Chasing the Cheltenham dream

Could the winner of this year’s Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival come bounding up the hill to win in the green and white colours of Moorefield?

He certainly could after a set of circumstances convinced Irish Panther's owners Brian Whelan and Jen Coyle, and the father and son training team of Eddie and Patrick Harty, that it was the race to go for.

Since running in last year’s County Hurdle, the aim was to get Irish Panther back to the Cheltenham Festival to run in Tuesday’s Arkle Novice Chase but after the unfortunate injury suffered by Barry Connell’s reigning champion Marine Nationale, they have been persuaded to roll the dice and run in Wednesday’s prestigious feature race.

Favourite Majborough, who is likely to have Clane jockey Mark Walsh on board, sets a fair standard at the top of the market but outside of him it’s a wide open race. And it is a race that has developed a reputation as a graveyard for strong favourites. Only three times in the last ten years has the favourite won the race. In eight of those years, the favourite has gone off at less than odds on – only one of those horses went on to win.

The story behind the purchase of the horse was one of pushing the boat out and going a little higher than they had initially prepared for – and it’s the same kind of thinking that sees them go for the Champion Chase rather than the Arkle.

Whelan, who runs the family business Bermingham Cameras on the Quays in Dublin, is a long standing race fan who sponsored the Hartys yard in the Curragh. It was through them that he met Jen Coyle.

“Jen would have been in the yard a few times, and she was in a different syndicate that Patrick had put together. We all got introduced to each other, myself and a few other people struck it off, including Jen. In conversations that we would have had, we both kind of had the same idea, that we both wanted a horse that wasn't a syndicate horse, that was our own, that would have our own names on the race card, that would have our own colours,” said Whelan, although he conceded that Jen won the battle behind the colours won which is the reason why Irish Panther runs in the green and white of her beloved Moorefield.

“I had a theory that there are a lot of the Group 2, Grade 2s and Grade 3 hurdles and chases, particularly chases, that often had only have three or four runners, and sometimes they could be all from the same stable. So, I looked at it and said, there's probably money being left behind in all of those races, they're all big enough races, and if we could get a horse that maybe would bring us to races like that, and maybe a few of the big days on the way, that we could pick some prize money, and if we did it in a sensible way, that we should be able to win some prize money and have some fun along the way.

“The horses we were looking at generally went either over budget, or we felt they were on the way down, and then went over the price we felt was their value. Then, Patrick spotted Irish Panther in an online sale. I said to him, he doesn't quite fit my brief, he doesn't quite fit Jen's brief, he's probably somewhere in the middle, but what I loved was Patrick said ‘Well, if we get him, we have a season mapped out for him already.’ I just that thought that if Patrick is so invested in this horse, and if we can get him, then we should go for it,” said Whelan.

It’s been some journey since then. The horse, who was previously trained by Edward O’Grady, has responded brilliantly to his training in the Harty’s yard and placed in his races at the Christmas Festival in 2024 and the Punchestown Festival last year. This season, he won in Naas last November and then at Christmas was narrowly beaten by Romeo Coolio.

With that run at last year’s Cheltenham Festival also under his belt, it was decided that it was now or never for a shot at the Champion Chase for the nine-year-old.

“We’ve had so much fun with him already,” said Whelan, who said he had always dreamed of having a horse in the race.

“Last year we spent the month before Cheltenham counting the entries in the County Hurdle hoping that we would get a run in the race. This year will be very different, we're running in one of the biggest races at the Festival.

“When I was younger my two favourite races were always the Arkle and the Queen Mother, because I love two mile chasers. I just love everything about two mile chasers, the speed they go, the speed they jump at, how races can change in the blink of an eye,” said Whelan.

It will be a race tinged with emotion too. Last month, Eddie Harty senior and his wife Betty, the parents and grandparents of the training duo, sadly passed away within a week of each other.

Last August, Whelan rode in the Pat Smullen Charity Race at the Curragh to raise funds for his cousin Catherine Kelly who had been diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, she also passed away last month, succumbing to her illness. Those departed will be close to all minds shortly before the race on Wednesday.

“I would really love to bring a Cheltenham winner to the Hartys because they've just been so good to us. The ownership journey with them is just so much fun, and not only do we sponsor the yard, we've turned into great family friends,” said Whelan.

As much as this Cheltenham week will be dominated by the huge yards of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott and millionaire owners like JP McManus and Rich Ricci, the story behind Irish Panther proves there still is a place for the small owners and trainers with a dream.

“I go back to when I was younger, when I was in college, before the four-day festival, before the way racing is now, and to me, this is the story that you would have seen more regularly back then. Now, it is quite rare.

“I'm just loving the fact that we're part of it. It makes me smile every day when you go on social media, and you see somebody talking about your horse, and they have opinions about it. What we have found is that Irish Panther gets a following at all the races, not really because of anything we've done. I think his name is cool, Irish Panther, so obviously Irish people latch on to him. The fact that he races in green and white, that’s because of Moorefield but they are the Irish colours as well. He's always been an each way price and he's always turned up on the big days and runs his race.

“He won’t be favourite on Wednesday but he's going there with a chance, and I wouldn't swap him for any of the horses in the race,” said Whelan.

Whelan’s wife Helen will be there beside him on raceday after he has gone through his usual routines.

“I like getting dressed up and going to the races. I love everything about race day. I love getting up, getting dressed smartly to go to the races. I love going. The atmosphere. Seeing your horse on the race card, seeing the name on the race card. It's nerve-wracking when the race is on, because he's yours. He's not just a horse that you've backed. He's not a horse that you think will win, or you've tipped to win. He’s your own horse. So you know everything about him. You know how he's been working, you know how he's been schooling, you know what the feedback from the work riders is. You're so involved in it.

“I don't know where we're going to watch it from this year, it could be the parade ring or it could be the stands.

“I had a bit of a surreal kind of experience on St Stephen's day. Irish Panther jumped to the front coming from the second last fence and the whole of Leopardstown was going mad, and I was just in a zone of silence. I was literally looking at one horse, well two horses actually, because Romeo Coolio was coming up on the back of him but that was all I could see. Everything else around me just went into oblivion. I was nearly in tears when I thought he'd win, and then I was nearly in tears when I realised he was going to get pipped on the line,” said Whelan.

That’s the feelings and emotions that racing can stir in you. Imagine feeling that as your horse came up the hill in Cheltenham?