Six-time Irish champion Flat jockey Colin Keane is now also a Cheltenham Festival winning-rider after expertly guiding The Mourne Rambler to success in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.
Trained by Noel Meade, the 15-2 chance had impressed at Leopardstown over the Christmas period, with his handler calling on the services of a man whom he had enjoyed Group One success with on the level for the five-year-old’s big date with Prestbury park.
Chris Gordon’s Bass Hunter, the leading British-trained contender, attempted to make all as he did at Ascot in December in the hands of the trainer’s son, Freddie.
However, the strong Irish pursuit loomed heading down hill, with Keane aboard The Mourne Rambler one of those weaving his way through traffic into a prime position to strike.
Swinging the bend for home the Juddmonte number one asked his mount for extra and the five-year-old turned on the after burners to storm up the Cheltenham hill and add Festival success to the many big races the pilot has landed around the world.
It is a victory that caps a fine few days for Keane having got engaged to Ger Lyons’ daughter Kerri on Sunday.
He said: “It’s up there with my career highlights, I’m fortunate enough to have had some great days and this was a bucket list item of mine to tick off – just riding here, never mind winning – so this is brilliant.
“Riding in this wasn’t on my mind until Noel rang me and how often do you get the opportunity to ride in a race like this, as trainers have their jockeys. When Noel rang me, it was something I grabbed with both hands and an easy ‘yes’.
“He rang me about two weeks ago and I was riding at Dundalk and had a missed call off him and when I rang him back he asked if I would be interested and I said ‘of course’. I just needed to get my licence sorted and now the rest is history.
“I suppose the nerves were a little different walking out in front of a crowd like that, it’s a different level really and Ascot can be busy, but this is some atmosphere.”
Keane’s appearance at the Cheltenham Festival comes despite being caught up in the travel days caused by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East having been out in Dubai to ride at Meydan on the Super Saturday card that went ahead amidst rising tensions in the region.
“I was stuck out in Dubai for a few days going insane and I suppose the difficult part was not knowing when I was getting home,” added Keane, who joins Jamie Spencer – who won this same race with Pizarro in 2002 – as a Cheltenham Festival-winning Flat jockey.
“The first few days were rough, but then you got used to it and it was just a case of flights being cancelled then you would book on another one and that would get cancelled. Thankfully we all got home.”
It was a welcome return to the Festival winner’s enclosure for Meath-based Meade, who was successful at the meeting for the seventh time having landed his first success since Jeff Kidder in 2021.
Meade said: “It’s marvellous and we’ve only got around 15 jumpers so it’s great to be back in this winner’s enclosure.
“It’s probably about a third of what we used to have and we have around 45 Flat horses, but this is just great.
“I have had all his family and he was bred by a very good friend of mine from my childhood, Christopher McKeever. This fellow is the best of him and I had a feeling he would handle the ground as he is light.
“I’d say he has plenty of speed so if he’s back here next year it would be over two miles. His jumping needs some ironing out but we can work on that now.”
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