Henry De Bromhead is celebrating another Cheltenham Festival victory following the success of Maskada in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual in the penultimate race of day two.
Maskada, winner of the Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase at Limerick over Christmas, went off at odds of 22/1, and stole up on the inside with two beautiful jumps in the closing stages with Darragh O’Keeffe on board, as he bagged his first ever win at the Cheltenham Festival.
Maskada, an €80,000 purchase, saw off the Willie Mullins-trained Dinoblue comfortably in the straight to score for Youghal-based owners Coolmara Stables, while last year’s winner Global Citizen had to settle for third. The Paul Nicholls trained Thyme White also looked to be cruising, before coming down late on.
Plenty of drama in the home straight with Maskada staying on best to land the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual for Darragh O'Keeffe & continue a fine #CheltenhamFestival for @HenrydeBromhead 🏇 pic.twitter.com/GwZzmyE8vG
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 15, 2023
The seven-year-old mare becomes the second Cheltenham winner of the week for De Bromhead, after Honeysuckle’s perfect swansong in the Mares’ Hurdle.
The Knockeen camp were thrilled with his six-and-a-half-length winner.
“She was brilliant”, said assistant trainer Robbie Power. “Darragh was excellent on her, the more the rain fell the more confident we were on her. Fair play to Henry, he’s a genius.”
“It’s a dream come true”, said winning rider O’Keeffe. “The owners put me back on her. She loved the conditions and it’s just brilliant. I’m delighted to ride a winner for Henry and Heather and to add another one to the board for them. He’s a fantastic trainer who’s been brilliant to me. I’m very appreciative of him.”
