sport news ED CHAMBERLIN: Ballyburn will get hats flying in the air when he competes in ... trends now
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Nothing lights a fire in the Cheltenham crowd quite like the horse who arrives here carrying the mantle of ‘Irish Banker’.
It always seems to be race one on day two — on Wednesday it is called the Gallagher’s Novice Hurdle — when they are unleashed. As I write this, I’m thinking back to Danoli and Istabraq in the 1990s, Faugheen, Samcro and Envoi Allen more recently. The hairs on my neck are standing up.
Those victories —costly for the bookmakers, riotously received in the stands — sparked some of the greatest scenes in the history of this place. The course commentator has a role to play in the sporting theatre and can have the Cheltenham congregation in the palm of his hand.
This brings us to the latest renewal. Can you imagine as the field free-wheels down the hill to the third last hurdle and he exclaims: ‘Just look to the looming presence of Paul Townend! He’s poised and hasn’t moved a muscle on Ballyburn!’
The place will erupt.
Ballyburn has been heavily backed and I just don't see him being beaten on Wednesday
Paul Townend rode Lossiemouth to victory on Day One and will hope for another on Ballyburn
Ballyburn thrashed Slade Steele last month - who on Tuesday won the Supreme Novices' Hurdle ridden by Rachael Blackmore for her 15th Cheltenham Festival triumph (above)
Ballyburn has been backed at all rates down to prohibitive odds. I don’t for a second see him being beaten and that opinion was solidified after Slade Steel — who he thrashed at Leopardstown at the start of February — won the Supreme Novices Hurdle for Rachael Blackmore on Tuesday.
A quick word on that: we could not have asked for a better start to the meeting on ITV than seeing Rachael returning to the winner’s enclosure with a beaming smile and the only thing that bettered the day for me was interviewing
