The curtain-raising race for the 2024 Cheltenham Festival has taken place with Slade Steel the winner.
Rachael Blackmore, who has a brilliant track record at Cheltenham, has another win on her c.v.
Mystical Power finished second, while Firefox came third.
Trained by Henry de Bromhead and ridden by Blackmore, Slade Steel travelled in the middle of the field and stalked the leaders before mounting a challenge on the turn for home.
Then he began to pick off the horses ahead of him and jumped into the lead before accelerating again up the hill when strongly challenged by Mystical Power, taking top honours by a length and a half.
Slade Steel and Rachael Blackmore (pictured on Monday) have won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle Race at Cheltenham Festival
‘I’m delighted with him, Rachael gave him a super ride and fair play to the Robcour team – they said Ballyburn has beaten us twice and we need to just avoid him, so that’s what we did and it’s worked out really well for us,’ said De Bromhead.
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