WITH the Cheltenham Festival now 46 days away, the Sun Racing team will be bringing you their ‘Festival 50’ every day between now and 10 March.
We will salute the Prestbury Park heroes that made us fall in love with the Festival, all the way until the ‘Cheltenham roar’ signals that the wait is finally over.
My Tent Or Yours (right) was retired in 2018
Number 46: My Tent Or Yours
If ever a racehorse was synonymous with the agony of near-misses it was this Nicky Henderson hero.
A Champion Hurdle second is hard to take, but three, that’s the bitterest of pills.
Despite his run of seconds in 2014, 2016 and 2017, punters and racing folk adored this character. None could claim to be as fond as Henderson – who was always chief of the fan club – and yard legend Corky Browne, but this horse built a rapport only a select few equine stars do.
His first crack at the race was his best shot and the most agonising of all. It was billed as the race of the season and went a way to delivering.
Coming into the Tuesday feature, with four wins on the spin – including Grade 1 wins in the Fighting Fifth and Christmas Hurdle – My Tent Or Yours was sent off a 3-1 shot. Willie Mullins superstar and defending champ Hurricane Fly was the 11-4 favourite.
For a Champion Hurdle, the field was relatively small, and after the sad fall of Our Conor, it was clear from then that it would be the JP McMaus trio versus the pre-race favourite. It was set up perfectly.
Turning in the four of them could be split by a fag paper, while The New One was unluckily a few lengths off the pace after the mess caused by the Our Conor fall.
AP McCoy sat pretty on My Tent Or Yours, as did Barry Geraghty on Jezki. Both travelled supremely and it was to be a dual between the two JP-owned stars.
It was some ending. Hurricane Fly didn’t finish with his usual zest, but Jezki and My Tent Or Yours went eyeball-to-eyeball from the last up the hill under a deafening roar.
An untidy leap cost AP some ground and despite his best efforts, he was never able to get his nose in front. Jezki was the winner. Maybe next time…
But there was to be no repeat in 2015 as injury kept him sidelined, whilst in 2016 and 2017 he ran into wondermare Annie Power and Buveur D’Air respectably.
The best to never win a Champion Hurdle? I’ll let you be the judge…
