Cheltenham Festival 2021: Minella Indo wins the Gold Cup – as it happened

• 5.04pm GMT17:04 Gold Cup day round-up
• 4.59pm GMT16:59 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle (4.50) result
• 4.58pm GMT16:58 Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle (4.50)
• 4.53pm GMT16:53 Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle (4.40)
• 4.52pm GMT16:52 Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle (4.40)
• 4.44pm GMT16:44 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle (4.50) betting
• 4.38pm GMT16:38 Festival jockeys' championship

And so ends another Festival, with Minella Indo taking the big prize of the week in the hands of Jack Kennedy to give Henry De Bromhead the holy trinity of Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup.

De Bromhead saddled the first two home, with leading Festival jockey Rachael Blackmore making her only mistake of an otherwise fantastic week in electing to ride A Plus Tard ahead of his stable rival.

The day began with Blackmore romping to her sixth victory of the week on board Quilixios in the JCB Triumph Hurdle. Her compatriot Kevin Sexton booted home his first ever Festival winner with a fine ride on the Kevin Fahey-trained outsider Belfast Banter in the County Handicap Hurdle, while Irish trainer Gavin Cromwell saddled his second winner in as many days when Vanillier won the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle under Mark Walsh.

He got the leg up in place of the luckless Jonathan Moore, who missed out on two high profile winners this week after doing the honourable thing and standing himself down through injury yesterday morning.

Porlock Bay was the surprise winner of the Hunters Chase under Lorcan Williams, while Willie Mullins trained the winner of the first ever Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase in Colreevy, ridden by Paul Townend. Galopin Des Champs won the final race of the day, the Martin Pipe conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle. The final score: Irish trainers: 23-5 English trainers. That is a slaughter that is likely to prompt no end of handwringing among English horseracing folk.

Leading trainer: While Henry De Bromhead – who saddled the winners of the Champions Hurdle, Champions Chase and Gold Cup – may beg to differ, that win means that once again, Willie Mullins takes the trophy for leading trainer at the Festival.

1 Galopin Des Champs (S F O’Keeffe) 8-12 Langer Dan (Lorcan Williams) 13-23 Floueur (Paul O’Brien) 33-14 Whatsupwithyou (Luca Morgan) 33-122 ranAlso: 4-1 Fav Gentleman De MeeNon Runners: 8,10,23CSF: 54.84Tricast: 1672.37

The technical gremlins finally take over in the last race of the Festival, so apologies for the loss of transmission. I can tell you that WIllie Mullins has taken the final race of the Festival. Gallopin Des Champs has won the Martin Pipe under Sean O’Keefe.

Gentleman De Mee leads over the third last with Simon Torrans in the plate, with Langer Dan making progress ...

Gentelman De Mee leads them along with his main rival in the betting market having come a cropper. The field is tightly bunched at halfway ...

Away they go for the final race of the Festival and Gabynako has unseated after being hampered by a faller whose name I didn’t get ....

• Gentleman De Mee – 3/1
• Gabynako – 4/1
• Galopin Des Champs – 8/1
• Langer Dan – 17/2
• Folcano – 12/1
• Fire Attack – 12/1
• Fronal Assault – 14/1
• Martinhal – 25/1
• Commandingpresence – 25/1
• Leoncavallo – 25/1
• Mill Green – 33/1
• Eglantine Du Seuil – 33/1
• Floueur – 33/1
• Dallas Des Pictons – 40/1
• Dream Berry – 50/1
• Adjali – 66/1
• Whatsupwithyou – 66/1
• First Lord De Cuet – 66/1
• Armour de Nuit – 66/1
• And the New – 100/1
• Fabulous Saga – 100/1
• Golden Taipan – 125/1
• Clondaw Cian – 150/1
• Dolciano Dici – 200/1
• View on Oddschecker

With just one race for conditional jockeys remaining, here’s how it panned out over the week for their senior colleagues.

• Rachael Blackmore: 6 winners
• Jack Kennedy: 4
• Paul Townend: 3

Greg Wood

Anyone who is in front after 27 races can kick back and let this one pass (as if). The rest of us are pretty much obliged to make one final stab at the “getting out” race, which offers up no end of possibilities.

Gavin Cromwell’s Gabynako is the one for money this morning, and threatens to overtake the Willie Mullins-trained Gentleman De Mee at the top of the market at some stage, but desperate situations call for desperate measures and I’m going to take a very small each-way interest in Nicky Henderson’s Adjali at around – gulp – 66-1.

He’s that price for a reason in terms of his overall profile, but his mark has started to ease, he’s lightly-raced for a six-year-old and looked like a very decent prospect a couple of seasons ago.

Colreevy wins from Elimay in an all Willie Mullins affair. Paul Townend was in the saddle for that one on a week that hasn’t gone as well for him as he would have liked.

Elimay and Colreevy continue to lead with Shattered Love in pursauit about two lengths back ... COlreevy and Elimay jump the last side by side ... Colreevy wins by half a length from Elimay with Shattered Love in third ...

Cabaret Queen is pulled up by Rachael Blackmore, whose Festival comes to an end, at the head of the field, Colreevy leaps in front of Elimay. Colreevy keeps jumping to her right, impeding the favourite as she does so. They’ve four to jump ...

Magic Of Light and Robbie Power lead from Really Super with |volreevy in third. Elimay the grey favourit is in fifth place ...

It’s the penultimate race on the final day of what’s been a strange but entertaining Festival. Colreevy leads them over the first with a fine leap.

• Elimay – 5/4
• Colreevy – 11/4
• Shattered Love – 11/2
• Magic of Light – 14/1
• Cabaret Queen – 16/1
• Salsaretta – 25/1
• Zambella – 33/1
• Moyhenna – 50/1
• Really Super – 66/1
• Chilli Filli – 80/1
• Cut the Mustard – 100/1
• View on Oddschecker

Greg Wood

Say hello to the Festival’s new arrival, a two-and-a-half mile chase for mares and a race which Willie Mullins will probably waste no time adding to his collection.

Mullins fields the first two in the betting – odds-on Elimay and Colreevy – and two more besides, while an Irish-trained winner is all but a certainty as Denise Foster and Jessica Harrington supply the other fancied runners. The shortest-priced contender from a British yard, in fact, is Nigel Twiston-Davies’s Zambella at 33-1.

That result means Rachael Blackmore cannot be caught in yet another race – the marathon to decide the leading jockey in the Festival. She becomes the first woman in history to lift that particular prize with her current tally of six. She rides Cabaret Queen in the next and that’s her lot for this year’s Cheltenham. Congratulations to her.

1 Porlock Bay (Lorcan Williams) 16-12 Billaway (P Townend) 2-1 Fav3 Staker Wallace (M P Walsh) 9-118 ranAlso: 12-1 Latenightpass 4th

Porlock Bay wins in a photo under Lorcan Williams for trainer Will Biddick. BIllaway was second.

Still waiting for an announcemnt but I think Porlock Bay got up to win by a short head.

Billaway goes into the lead being stalked by Porlock Bay. Porlock Bay and Lorcan Williams jump the last in front. Porlock Bay wins by a short head from Billaway ... I think!

The field is tightly bunched apart from Sonneofpresenting, whose rider hoists the white flag and pulls him up. Latenightpass continues to lead them along from Billaway and Porlock Bay ... they’ve three to jump ...

Chameron is pulled up after a series of poor jumps left him in danger of being tailed off. At the business end of the race, Mr Mantilla leads them along. Last year’s winner, It Came To Pass makes a mistake ... Mr Mantillaleads from Latenightpass and Billaway ...

They’re off and racing in the After The Lord Mayor’s Show Stakes, the professional jockeys taking the places of their amateur counterparts, who aren’t considered elite enough to be allowed ride at this Festival because of covid restrictions. Chameron almost comes a cropper early doors, but Harry Cobdon stays on board ...

• Billaway – 9/4
• Bob and Co – 9/2
• It Came to Pass – 8/1
• Staker Wallace – 10/1
• Stand Up and Fight – 11/1
• Red Indian – 11/1
• Parlock Bay – 16/1
• Latenightpass – 20/1
• Hazel Hill – 22/1
• Chameron – 22/1
• Salvatore – 33/1
• Mr Mantilla – 33/1
• Mighty Stowaway – 40/1
• Wishing and Hoping – 50/1
• Law Gold – 66/1
• Monbeg Gold – 100/1
• Ravished – 150/1
• Sonneofpresenting – 200/1
• View on Oddschecker

Greg Wood

Professionals replace the amateurs for one year only, in a race that has gone to Ireland in seven of the last 10 years and has an Irish-trained favourite in Willie Mullins’s Billaway with Paul Townend in the saddle.

He was a pretty smooth winner in a big field at Naas last time and was the 10-length runner-up when 11-4 favourite for this last year, but he can make the odd mistake and will be just as short a price this time around.

The main hope from a British yard is Paul Nicholls’s Bob And Co (Sean Bowen), in a race that the trainer has won four times since 2004 and twice in the last four years.

His stable jockey Harry Cobden, though, is on Chameron, a horse that is part-owned by Nicholls and trained by Sam Loxton, whose late wife Rose, who died last year, was a champion trainer in the point-to-point field for many years. Rose Loxton had links to the Nicholls stable for many years, including as the groom of the outstanding staying hurdler Big Buck’s, and had a big influence on the riding career of Nicholls’s daughter, Megan, with a regular supply of point-to-point winners when she was a teenager.

Rachel Blackmore: She’s had a week beyond her wildest dreams, but a penny for the thoughts of Rachel Blackmore, Minella Indo’s usual jockey, who decided to ride A Plus Tard in today’s race instead. It is a measure of just how good she is that she had such a difficult choice to make. Hopefully she won’t beat herself up over it.

“I can’t believe it,” he tells ITV, while on the verge of tears. “This is what I’ve dreamt of since I was a child. I’m just so grateful to Henry and [owners] Mike and Barry Moloney for giving me the opportunity to ride him. I can’t thank them enough and I’ll owe them forever.”

On his fightback from multiple injuries: “This is what I live for and I can’t believe this is after happening. I landed over the last and he pricked his ears. He was pulling up but not out of tiredness. When he heard Rachael coming behind him he took off again.”

After suffering the disappointment of being unshipped from Festival hotpot Envoi Allen, Jack Kennedy wins the Gold Cup. Rachael Blackmore had her pick of the two Henry de Bromhead horses in this race and, in her first error of judgement this week, picked the wrong one. She has to settle for second. De Bromhead, meanwhile, become the first trainer in history to pull off the Festival Holy Trinity in the same week.

1 Minella Indo (J W Kennedy) 9-12 A Plus Tard (Rachael Blackmore) 10-33 Al Boum Photo (P Townend) 9-4 Fav12 ranAlso: 12-1 Native River 4thCSF: 39.15Tricast: 91.54

Minella Indo wins the Gold Cup from A Plus Tard and Al BOum Photo. Minella Indo and Jack Kennedy win the Gold Cup for Henry De Bromhead ...

Minella Indo leads from A Plus Tard ... Minella Indo leads over the last ...

Frodon leads over the third last from Minella Indo and Al Boum Photo ...

Frodon continues to lead, jumping beautifully with four to go ... Minella Indo is second ...

Frodon pings the eighth and seventh fences from home and Native River is next to come under pressure. Frodon from Minella Indo and Al Boum Photo ...

Eleven fences to go and Frodon continues to plod along in front with Kemboy on his outside ... Black Op is third ... Santini is pulled up ...