Kargese gives respite to punters with County cruise

It’s fair to say it’s been a difficult week for punters, but a Willie Mullins handicap ‘good thing’ at least provided some relief early on day four as the well-backed Kargese (3/1F) made no mistake in the William Hill County Hurdle to give the trainer his eighth win of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. 

The record of rider Paul Townend in Festival handicaps was given much prominence beforehand and that history has never been more relevant here – Townend was riding his fifth winner in the County for Mullins in the past 11 years here – and Kargese was probably value for more than her 1½-length margin at the line. 

The field notably quickened turning into the straight and, while it’s still a long way home from that point, the strong-travelling winner – a two-time Grade One winner as a juvenile last year and turning up here on handicap debut – was never passed from that point as she saw off Ndaawi (25/1) in second with Mullins also saddling home the third and fourth for good measure in last year’s scorer Absurde (5/1) and Ethical Diamond (16/1) respectively. 

“She’s as tough as nails – as tough a filly as I’ve ever seen,” said the Festival’s all-time leading trainer to Racing TV’s Lydia Hislop.

“And we thought she was nicely handicapped – we maybe thought all of last year’s four-year-olds were better handicapped than last year’s juveniles.

“We said we’d take a chance and they’ve run well.”

Mullins - now on 111 Festival wins - added: "I’m going to celebrate today and then we will decide what we are going to do. Normally I go to Punchestown, but I would have to look if there is something either at Ayr or maybe Aintree.

“She will in time go over a longer trip, but I think she would be too hard on herself and too hard on the jockey.” 

Townend said: “She was keen today alright! 

"That’s her though, she has the heart of a lion. 

"I was in front a lot sooner than I wanted. But it might have actually helped me that when I got there, she parked a little bit and gave herself a breath of air, and that meant she could repel what was coming at me at the back of the last.” 

Owner Kenny Alexander was celebrating his second winner of the meeting and said: “It’s better to be lucky than good!

“A great training performance by Willie and this horse is very talented. 

“She ran Sir Gino close at Aintree and Majborough close in the Triumph last year.

“She’s a bit of a rocket, she’s very highly-strung, but she settled a bit better today and has got a massive engine. 

“When Paul decided to ride her, you got the feeling that this might be the day.”

He added: “Monday night I was out with my friends and my wife for a curry, and I said, ‘if you can just get a runner here, then it’s job done. It’s an incredible experience. If you can get a winner, it’s a bonus’.

“My heart is still pumping. I would recommend it, just to try and get here. Just getting here is amazing, if you’re lucky enough to get a winner, it’s phenomenal.”

He added: “To get two this week is beyond… I’m very, very fortunate. To get two is absolutely unbelievable.” 

Gordon Elliott said of his runner-up Ndaawi: “Another second, I know!

"They’re running really well and we’re just delighted to be here; we’re just not getting the rub of the green.”