LIZZIE KELLY provided the story of the opening day as she secured her first ever Cheltenham Festival winner. The 24-year-old brought favourite Coo Star Sivola home for a memorable victory, and was close to tears after she crossed the finish line. Having opened his account over fences at the fifth attempt at Exeter less than three weeks ago, the Nick Williams-trained six-year-old was a well-backed 5-1 favourite for this three-mile-one-furlong contest. Conditional jockey Kelly kept things simple aboard the market leader, settling just in behind the leading group, before allowing him to stride to the front before the home turn. The female jockey was understandably emotional after crossing the finish line, after beating off a stern challenge from Shantou Flyer. Vintage Clouds and Beware The Bear finished third and fourth respectively. 5:30pm Champion Bumper MISTER WHITAKER won the final race of the day as Brian Hughes bagged his first win at Cheltenham this year. Hughes delivered Mister Whitaker in the final strides to beat Rather Be in a thrilling finish to the Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. Rocklander was just over three lengths back in third, with the well-fancied Barney Dwan fourth. But there was some… Read full this story
Cheltenham Festival results: Lizzie Kelly close to tears after riding first ever Festival winner on Coo Star Sivola have 215 words, post on www.thesun.co.uk at March 14, 2018. This is cached page on wBlogs. If you want remove this page, please contact us.