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase. 

“I'd rather win at Cheltenham than win a World Cup,” said the South African-born Kieswetter, who, with his parents Wayne and Belinda and brother Ross, owns Ridgemont Stud in South Africa's Western Cape as well as Barnane Stud in Ireland. 

Il Etait Temps, who races for Barnane Stud in partnership with Hollywood Racing, brought up a fifth Grade 1 victory in just two days for Willie Mullins, whose team, after a notably quieter season, is now once again rampaging through Prestbury Park. 

Already the winner of five Grade 1 races prior to Wednesday – at Aintree, Leopardstown, Punchestown and Sandown – the eight-year-old Il Etait Temps had made three previous appearances at the Cheltenham Festival, including when third in the Arkle Challenge Trophy, but he had made a rare blunder at Ascot in January when falling at the second-last in the Clarence House Chase. 

“He had probably not the most ideal preparation coming into it but we'll take it,” Kieswetter continued. “He's small but he's mighty, and he's given us a lot of surprises and a lot of joy. We're delighted.

“He's not the biggest, as we know, and I think a lot of stuff went in our favour today. The ground was perfect, conditions were perfect, and there were a few errors from a couple of the other horses in the race. We took advantage – nearly didn't – but sometimes there's no remarks in the school column and it's a Grade 1 win for the whole team at Cheltenham.”

That Cheltenham success added to a Group 1 win on the level for the Kieswetters with Urban Fox (Foxwedge) in the Pretty Polly Stakes, while they have also enjoyed a Royal Ascot victory courtesy of Candleford (Kingman).

He added, “It's great to do it with family and friends and be part of it. This is his fourth attempt at it so it's nice to get over the line.

“We've got a massive South African crowd here – a whole group of us – and it's a lot colder than Cape Town, but we are happy to stand in the cold with a result like that.”

Paul Townend has been aboard three of Mullins's Grade 1 winners this week, including the Champion Hurdle heroine Lossiemouth, and the trainer was full of praise for his ride on Il Etait Temps, who swept past L'Eau Du Sud (Lord Du Sud) and Quilixios (Maxios) two fences out and won with plenty in hand despite pecking badly on landing over the last.

Mullins said, “I thought Paul was very brave on him because he couldn't go the pace they were setting for the first mile. He sat and sat, and coming down the hill we could all see that the further he was going, the better he was going. I nearly had a heart attack at the last fence though, but the horse has come to himself at last.”

He added, “It probably took him 24 hours to recover when he came home from Ascot. You have to remember, he was a bit shaken and then he has to get on the ferry, which isn't what you'd do really, but it was what we did, and once he got home he settled into his own routine and he recovered quite quickly.

“He was always going to run in this race, but we had to get the old spark back into him. I think Paul said it, he doesn't need the hood anymore, so that was number one, and a few little tweaks at home after that, and we just galloped him a bit differently, a bit like Lossiemouth, and it's worked.”

With an embarrassment of equine riches at his disposal, Mullins had also saddled the odds-on favourite for the race, Majborough (Martinborough), whose jumping errors when in pole position saw him fade back through the field to finish seventh. 

He added, “Majborough was going so well at home, but then when he made that first little error, then the second one. He makes life hard for himself. We will have to wait and see. Hopefully there is a big one in him one day.”

Disappointment to Delight for Cobden  

They say a week is a long time in politics, but sometimes even 40 minutes can be a long time in horseracing. Harry Cobden, down and out after the G1 Turners Novices' Hurdle when favourite No Drama This End failed to fire and was pulled up, was in dreamland in the very next race when making all aboard Kitzbuhel (Cokoriko) in the G1 Brown Advisory Novices' Chase.

The chase fences tend to show Cobden at his finest, and his front-running ride was a masterclass in letting a horse find its rhythm and pop away with the minimal of interference. He had a more-than-able partner of course, as the six-year-old Kitzbuhel came to Cheltenham with two wins under his belt this season, including the G1 Kauto Star Novices' Chase on Boxing Day. The only blot on his landscape had been the unseating of Paul Townend when the pair contested the G1 Scilly Isles Novices' Chase on Kitzbuhel's most recent previous appearance, and it was that setback which doubtless saw him somewhat overlooked in the market.

“I thought No Drama This End was my best chance of the week and I had no luck at all – everywhere I went I got stopped, I was always too far back and could never win from the second hurdle,” said Cobden. “It's funny how 40 minutes changes your life.”

He added of Marie Donnelly's Kitzbuhel, “He's braver than I am, this little chap. Thank you to the owners and Willie Mullins for putting me on him. He's a phenomenal horse and I'm delighted to be on board.”

Day two started with two 11/1 winners for Mullins. Business as usual, then, bar the starting prices. King Rasko Grey (Galiway), the Goffs Arkle Sale-topper of 2023 at €250,000, took advantage of No Drama This End's lacklustre showing and went toe-to-toe with Act Of Innocence (My Dream Boat) from the turn for home, eventually pulling clear under Paul Townend after the last. Townend came close to making it a quick-fire double when Final Demand (Walk In The Park) chased Kitzbuhel home in the next to give Mullins a one-two in the Brown Advisory. 

“The price was the most striking thing,” said the trainer after King Rasko Grey's victory for Audrey Turley, whose Galopin Des Champs has been ruled out of attempting a third Gold Cup on Friday and will be sidelined for the remainder of the season.

“I couldn't believe it. People were asking me for one under the radar. I never dreamt he'd be anything like that. He was one that I thought had a really good chance. You never have a banker, coming to Cheltenham, but he was one I thought would certainly go close.

“It's great for the owners after the disappointment of Galopin Des Champs. Paul's sister Jodie, who is leading lady rider in Ireland, is leading him in as well, so it is a great day for them and for the Turleys.”

For all that Willie Mullins dominates the Cheltenham Festival, his success is spread around when it comes to his owners. Tuesday's Champion Hurdle went the way of his longtime supporters Rich and Susannah Ricci, and he claimed his second feature race of the week for the aforementioned Kieswetter family. For the Turley and Donnelly families – both successful on Wednesday – he has also trained the dual Gold Cup winners Galopin Des Champs and Al Boum Photo. Kenny Alexander, owner of Tuesday's Arkle winner Kargese, is a more recent but no less significant addition to the Mullins owners' list.

Keane a cross-code Grade 1 winner

If Willie Mullins can hop over to Del Mar to snatch a Breeders' Cup, then why not have Breeders' Cup-winning jockey Colin Keane on the podium at Cheltenham? 

The multiple champion Irish Flat jockey proved that he is just as adept at switching codes by winning the G1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper on his first ride at the Cheltenham Festival. Keane and The Mourne Rambler sprinted almost three lengths clear of a chasing pack led by €710,000 purchase Mets Ta Ceinture (Hunter's Light) in the race run in memory of Cheltenham Festival-winning breeder Sir Johnny Weatherby, who died in December.

 

Colin Keane salutes aboard The Mourne Rambler | Racingfotos

 

Keane, who delivered Noel Meade a first win in the Cheltenham bumper, confided after the race that he had proposed to his long-term girlfriend Kerri Lyons on Sunday and received a positive response. His second major win of the week, then, came at Cheltenham.

“It's a very special atmosphere here,” he said. “I've been fortunate enough to have some good days, but this is kind of a bucket-list thing to tick off, to ride here, let alone to ride a winner.

“The crowds are a different level to what we're used to. I know Ascot would be busy, but this is some atmosphere here. It was brilliant.”

Keane added, “When Noel rang me two weeks ago, it was an easy 'yes' if I could get the [National Hunt] licence sorted.”

The Mourne Rambler was the second Grade 1 winner for his sire Well Chosen this week. Now 27, the son of Sadler's Wells stands at Ireland's Kedrah House Stud and was also responsible for Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner Old Park Star. It has been a good Cheltenham Festival for descendants of Sadler's Wells so far.

His grandsons Camelot and Jukebox Jury – both sons of Montjeu – have been responsible for two winners apiece in Saratoga and Final Orders, and Holloway Queen and Il Etait Temps respectively. Another grandson, Great Pretender, is the sire of Champion Hurdler Lossiemouth as well as Jingko Blue, while yet another, Galiway, sired King Rasko Grey.

 

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