Rich Ricci appeared a broken man in the aftermath of the Mares Hurdle, when his hopes of victory were dashed at the final flight for the second time in four years. His pink and green colours, carried by the hot favourite Benie Des Dieux, seemed on their way to the winner’s enclosure as the mare went clear of her rivals off the home turn, but she met the flight on a long stride, jumped big and crumpled on landing.
It was a remarkable, almost eerie echo of the same race in 2015, when Ricci’s Annie Power fell in almost exactly the same manner with the race at her mercy. That became one of the most famous, most bitterly regretted tumbles in the sport’s long history, for all that the mare emerged unscathed, because she was the final leg in a multitude of accumulator bets and her blunder was reckoned to save the bookmakers tens of millions.
Benie Des Dieux’s race was not nearly so crucial to anyone’s bottom line but she was odds-on and any losing favourite at the Festival is the cause of dismay to many. On the other hand, defeat for Ricci was evidently a cause of schadenfreude in some, following the wildly unpopular news last week that a bookmaking firm of which he was executive chairman was to close and would merely refund long‑term bets rather than settling any winners in full.
He was tackled on that subject in an ITV interview, moments after ascertaining that Benie Des Dieux and her jockey, Ruby Walsh, were unharmed. Asked if he would do anything differently in relation to BetBright’s closure, he said: “No. I think the directors acted in the interests of all of their shareholders, stakeholders, customers, creditors, whatever. The directors of the company, of which I’m not one – however, I was supportive of the actions they took – acted in the best interests of what they could.
“Listen, no one feels good about it. It’s a typical situation that happens in business. People have lost their jobs, people have lost money. There’s no profit gained by anyone else. It’s just a difficult situation, we tried to do the best for everyone we could.”
That, however, is unlikely to satisfy those who had long-term football bets which appeared likely to pay out thousands of pounds, for which they will now merely have their stakes returned. The Gambling Commission is considering whether it should act.
Ricci has had many fine days at past Festivals but this was a difficult one, his Sharjah having been brought down by a faller in the Champion Hurdle. He will have other chances this week, including with Min in the Champion Chase on Wednesday.
Ricci’s trainer, Willie Mullins, at least had the consolation of having had the first two winners on this card. The trainer said of Benie Des Dieux: “She ran a cracker. Just slipped over the last, unfortunately. She wasn’t able to organise herself. We get lots of fallers during the year. It’s just part of jump racing, unfortunately. It’s disappointing to be that far in front in a Grade One race and have that happen. But we’ve had great luck today already.”
It was also a difficult day for Davy Russell, top jockey at the Festival last year but out of luck on Tuesday. He was suspended for two days for failing to respond after the Arkle when a vet asked him to take another turn on Hardline, so as to facilitate an inspection of the horse, who had finished down the field. The horse was uninjured.
