Thursday 17th March
Venetia Williams saddles her second winner at The Festival in 2022 and eighth overall as 40-1 chance Chambard wins the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Handicap Chase a 3m 2f contest for amateur riders.
Chambard defeats 5-1 Joint-Favourite Mistrer Coffey by two and a half lengths with Didero Vallis (66-1), also trained by Williams, another length away in third.
It is a first Festival victory for amateur jockey Lucy Turner, 29. Her father, Philip Turner, was Venetia's head lad for 24 years but is now retired. Lucy started working for Venetia full-time in 2009 and had been riding out there for a couple of years before that.
Winning trainer Venetia Williams said:
“It was amazing to watch and such a thrill. I’m so pleased for David (Shaw, owner) because he’s been so patient with this horse and at the ripe old age of 10 now he’s finally showing the form we thought he might be capable of. I’m so pleased for Lucy too.
“I’m delighted for the guys with Didero Vallis as well, because he hasn’t been putting his best foot forward of late and if you’re going to put blinkers on you wait for the Cheltenham Festival. He ran in the Grand Military and didn’t go a yard – he was having a laugh!”
Successful jockey Lucy Turner said:
“It’s absolutely unbelievable. It’s what you dream of. To ride any winner at Cheltenham - but for it to be at the Festival is amazing. You dream about it from when you’re a little girl, but in the past few years, when you get some better opportunities, you hope maybe one day. I’d have been happy for it to be at the hunter chase meeting - this definitely tops that!
“I knew that if they went a good gallop early, Chambard would probably take the first circuit to warm up, that’s normally how he runs his races, so I left it up to him. He told me where he wanted to go and when he wanted to go, and I just went with him. All the way down the back he was tanking and jumping from fence to fence, but it’s such a long way, even turning in you’ve got two fences and a hill, but he just kept finding for me, whatever I asked.
“Walking back in was incredible - I can’t really describe it.
“Coming into the meeting a lot of our horses were still running well [if not winning], so to have the week we’ve had, yes, it’s absolutely amazing, but the team at home work so hard - it’s great for them and great for David and Carol Shaw [Chambord’s owners] who have been huge supporters of mine. It’s great to repay them with such a success.
“Venetia’s faith in me puts confidence in your riding, and you ride better for it.
“I’m sure we will be down at the local pub again tonight. We’re not going to miss an opportunity like this!"
Nicky Henderson, trainer of runner-up Mister Coffey, said:
“He always wanted to do two things -one was to go three miles and the other was to go left-handed. He was as straight as a gun barrel today.
“He might finally be my Grand National horse. That was his first try at three miles and he has stayed all the way. He has run a great race.
“This is a tank of a horse. He didn’t touch a fence today. He got tight at the last but apart from that he was impeccable.
“He is stays and jumps so he could well be my Aintree horse if Lady Bamford allows it. He is still a maiden over fences and if there is a good race over fences worth winning then we will go for it. But we might leave him as a novice and try win the National Hunt Chase next year.”
Sam Waley-Cohen, rider of runner-up Mister Coffey, said:
“It was a brilliant run as he nearly got brought down at the second. He has shown the courage to be in a race like this as he has never been in one like this before.
“He jumped really nicely but he just fluffed the last and that was expensive for us. The horse in front run a great race and stayed really well but we couldn’t get any closer to him.
“He was travelling so well I was trying to fill him up as we hadn’t been over that sort of distance before, so it was into the unknown territory.
“I thought I had the one in front of me covered and I would fill him up and take my time with him, but he just didn’t quite do it.”
Harry Swan, rider of fourth-placed Fakir D’Alene, said:
“He jumped brilliantly the whole way through. He just missed the last and I thought he would have been second if he had jumped the last. He is a lovely horse to look forward to. He was really tough today. We should get a nice bit of enjoyment out of him. It didn’t go to plan for him at Leopardstown but it was good to see himself again. He loves a bit of light in his races and he really enjoyed that.”
