The streets of Chatham ahead of rivals in Cheltenham

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Chatham Street Boy achieved an impressive Caspian Caviar Gold Cup winner at Cheltenham, giving jockey Darragh O’Keeffe the greatest success of his career.

Trained by Mick Winters, the eight-year-old had won two of his last three, but seemed like a class apart as he climbed the hill.

O’Keeffe always looked confident as he moved into a challenging position down the hill, with Gold Cup winner Paddy Power, Coole Cody, Benatar, Master Tommytucker and Midnight Shadow still in contention.

Landing ahead in the penultimate, however, the Irish challenger ran away and absolutely blew the final hurdle.

The 16-1 chance beat Midnight Shadow by 15 lengths, with that in turn well ahead of Benatar and Good Boy Bobby in fourth place.

Winters said: “He was excellent, he was also a local rider. Lately he has gone down to school on horseback and the horse has improved.

“The owners have always had horses and they have a couple of pubs locally and things like that. To be fair, it won well in Cork (last time). This is spectacular.

“I would be very humble about it. The races are very special and the horses are treated with a lot of kindness and people don’t realize it. It would be great to give something back as we are passing through.

“He was confident that we would do the impossible. Once he passed the last fence, he was hopeful after that. He is not flat breed, he was bred for National Hunt, so they bought him and he will continue to develop.

“I don’t know where we would go next, but hopefully we could be back here or at Aintree. He played a couple of jumps and missed a few hurdles here and there, but I asked the rider and he said he got right.”

Winters chose to celebrate his first Cheltenham winner in an unusual way, by rolling in the paddock.

He explained: “I said if I win, I would like the pig to throw me in the mud because that’s what the pig does, so I had to back off.

“We came here for the Foxhunters years ago and ended up in the middle division. We all dream of the Foxhunters, but today it’s been a bit difficult, so you dream of these races.”

O’Keeffe was also getting his first win at Cheltenham, adding: “It was amazing.

“The only thing I thought might disappoint him was that he jumped a little bit, and he did sometimes today. He was a little green.

“He traveled like a dream, he made some mistakes, but when I wanted to, it was amazing.

“When Micky Winters comes to England, you have to take it seriously because when he has the ammunition he can train them very well. I am very grateful to him for giving me the opportunity.

“We thought it would run well, but we didn’t think it would. It’s brilliant.

“When I was a kid, I remember seeing Ruby Walsh, Tony McCoy, Barry Geraghty and everyone going up the hill and I always hoped that at some point in my career I could ride a winner here. It’s amazing,” he told ITV. Careers.

There was a second Irish winner on the card as Do good (12-1) faced a step forward in travel and class with poise as he cruised through the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.

Trained by John McConnell, who won the cross country event on Friday with Some Neck, Make Good had run more than two miles to date, but made the jump to three this time on the proving ground.

Danny Kirwan and Took The Lot set just a steady pace, which meant all runners still had a shot with half a mile to go.

However, the low sun forced the obstacle to be skipped on the home straight and before it was overlooked, Make Good and Richard Johnson had cleared.

He was left to beat Pats Fancy by seven lengths, with Ask A Honey Bee in third place.

“He was a bit unknown on the trip, but he won more than a mile and six stadiums at Flat on heavy in October,” Johnson said.

“John said he was pretty sure he wanted at least two and a half. He happens to have overcome two hurdles so far, he just said the three was a bit unknown.

“On this terrain we weren’t going to go too fast, so at least it wasn’t hard work. He’s a very tough and easy horse and he did it very well.”



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