Cheltenham Festival: Jango Baie swoops late to beat favourite Majborough and grab Arkle glory

Jango Baie rose to the challenge to claim an astonishing renewal of the My Pension Expert Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham.

Nicky Henderson‘s bay could not go with the early pace and found himself towards the back of the small field of five as the race developed.

Up the hill the race looked to be between the fancied pair of Majborough and L’Eau du Sud, but Jango Baie never surrendered at the back of the pack and strode into contention in the final strides to score at 5-1.

Henderson had originally been set to field the favourite in Sir Gino, but saw his season cut short through injury.

Nicky Henderson

“Without Sir Gino, it was will this horse go up to three (miles) or down to two; we were going to make the running, but he couldn’t go fast enough,”

Henderson said. “He really couldn’t go fast enough.

“That was some ride! He let them go, and they did go hard, and it’s lovely ground – it’s proper fast jumping ground and they were hammering away.

“I’ve seen it before when they are that outpaced, you have always got the hill still to come to your aid if you need it, I must admit I never dreamt he would need it, but he flew the last and just got running – I didn’t know he was that fast, I must admit.

“From where I was, I thought it was too late. It was incredible, he was just nailing them. I had no idea of the result I must say, the gods did. I think you can take it from me that’s the last time you will see over two miles!”

Tony Barney

On what was already an emotional opening afternoon, owner Tony Barney said: “I bought the horse on the day my son was killed, his name was James Barney, the horse is Jango Baie, same initials. My son is looking down on me.”

De Boinville said: “I always thought I could get there, coming down the hill I was just thinking about Barry (Geraghty) when he rode Champ and he did a similar kind of thing in the RSA (2020) when he dropped himself out.

“I couldn’t go the gallop, but I knew he was going to stay so it was just a case of filling him up and seeing if I could get one crack up the hill. To be fair he winged the last and then he flew up the hill.

“It’s a great feeling when you know you are going to get there, but it’s gut-wrenching when you go down by a neck or a head, which does happen a lot. Today the stars were aligned and he got his head in front.”

READ MORE: Ben Morgan’s Racing tips – Cheltenham Festival Day 1 – Nico De Boinville holds the touchpaper on opening day