Irish jockeys out on their own in jumps game

THERE ARE two weeks of the year when it proves costly to answer your phone or to read a text message: one is Christmas week at Leopardstown, the other is festival week at Cheltenham.

You’re assured of more bankers and more sure things in those two weeks than at any other time of the year and, although the temptation time after time is to keep your wallet firmly in your pocket or divert the computer mouse away from betting websites, there’s also the fact sport is intended to grip your heart as well as your soul and there are times you are better off immersing yourself in the whole occasion.

Cheltenham is such an occasion, and the world and its mother knows that the Denman-Kauto Star duel – if that is how it should turn out – will prove captivating and definitive in determining which is the greatest steeplechaser of its generation. Aside from the head-to-head in the Gold Cup, though, this Cheltenham festival offers a host of intriguing battles among horses and men.

Can Dunquib justify such hot favouritism in the Supreme Novices Hurdle? What of the fitness doubts around Binocular and Solwhit in the Champion Hurdle? How will the battle between market leaders Captain Cee Bee, Somersby, Sizing Europe and Riverside Theatre in the Arkle Chase pan out?

While the answers to all these questions will be supplied at one stage or another in due course, it is worth noting the special place Irish jockeys hold in National Hunt. Of course, Ruby Walsh, a genius at work when it comes to getting a horse across the line, is so supreme coming into the festival every major bookmaker has him odds-on to finish up as the leading jockey. But it is testimony to the all-round strength of Irish jump jockeys that his two nearest challengers for such an honour are Barry Geraghty and Tony McCoy.

All of which says an awful lot about the high standards Irish jump jockeys set in this most demanding of sporting professions.

One certainty about the upcoming festival is this will be the last time the Smurfit Kappa group will be the title sponsors of the Champion Hurdle. Just as they did when sponsoring golf’s European Open on the European Tour (a deal which ended a couple of years ago) when transforming an ailing tournament into a flagship event on the European circuit, Smurfit succeeded in heightening the appeal of the great race, unquestionably helped by the fact the legendary Istabraq flourished during the company’s tenure. Their departure as title sponsor of the race is a further reminder, if it were needed, of the economic times we live in.