Cheltenham Festival: Strong Cork connections as brilliant jockey Michael O'Sullivan is remembered

The Cheltenham festival has its own unique selling point that draws us back in droves to the Cotswolds every March.

I made my first visit to Cheltenham for the 1984 festival where I saw the iconic mare Dawn Run win the Champion Hurdle. On the eve of the 2025 festival, the excitement levels and anticipation that I experienced 41 years ago are still very prevalent. 

This year's festival has a sequence of subplots that will be both compelling and laced with emotion. The opening race will ensure that poignancy registers on the Richter Scale right across the Cotswolds.

The late Lombardstown jockey Michael O’Sullivan will be honoured with the opening race, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle to be run in his memory. 

Michael enjoyed his best day in the saddle when winning that race aboard Marine Nationale two years ago. He went on to land the Fred Winter on Gordon Elliott’s Jazzy Matty later that afternoon. 

Michael suffered a horrific fall at Thurles in early February and spent ten days in intensive care at Cork University Hospital. He sadly passed away in the early hours of Sunday, February 16. 

PINNACLE

Renaming the race that marked the pinnacle of his career is indeed a fitting tribute to such a talented young man who has left an indelible mark on all our lives. Tears and raw emotion will be a recurring theme on day one of this year’s festival.

From a Cork perspective, the opening race will be the subject of huge focus and scrutiny.

Charlie McCarthy’s Monabeg Investments own the brilliant Kopek Des Bordes, hot favourite for the Michael O'Sullivan Supreme Novice Hurdle. The Fermoy owner has arguably the most exciting young horse in training just now. 

He was a sensational winner of the Grade One Tattersalls Novice Hurdle at the DRF, which propelled him to favouritism for Tuesday's opener. 

The older generation of my ilk have compared him to the brilliant Golden Cygnet, the most impressive Supreme winner of them all back in 1978. How appropriate would it be for the race named after Michael O’Sullivan, that it could see Fermoy owners and Lisgoold jockey Paul Townend combine to start the 2025 festival with a script that might have been written in the stars...

We all remember the brilliant mare Dawn Run winning the 1984 Champion Hurdle. 

On Tuesday Gordon Elliott's Brighterdaysahead bids to replicate that great mare by winning the Champion Hurdle. Cork owners Joe and Marie Donnelly will hope that their State Man can retain his title. 

But this might be the match of the meeting between Constitution Hill and Brighterdaysahead.

Paul Townend is no stranger to creating history. If Galopin Des Champs wins a third consecutive Gold Cup on Friday, the Lisgoold jockey would leapfrog Pat Taaffe as the leading Gold Cup jockey with five victories. 

Townend has a really strong book of rides this week and is top-priced 2/5 to be the leading jockey at this year's festival.

Home By The Lee is again a strong contender for his Drimoleague owners Sean and Rose O'Driscoll in the Stayers Hurdle on Thursday. Sean had a near miss at Cheltenham in 2007 with Black Harry who fell when challenging Wichita Lineman, in the race now known as The Albert Bartlett. 

Home By The Lee has finished sixth, fifth and third previously in the Stayers. He has produced stunning victories in the Lismullen Hurdle and the Savills Hurdle this season. He remains the biggest threat to the reigning champion Teahupoo.