No finish will ever be dull so long as Might Bite is in the race. The star novice chaser injected wholly unnecessary drama into the RSA Chase, which he ought to have won by about 20 lengths, stopping almost to a walk on the run-in and then rallying when passed by a rival, and retrieving victory in the final stride with about an inch to spare.
Did fatigue have anything to do with that, his jockey, Nico De Boinville, was asked? We have all seen steeplechasers rolling around drunkenly as they struggle to ascend this famous hill after three miles at top speed. But the emphatic answer was no, that’s not what happened here. Instead Might Bite was establishing his credentials as “a bit of a thinker”, the polite euphemism used by racing people when the owners are within earshot.
“You thought he’d done it all well and then he goes and does that!” said the winning trainer, Nicky Henderson, who could have been sanguine, since he also trains Whisper, the other horse involved in the photo-finish. In fact the Lambourn man seemed somewhere between thrilled and appalled. “What do you make of it all? This place has extraordinary tricks and layers and there was another one. He looked for all the world as if he’d thrown it away.”
De Boinville, the jockey who kept his position in the saddle despite Might Bite hammering the final fence, said his mount had been looking for the chute that leads off the track back towards the racecourse stables. “He’s just seen the entrance there, lost concentration and then he’s like, ‘Right, I am going home’.”
Extraordinarily, Might Bite did almost exactly the same thing in a low-profile novice hurdle at this track in April 2015, slowing down against De Boinville’s urgings and choosing to go forward once more only after a rival had gone past. He did it at the same point on the track and, as on this occasion, pulled victory out of the fire.
“He’s such a talented horse and he’s very special but we just have to deal with the fact that he’s a bit of a thinker sometimes,” the jockey said. “He’s so slick over his fences and he’s so economical and he travels so well. He’s a conundrum.”
De Boinville sees similarities between Might Bite and Coneygree, his Gold Cup winner of 2015, in that both go off in front and make their rivals struggle to stay in touch. Asked if Might Bite could be aimed at the Gold Cup, the rider responded: “Oh, without doubt. He’s got so much talent and ability, you’ve got to go down that route. You just hope that he matures and gets those ideas out of his head.”
Thrillseekers can get 12-1 about Might Bite winning next year’s Gold Cup, which is not a bad price about such a classy beast. On the other hand online gamblers made him a 39-1 shot about five strides from the line on this occasion.
Gordon Elliott continues to have the kind of Festival that Willie Mullins used to enjoy, a double on day two taking him to five wins. “Can’t believe it, it’s brilliant,” the Irishman said. Asked which horses he was most looking forward to over the remaining two days, he said: “I’m looking forward to getting a comfortable pair of shoes on me and going for a few pints.”
Cause Of Causes won the Cross Country Chase for Elliott, becoming only the fourth horse to win three races at the Festival, a distinction he shares with Flyingbolt, Bobs Worth and Vautour. He may now go for the Grand National next month, having finished well from too far back when eighth in the Aintree race two years ago.
Elliott also scored with Fayonagh, who passed a dozen horses in the final furlong of the Champion Bumper. Both Elliott’s winners were partnered by the amateur Jamie Codd, who now shares first position with De Boinville and Noel Fehily in the race to be top jockey at the Festival.
Lizzie Kelly missed a golden opportunity to break her Festival duck when choosing the wrong horse in the Fred Winter. Her stepfather, Nick Williams, let her have the pick of his two runners and she went with Diable De Sivola, eventually fifth, rather than Flying Tiger, who finished strongly under Richard Johnson to get up by a neck.
Kelly will get a shot at greater glory on Thursday aboard Tea For Two in the Gold Cup but Williams did not exude confidence. “Obviously we hope he’s going to run a good race but it’s a stamina test, isn’t it? That’s the problem,” he said.
Mark Walsh taken to hospital after horse killed
One horse was killed during racing at the Festival on Wednesday, Consul De Thaix taking a crashing fall at the first hurdle in the back straight and sustaining a fatal injury, believed to be a broken neck. The Nicky Henderson-trained five-year-old, who had completed all five of his previous races, appeared to take off a stride early and met the hurdle coming down.
Both the horse and his jockey, Mark Walsh, were then kicked by other runners in the day’s opening race, the Neptune Novice Hurdle. Walsh was taken to hospital with suspected concussion which, if confirmed, would prevent him from race‑riding for at least six days.
He is expected to take no further part in this Festival, according to Frank Berry, racing manager to the owner JP McManus. That means new jockeys will be required for two leading fancies in Thursday’s feature races, Uxizandre in the Ryanair and Jezki in the Stayers’ Hurdle, as well as More Of That in the Gold Cup on Friday. Robbie Power is thought most likely to take the Jezki ride.
There was better news about Edwulf, whose life appeared at risk after he collapsed on the run-in after the National Hunt Chase on Tuesday, suffering what one of his connections described as a seizure. The horse was reported to be “up and about, eating and drinking” at a local veterinary centre, with no obvious indication of ill health.
To promote the safety of the participants over the remaining two days of this Festival, six to eight millimetres of water was due to be put down on the track, with action switching to the New Course. “The New Course is significantly quicker than the Old,” Cheltenham’s Simon Claisse said. “It was good, good to soft in places this morning but some of the good is pretty well good to firm now.
“We want to ease conditions to a mix of good and good to soft, with the aim of getting us through the next two days without the need to water again.”
