Cheltenham Festival: Saint Roi continues Barry Geraghty and JP McManus dominance in County Hurdle
Friday 13 March 2020 15:00, UK
Saint Roi was an authoritative winner of the Randox Health County Hurdle as Barry Geraghty rode his fifth winner of the 2020 Cheltenham Festival.
The 11/2 shot was only running for the fourth time over hurdles but belied his inexperience with a fine turn of foot after the last hurdle in a race dominated by his trainer Willie Mullins.
Mullins, who was fortunate to win the opening Triumph Hurdle with Burning Victory, trained the winner as well as the runner-up Aramon and fourth-placed Buildmeupbuttercup.
It was the fifth winner of the week for jockey and trainer, but both are two behind winning owner JP McManus, who now has seven trophies to take back to Ireland including the Champion Hurdle (Epatante) and the RSA Chase (Champ).
Aramon (8/1) stuck on well to take second in a three-way finish with Gordon Elliott's Embittered back in third at 14/1 ahead of 16/1 shot Buildmeupbuttercup, who cruised into the last flight but didn't quite get up the hill.
Geraghty said: "It's what you dream of, you come here and one winner is all you want. It's brilliant when they keep coming.
"There's no doubt about it, it's a privileged position to ride such good horses for good people and it is a pleasure. It's a fun game in this sport, I enjoy it."
Mullins added: "I enjoyed that a bit more than the last one. It was a proper race - he is a good horse. We were very lucky to win the last one.
"Barry is riding out of his skin. I said to JP on Monday evening we might have one for you. This fellow did a lovely bit of work during the week and I think he said to me he wouldn't back him in case he stopped him.
"He did what he showed me in his final bit of work the other day, which was way better than before, and Barry executed the job fantastic.
"They all arrived down at the second last with fighting chances and you wouldn't know which one to back. He is better than that, but he was handicapped nicely - I thought we had enough ammunition for the Supreme, but there we are."
