Charlie McCarthy hopes Kopek Des Bordes can land opening race at Cheltenham

The Cheltenham Festival will dominate the sporting landscape next week and hopes are high down in Fermoy that Charlie McCarthy’s Kopek Des Bordes can land the opening race of the meeting. 

Of course, the race has been renamed the Michael O’Sullivan Supreme Novice Hurdle which is a lovely gesture by the Jockey Club and remembers the Lombardstown jockey's finest hour aboard Marine Nationale at the Cheltenham Festival in 2023. 

It will certainly make a victory all the sweeter for the McCarthy family while the fact that Paul Townend will ride the favourite makes this a hugely emotional opener for Cork punters.

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Winning any race at Cheltenham requires everything to go your way but Kopek Des Bordes is now odds-on favourite for the Supreme and excitement is building in north Cork according to his flamboyant owner. 

“There is great excitement all over the town of Fermoy and everywhere we go people are asking about the horse, the interest is unbelievable really," Charlie McCarthy said.

Whether it’s in the post Office, supermarket or just on the street, people are stopping me and the lads. 

"It’s fantastic for the family and to have a good one like this and living the dream with my four sons is unreal. 

"At the same time, we know having a favourite means nothing at Cheltenham so we have our feet very firmly on the ground at the same time. Preparations have gone really well so everyone is just buzzing to get there.” 

Jumps Racing has been dominated in recent times by a handful of owners, JP McManus, Michael O’Leary, Rich Ricci, Robcour and Cheveley Park Stud so the McCarthy family grabbed all the headlines at the Dublin Racing Festival when Kopek Des Bordes romped to a 13 length victory under a text-book ride from Paul Townend at Leopardstown. 

The joyous scenes in the parade ring afterwards and a brilliant interview by Charlie caught the imagination of the sporting public. 

I suppose it was a throwback to the old days when a small owner from Cork was taking on the big boys. There were some tears of joy and to have my four lads there in the parade ring was fantastic. 

"Paul was just so impressed with the horse and just said one word when he got down from him, WOW!"

The journey to the Cheltenham Festival has had many twists and turns and Charlie McCarthy has been a huge supporter of many sports in Cork including greyhound racing, horseracing and GAA. 

But horseracing was always a huge interest from early on.

“Michael ‘Trixie Barry was my best man and I returned the favour so we were always stuck in racing. 

"I have a horse called Chosen Witness with Willie Mullins and I got a notion to buy a second one. We went up to his yard and after seeing a few horses my eyes were drawn to Kopek Des Bordes and the cheque was signed on the spot. 

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"Following his victory in the bumper at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival we knew he was a bit special. 

"He won again over Christmas although he jumped poorly on a very foggy day. But he put it all together the last day and we go to Cheltenham with a great chance.” 

 While some pundits have raised the possibility of Kopek Des Bordes getting revved up or ‘boiling over’ in the preliminaries the Mullins team are masters at getting horses to settle on the big days and the French-bred is well-behaved at home. 

“Rachael Robbins looks after the horse at home and she really does an incredible job. 

"These people who look after the horses don’t really get enough credit. Kopek jumps well at home and is generally well-behaved so I have every confidence that they can get him to the start. 

"After that Paul Townend takes over and we will just hope for luck in running and everything goes to plan. 

"It would certainly a dream come true for all of us and we know all of Fermoy and Cork are behind us.“