WE’RE as excited as ever about the Cheltenham Festival and it’s great to be going there again with a good team of horses.
It’s a magic time of year for everyone and it’s brilliant having a craic with the staff in the yard and seeing the little smiles on their faces with everyone looking forward to it.
The meeting is definitely more high profile than it used to be and with the four days I suppose it gives people more options.
Because it’s very good racing, you’ve got to be lucky and everything has to be spot-on on the day for you, or you just don’t win at Cheltenham.
The races are just so competitive. It doesn’t matter if it is a Grade One or the Handicaps. In fact I think the Handicaps are more competitive these days because people are backing off a good horse in the Grade Ones and running in Handicaps.
It’s real privilege to have a horse good enough to go there, but once you’ve sorted that out, then you’ve got to make sure they get there fit and well on the day.
You’re absolutely gutted when you’ve got a horse who’s good enough to go but unfortunately they’re not sound enough to run. It’s terrible and you really feel for the owners.
That’s all pressure but that’s what makes it exciting too. When it comes right it explodes at Cheltenham.
That must be what it’s like for the punters, spotting a horse earlier in the season and then following them all the way to Cheltenham. It’s a real buzz for everyone.
My main memory is obviously Dawn Run in the 1986 Gold Cup. It was a fantastic feeling and I was in my twilight years as a jockey.
It’s a day I’ll never forget and 24 years later I can still remember every blade of grass going around.
I’d had an up and down career, with broken legs and backs, things like that, as well as winning the championships and the big races.
But that day in the Gold Cup is something that sticks in your mind forever and when things are going bad you think, ‘You’ve been there before, stick at it and you’ll come back again.’
The build up to this year’s Gold Cup has been unpredecented and it’s got the makings of being a fantastic race and one that everyone wants to see.
We may run Albertas Run in the Gold Cup, but nothing will be decided until after I’ve spoken to his owner, Mr Trevor Hemmings, and he may run in the Ryanair Chase instead.
Albertas Run isn’t the biggest but he’s got a massive heart and always does his best. He won well at Ascot before Christmas and we were delighted with his last run, when he ran a blinder to finish second in another big race.
He’s been working well at home since, I’m pleased to say, and another plus is that we know he won’t be fazed by the crowds at Cheltenham, having won the RSA Chase at the 2008 Festival.
He’s a very talented horse on his day and as long as the ground’s not too soft at Cheltenham, because he’s definitely at his best when it’s good, I’m expecting him to run well.
We’ve got plenty of other horses who should put up a good show too, like our unbeaten hurdler Get Me Out Here, who has gone from strength to strength this season and won the totesport Trophy at Newbury last time.
There’s no such thing as a certainty at Cheltenham, because there are so many good horses taking part, but I think we can all be fairly sure it’s going to be another exciting meeting and hopefully one which we will all enjoy
Jonjo
