Elimay brings the tally to 9
It was a clean sweep on Friday for Irish trained horses, but Willie Mullins, crowned Champion Festival trainer for the ninth time, would be the first to admit that French bred horses have played a huge role in his domination of the Cheltenham festival. The Christophe Toulorge bred Elimay by Montmartre out of Hyde was the final horse to fly the flag for France when she won the Grade 2 Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Steeple-Chase. Her sire Montmartre who wore the famous colours of HH Aga Khan when he was racing, today stands at the Haras du Hoguenet (for a fee of €4,000), while her dam Hyde has also produced Goshen, a Grade 2 winner who so agonisingly unseated his jockey at the last flight in the 2020 JCB Triumph Hurdle when he had a ten lengths lead on his nearest rival.