WITH the Cheltenham Festival now 15 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.
Quevega won an incredible six times at the Festival
Number 15: Quevega
She may have been pint-sized, but she had the heart of a lion.
Where do you start with a mare like Quevega?
The winning-most horse in the history of the Cheltenham Festival announced herself to the Festival faithful in 2009.
And she did it in style, landing a plunge in the betting and scooting clear to win the Mares’ Hurdle, then a Grade 2, by 14 lengths virtually on the bit.
Impressive though she was, no one would have expected her to prove utterly dominant against her own sex for the next five years.
She would prove incredibly fragile and difficult to keep sound. But year in, year out, her genius trainer Willie Mullins would have her cherry ripe when it mattered.
She won by four and a half lengths in 2010 and 10 lengths the year after, while she was barely out of second gear to make it a fantastic four in 2012.
But punters were left with their hearts in their mouths in 2013.
She was badly hampered when trying to close four out and found herself with plenty of ground to make up turning in.
But as soon as she levelled up for home, the afterburners came on and she swooped through to net a fabulous fifth.
And you could barely hear a pin-drop as she returned in 2014 in a bid to win for an unprecedented sixth time at the Festival.
She looked in trouble for much of the race, but she found and found and found off the bridle.
She still looked like coming off second best over the last, but the tens of thousands on course roared her up the hill and helped lift her across the line in front.
There was pandemonium – and plenty of tears – in the stands. A true Cheltenham great who still gets the hairs on the back of the neck standing on end.
