Female Jockey Blackmore Makes History At Cheltenham With Champion Hurdle Win ibtimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ibtimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The four-day horse racing spectacle in Gloucestershire is taking place behind closed doors for the first time
Pictures show empty spectator stands, abandoned car parks and deserted fields which are usually bustling
Some of the stands have this year been covered with sponsors flags to prevent the stands looking so empty
Last year, organisers were slammed for allowing event to go ahead despite fears of growing Covid outbreak
Updated / Tuesday, 16 Mar 2021
17:16
Vintage Clouds returned at 28-1
Vintage Clouds provided the first shock of the Festival, with a 28-1 victory in the Ultima Handicap Chase.
Sue Smith s grey, ridden by the Yorkshire yard’s Grand National-winning jockey Ryan Mania, was running in the opening handicap of the meeting for the fifth year in succession.
The 11-year-old’s best previous effort was second in 2019 – but this time, he took over on the final circuit and was never headed again.
Runner-up Happygolucky, the 100-30 favourite, and third-placed Aye Right both ran with great credit but never looked like pegging back the winner, beaten five and a half and a further two and a quarter lengths respectively.
Grand National-winning jockey Ryan Mania rode his first ever Cheltenham Festival winner on the Sue Smith-trained Vintage Clouds on Tuesday (16 March) – seven years after he announced his retirement from the sport at the age of 25. Mania was “enticed back” in October 2019, describing his first Festival winner in the grade three Ultima […]
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