Kieswetter brothers hope for success at Cheltenham Festival

It has already been a good year for Craig and Ross Kieswetter’s Ridgemont Highlands stud through the exploits of Make It Snappy and former cricket star Craig believes Echoes In Rain has a great chance of causing an upset when she lines up in the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle at next week’s Cheltenham Festival.

Kieswetter played 71 times for England in white-ball internationals before injury led to him retiring at the age of 27.

Since then he has gone about building his family’s Barnane Stud empire alongside brother Ross and stud manager Patrick Wynn-Jones, and Echoes In Rain is one of the on-track stars of their burgeoning jumps string.

The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old heads to Prestbury Park on the back of a commanding victory at Naas in January. She is a best-priced 7-1 for what could be a red-hot renewal of the mares’ only grade 1 with possible runners including two-time Champion Hurdle winner Honeysuckle and Seven Barrows pair, Marie’s Rock and Epatante.

However, Kieswetter is more than happy with how the race is taking shape and is encouraged by the positive noises coming out of Closutton.

“If the ground is right and the pace of the race is right, we are really expecting her to explode out and give a really good account in the latter stage of the race,” he said.

“There will be less pressure on her and I don’t want to say she’s flying under the radar, but there will be a lot more horses in the race who are better fancied — and I’d prefer the position of being under the radar, under cover somewhat and coming through and causing a bit of a surprise.

“I’m quite happy with the position we are in and it is really encouraging to hear Ruby [Walsh] and others within the yard talk encouragingly about her. It sounds a bit cliched but we just want her to come home safely to the paddock, whatever the result may be.”

Kieswetter’s Barnane Stud will also be represented at the Festival by Il Etait Temps and Gust Of Wind, who are both owned in partnership with the Heffer family’s Hollywood Syndicate.

The former is flying high in the betting for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, having capitalised on the misfiring Facile Vega to land grade 1 glory at the Dublin Racing Festival and throw his hat into the ring for the Festival opener.

“There will obviously be huge talk about Facile Vega and rightly so because he looks a terrific horse,” said Kieswetter when analysing the five-year-old’s Festival claims.

“But the manner in which Il Etait Temps ran and won at Leopardstown — when he kept up with the hot pace and was able to accelerate — if the speed of the race is run right for him and the ground is right for him, I don’t see any reason he can’t run another great race and walk away respectfully.

Timeform