Golfers Brooks Koepka and Graeme McDowell tee up Cheltenham Festival dream with unstoppable wonderhorse

3 months ago 39

GOLFERS Brooks Koepka and Graeme McDowell could be at Cheltenham Festival in person to see their wonderhorse hit the big time.

Harry Derham’s Givemefive is unbeaten since joining his Boxford yard from Irish trainer Jonny Murtagh.

Dominant showing from Givemefive, congrats team https://t.co/aT4lixoi4n

— Brooks Koepka (@BKoepka) January 22, 2024

Sourced by ITV Racing presenter and former jockey Meg Nicholls, Givemefive demolished rivals at Warwick on Monday and will now be aimed at the Triumph Hurdle or Boodles handicap at March’s Festival.

And, with the LIV Golf schedule giving the major champs more freedom, they could make the trip to Prestbury Park in style.

Lee Westwood, their fellow LIV star, was a regular at Cheltenham and famously landed a £48,000 punt there a few years ago.

Koepka and McDowell would make a similar amount should their horse win the Boodles Handicap Hurdle on March 24, for which he is 25-1 with Coral.

And even more if he pinches the Grade 1 Triumph on the same day, where bookies make him as short as 14-1.

There is a LIV event in Hong Kong ending on March 10 – and the next one isn’t until April 5, allowing plenty of time for an epic day at the races.

Derham, who trains the horse in the colours of Smash Racing syndicate – the name of the duo’s LIV Golf team – said: “Graham, Brooks and Daniel [Gambill] who own him are really good guys and they’ll be watching in Florida.

“Hopefully they enjoyed it.

“We were hoping he might run in the Fred Winter so we could go to the Adonis (at Kempton on February 24).

“I can’t really believe these words are coming out of my mouth but the entries close for the Triumph Hurdle tomorrow so I’m going to enter him.

“He’s won by miles today carrying a penalty.

“Looking at the Triumph, there’s some very smart horses in that.

“It might still be sensible to run again and go in the Boodles but it’s a very nice problem to have.”

The link-up with McDowell, who holed the winning putt in the 2010 Ryder Cup, the same year he won the US Open at Pebble Beach, came about after Derham won a bet at a Pro-Am event.

And it appears they’ve hit a hole in one with the four-year-old, who five-time Major winner Koepka also has shares in.

Derham, during an exclusive tour of his yard, told Sun Racing: “Graeme loves racing and got Brooks involved which is very cool.

“I played with Graeme and he said he’d buy a horse with me if I got closer to the pin than him — I fluked it to within a few feet!”