The GG Jumps Journal Academy have convened. Congratulations to all the winners and those who have taken part.
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Joe BloGGs
The jumps season may still produce some last-minute fireworks, but much like Oscars season, the key releases have been viewed and credited. Here are the 2024/25 National Hunt campaign’s big award winners.
Best Picture – The Champion Hurdle
What else could it be? This was sensational, a masterpiece that most scriptwriters could barely comprehend; legends falling, newcomers failing, past champions roaring back until an epic crescendo in which the ultimate underdog is presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Anora, eat your heart out. Golden Ace’s 2025 Champion Hurdle was absolute cinema.
Best Director – Nicky Henderson
Willie Mullins loses out on this award for simply being too predictable. We need to see more Willie, you can’t just go out and win everything and claim that’s art.
Henderson, on the other hand, you may take a bow. The ups and downs of Constitution Hill have been transparent and dramatic, building the unbeaten heavyweight up to messianic status only to be slung back down. Seven Barrows have secured big victories as ever, but Henderson has weaved a tapestry through this season which has been both hubristic and uplifting.
Best Actor – Inothewayurthinkin
Sometimes the best actor is the one who takes centre stage at the biggest moment. It is not always down to who is on-screen longest, just who makes the impact when the audience needs it most.
In downing the great Galopin Des Champs, Inothewayurthinkin propelled himself into the spotlight. This was a breakout performance, think Adrian Brody in The Pianist. Maybe, like Brody, further top prizes await.
Best Actress – Lossiemouth
Lossiemouth deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Meryl Streep. She could have been working in even greater roles this season, and maybe she will in the past or future, but she still created the headlines and delivered when she needed to.
From falling at Leopardstown, running elsewhere at Cheltenham, and then winning redemption at Aintree, this was a true heroine arc. There is no doubt in the latter stages of the season that Lossiemouth has been the female protagonist.
Best Supporting Actor – Keith Donoghue
His role in the Inothewayurthinkin story earns Keith Donoghue Best Supporting Actor honours. For carefully and tenderly curating the seven-year-old’s season, Donoghue ensured that he arrived at Cheltenham under wraps of cotton wool.
This craft is underrated in the game, with Gavin Cromwell’s charge improving throughout both his chasing seasons so far. Donoghue did not get to play the leading role at Cheltenham, but his part should not be undervalued.
Best Supporting Actress – Rebecca Curtis
It is Haiti Couleurs who was the main character in this particular story, but Rebecca Curtis’ part in proceedings ensures she is honoured in this year’s awards. Curtis has long been a smart trainer, popping up at consistent intervals thanks to Teaforthree and Lisnagar Oscar in recent years.
The season she has supported for Haiti Couleurs, via Cheltenham and Fairyhouse, has unravelled spectacularly, leaving her charge with a serious platform for further development next season. A fully merited prize.
Best Visual Effects – Nico De Boinville
For apparently stripping naked to avoid an interview after Constitution Hill’s Aintree tumble. As this obviously wasn’t caught on camera, I suppose this is a best non-visual effects award, but who can honestly say this isn’t deserved?
Best Original Song – The Dublin Racing Festival Crowd
Everybody: “Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole…Oleeeeeee, Oleeeeeee”
GG Jumps Journal – Triple Down on the Triple Crown
The Jumps Journal will become the Racing Review as we look to incorporate more findings on the flat. Where better to start than the Triple Crown, the UK and US’s unique flat racing achievement, and ponder what the introduction of a proper program could do for the jumps. Joe BloGGs Rory Mcilroy’s masterpiece on Sunday…
Wed 16 Apr 2025Special Awards
While some names do not quite fit the bill for the traditional Academy Awards, it feels fitting to recognise others for their integral participation throughout the season.
The Persian War Award for Winning the Persian War – The Bowens
The excitement to which some count down to the Persian War Novices’ Hurdle as if it’s Christmas is bewildering. Could you tell me the name of the horse who won the 2024 Persian War Novices’ Hurdle? Of course you couldn’t. It’s Flying Fortune, who hasn’t raced since.
The Ryan Moore Award for Biggest Scrooge – Paul Townend on Banbridge
Pinching the King George VI Chase from James Reveley and Il Est Francais was devilish work, just 24 hours on from Jesus’ birthday. Looming as the Ghost of Christmas Present, stealing the gift of a front-running phenomenon from the French horse’s grasp, Townend acted the antagonist in supreme style.
The Alanis Morissette Award for Unironic Irony – Cheltenham Tuesday
Jango Baie winning the Arkle for Nicky Henderson in Sir Gino’s absence, the wrong Lucinda Russell horse being the gambled victor in the Ultima, everything falling or f***ing it up in the Champion Hurdle after the would-be winner Lossiemouth had claimed the Mares’ Hurdle.
All a little too ironic, don’t you think?
The Life Comes At You Fast Award – David Maxwell at Aintree
David Maxwell is the treasure racing doesn’t realise it has. The great man was interviewed in advance of the Foxhunters’ at Aintree, bigging up the chances of Joker De Mai only to fall at the Chair barely 30 seconds after the race had begun. Life is not fair sometimes, but it made for superb TV.
The Such-A-Good-Job Award – Stalls Handlers
These stalls handlers just do such a good job don’t they? Even when it’s the jumps season.
The Broken Record Award – Tony McCoy
AP McCoy won this award. So he did.
Lifetime Achievement Award – Any Second Now
This is a legitimate trophy that should actually be handed out to one of the game’s modern greats. Poor Any Second Now; his name will not appear on the trophy of the Grand National or Irish Grand National, but by god it deserved to.
Second in Every Category – Matty Sutcliffe
After a remarkable run of recent tipping (for which you’d be heavily in profit by the way), I received this message off GG’s own Matty Sutcliffe.
“Totalled up the profit since Scottish Grand National day. 10pts+ profit and not a single winner. Six seconds. What have I done wrong in this world!?”
GG Jumps Journal – Making the Grand National Rational
Introspection is needed. It’s time for the Rational National. Joe BloGGs This column only takes itself semi-seriously, but we are to err far more on the period drama side this week than the sitcom. The 2025 Grand National was run on Saturday, and the fanfare largely outweighed the fan scare. There were reasons to celebrate…
Wed 09 Apr 2025