Nowadays, the historic National Hunt Challenge Cup Chase, which was inaugurated in 1860, is run over 3 miles, 5 furlongs and 201 yards on the Old Course at Cheltenham, having been shortened from its previous distance of 3 miles, 7 furlongs and 147 yards in 2020. The traditional ‘four miler’ remains an amateur riders’ novices chase and, since 2017, has held Grade 2 status, but the qualifying criteria for horses and jockeys are stricter than was once the case.
Anyway, the jockeys who finished first and second in the 2010 renewal of the National Hunt Chase were two pioneering Irish horsewomen who, between them, really raised the bar for the achievements of women in the saddle, at the Cheltenham Festival and elsewhere. The winner on that occasion was Poker De Sivola, trained by Ferdy Murphy and ridden by Katie Walsh, who took the lead, under strong pressure, shortly after the final fence and stayed on to beat Becauseicouldntsee, trained by Noel Glynn and ridden by Nina Carberry, by 2¼ lengths. Two years later, in February, 2012, Nina Carberry became sister-in-law to Katie Walsh when she married her brother, Ted Walsh Jr..
Poker De Sivola was, in fact, a first Cheltenham Festival winner for Katie Walsh, but she would go on to ride two more, Thousand Stars, trained by Willie Mullins, in the County Hurdle later that same week and Relegate, also trained by the Closutton maestro, in the Champion Bumper eight years later. Nina Carberry, who is the daughter of Grand National-winning jockey Tommy Carberry, was a rather more regular to the winners’ enclosure at the Cheltenham Festival, winning the Cross Country Chase four times, the Foxhunter Chase twice and the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle once; she remains the most successful female jockey in the history of the Festival.