Tiger Roll storms to record third Cross Country Chase victory at Cheltenham Festival

Back on form: Tiger Roll looked in supreme form at Cheltenham
Getty Images
George Flood17 March 2021

Tiger Roll announced his return to form with an emphatic victory in the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham Festival on Wednesday.

The two-time Grand National winner - ridden by Keith Donoghue and under the stewardship of Denise Foster with usual trainer Gordon Elliott banned - successfully avenged his comprehensive loss to Easysland in the same race one year ago, finishing a stunning 18 lengths clear of the defending champion.

Tiger Roll is the first horse ever to win the Cross Country chase three times.

It was also his fifth success at the Festival overall, adding to his two previous Cross Country wins in 2018 and 2019 plus his 2014 Triumph Hurdle and 2017 National Hunt Chase victories.

It was a much-needed triumph for the 11-year-old, who had disappointed in his last three races and was withdrawn from this year’s Grand National earlier this month amid a row over unfair weight.

Tiger Roll would have otherwise been in contention to match the great Red Rum as only the second horse ever to win the Grand National on three separate occasions.

“It’s unbelievable for him to come back and do it again,” said jockey Donoghue.

“I’m just speechless - it’s absolutely brilliant. He means everything to me.

“If it wasn’t for this horse, I wouldn’t be riding. It’s as simple as that.

“Never underestimate the Tiger - a lot of people underestimated him. We all kept the faith in him - we know the horse he is, and he showed us that today.

“He loved it, and that’s the Tiger we’ve seen at home.

“I’m delighted he showed that on the track today. He’s just a legend.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in