Dingle man Jack Kennedy is due to compete for the Champion Hurdle tomorrow, March, Tuesday 11 with Brighter days ahead against Constitution Hill.
As the pinnacle of National Hunt Racing, The Cheltenham Racing Festival returns tomorrow, Irish racing fans are happy to see Jack Kennedy is back to flying form.
Kennedy humbly said he is “more hopeful than confident,” but “looking forward to the Champion Hurdle, there’s very good horses in it and she (Brighter days ahead) is going to have to improve to be winning so hopefully she can.”
Speaking on his recovery process, Kennedy said it has been “a lot of hard work but it’s all gone smoothly”.
Kennedy has come a long way from his win at the 2014 Dingle Races with Coola Boola. Reflecting on his past achievements Kennedy said “winning the Gold Cup or being Champion Jockey” have been his most memorable moments.
Previous Limerick Voice reporter Mark Boylan, who now works with The Irish Field, looks ahead to the biggest week in National Hunt racing.
Mark has covered the meeting for the last four years and has just descended in Cheltenham.
Speaking on Jack Kenndy’s comeback following his sixth leg break, Boylan said, “It’s unheard-of stuff what he’s been able to do in a short time. And incredibly, he’s done it against the backdrop of so many injuries as well, and his mental strength to keep coming back”.
“Jack Kennedy is a generation of talent. For what he’s achieved so far in his life at the age of 25, he’s ridden 48 winners at the highest level in national race,” said Boylan.
The race for the Prestbury Cup
Boylan said there is a multifaceted reason as to why Irish horses have started to dominate the festival in recent years. “20 or 30 years ago you would have struggled to have one or two Irish winners at Cheltenham. Now we’re in a scenario where in 2021 there were 23 Irish winners of the 28 races, so it’s really turned on its head”.
He said that Ireland has always produced good horses, but in the past trainers had to sell them to English owners to keep their business going, now they can keep their horses in Ireland with Irish trainers because of the financial landscape of racing.
“It’s nice that we can allow those horses to win and run the green flag this week.”
The Cheltenham Festival has seen a great rivalry between the home team of British-trained runners and those crossing the Irish Sea for many years. To celebrate this rivalry, the competition between the two countries is officially titled The Prestbury Cup.
It will run from tomorrow, Tuesday 11 March until either country has 14 winners or more.
Speaking about an article published by The Times where British trainer Dan Skelton expressed confidence in his approach to counter the Irish challenge, Boylan said “Dan Skelton is one of the most respected trainers in Britain, he’s a very feared guy to come and take on. I think he’ll have a good week, but do I think he’s going to have as good a week as Willie Mullins or Gordon Elliot? I’m not sure”.
Reflecting on 2023, when Rachel Blackmore and Honeysuckle won the Champion Hurdle, Boylan said “That was just one of those amazing days. This place has the potential to do that.”
The late Michael O’Sullivan will be honoured at the Cheltenham Festival with the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle to be run in his memory.