I visited Cheltenham this week, but it was a bit different compared to what it’ll be like in a couple of weeks. The David Power Jockeys’ Cup riders were there for Dartenham with pro-darts player Damon Heta and it was brilliant fun. You can see the action ahead of the Cheltenham Festival on social media, and no spoilers as to who came out on top between me and Sam Twiston-Davies…

Five good Doncaster rides

I’m up at Doncaster for five rides on Saturday and I’ve got a good few chances across the card and, more importantly, two of the races having Jockeys’ Cup points up for grabs.

The first ride is on Miss Cynthia (2.05) in the listed Mares’ Novices’ hurdle, and she’s a lovely type, this horse. She won around Market Rasen on her last start and had finished second twice prior to that, but she seems just a nice, straightforward type. It looks a really hot race and there are some nice horses in this, but I think she has a solid chance here.

Some Scope (3.15) is near the top of the market in the Grimthorpe, and although I haven’t ridden him the last couple of times he has run, I know that he likes the track and the ground. I’ve won on him around Doncaster before, so I know that he doesn’t mind coming here and that he’s a straightforward ride, and I’m looking forward to getting back on him.

I’ve got another ride for Lucy Wadham with Pretending (3.55) who is off bottom weight in this handicap. She won for me first time out this season around Uttoxeter and that was a very solid run, unfortunately she hasn’t been able to back that up since, but hopefully she might just enjoy Doncaster. She’s a very nice mare and a joy to ride so I’m hoping she can put her best foot forward and spark a bit of a revival.

Walden (4.31) is having his first run in a handicap and is given top weight to contend with in this race. I haven’t ridden him before, but he looks like a nice type. He’s owned by Value Racing who have horses with Jamie Snowden so it’s nice to keep the association going with them. It’s a bit of an unknown when horses come into a handicap for the first time as to where their true mark is. So we’ll certainly know more about him after this.

To round out the day I’ve got my first ride for James Owen with Cavern Club (5.07) who last won at Cartmel last summer. He went close at Cheltenham back in November and has had the first part of the year off so hopefully he’ll be quite fresh from that. It looks a competitive race so I’m hoping if we’re there at the finish then we can make our presence felt.

Gavin Sheehan is an ambassador for BetVictor

James Bowen will miss the Cheltenham Festival after being given a seven-day ban after he was judged to have used the whip twice above the permitted level of seven from approaching the home bend when winning on the Charlie Longsdon-trained Zestful Hope at Hereford last Sunday.

The suspension runs from 11-17 March.

Bowen would have been hoping to improve on his current 16th place in the David Power Jockeys’ Cup as the second jockey for Nicky Henderson, and would have had a good book of rides, including one of Lulamba or Palladium in the Triumph Hurdle.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Henderson said. “He’s flying along and I feel very sorry for him and a bit sorry for ourselves. It’s brutal. There’s nothing one can do, it’s the rules. He bent them a bit and there’s no flexibility or leniency – and I’m not saying there should be.

“I haven’t had a chance to look at it but he would have had a lot of rides. Having a jockey on board who knows the horse means a lot.”

Leading David Power Jockeys’ Cup contender Nico De Boinville is hopeful that a racecourse gallop at Kempton will put the Unibet Champion Hurdle favourite Constitution Hill in perfect shape for the Cheltenham Festival. 

Constitution Hill, the 2023 winner of the Champion Hurdle, looks one of De Boinville’s best chances of picking up 10 Jockeys’ Cup points at next month’s festival, and the Nicky Henderson-trained runner has returned to action with two wins this season after missing most of 2024 through injury. 

Previously, the unbeaten hurdler – who was Timeform’s highest-rated novice and is only 5 lb below the highest-rated hurdler ever Night Nurse – was ruled out of last season’s Cheltenham Festival not long after trailing home in third behind two stablemates, including Sir Gino, following a racecourse gallop over around a circuit and a half of the all-weather track last February, but connections are keen to go back this week. 

“Given how his work has evolved, it makes sense to take him to Kempton,” De Boinville said on Racing TV’s Luck On Sunday programme. 

“I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be a piece of work – it’s going to be more of an awayday rather than anything blistering. 

“There was a mutual agreement between me and Nicky to go to Kempton and it will do him good to get him on a racecourse and get his blood up a bit. We’ll see what happens.” 

History repeating?

Looking back at last year’s bitterly disappointing piece of work on the same track, right under the media spotlight, De Boinville admitted he wanted the ground to swallow him up. 

He said: “Last year it told us what not to do, and although to the eye it might not look spectacular, these awaydays have tended to show us something and we’ve learned a lot from them. 

“As soon as I turned in on the gallop last year and went to push the button, the button was broken. It was a case of stopping him, getting the vets in and seeing what was going on. It was pretty gut-wrenching. All the press and cameras were around you and you just wanted to get out of there.” 

Reflecting on Constitution Hill’s victory last month, he added: “We were on a hiding to nothing on Trials day. No one would take us anywhere in the race and it turned into a hack round. He wouldn’t have blown a candle out afterwards. 

“You always want perfection and I didn’t have the revs up going into the last. He wasn’t alive enough under me and I should have got in close and popped it.” 

 

A win in the Pendil Novices’ Chase – a staggering 14th in the race for trainer Paul Nicholls – provided Harry Cobden with 10 points and the edge on Harry Skelton (who rode the runner-up Boombawn) on the day. 

Cobden also picked up four points from the fourth-placed finish of Sauvignon behind Mambonumberfive in the Adonis Juvenile Hurdle which allowed winning jockey Ben Jones to close the gap on the leaders, though he couldn’t make up any ground on the jockey immediately above him on the standings as Charlie Deutsch enjoyed an armchair ride on Katate Dori in the Ladbrokes Trophy just over an hour later. 

Jonathan Burke was the other winning jockey at Kempton, guiding Tripoli Flyer to a ready success in the Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle, while over at Newcastle the sole ITV race – the Eider Handicap Chase – went the way of Freddie Mitchell who won easily on the lightly-weighted Knockanore. 

Mitchell was one of three conditional riders who picked up points on the day, and there are now only 12 points separating Dylan Johnston (70), Caolin Quinn (70) and Mitchell (62) in the quest to be the leading conditional rider and pick up the £20,000 prize. 

Brian Hughes may be outside the top 20 in his bid to pick up the £500,000 top prize for the leading jockey in the inaugural David Power Jockeys’ Cup, but he is more than happy with where he is currently at in a long and distinguished career. 

The County Armagh rider began his career with James Lambe – and is one of a select few to have ridden a Flat winner, hurdle winner and a chase winner at Downpatrick – but moved over to ride for Howard Johnson after the trainer saw him riding a winner for Jim Bolger. 

Hughes told Sporting Life in the fourth of their David Power Jockeys’ Cup podcast series: “I wasn’t strong enough, light enough or good enough to ride on the Flat, my weight always held me back so I was always dieting but then that makes you weak. 

“You were trying to do a light weight but then you weren’t strong enough to give the horse a good ride. 

“I starved myself for three days for a ride for Jim Bolger – and luckily won on the filly – and Howard Johnson was there and he saw it.  

“Graham and Andrea Wylie had bought a load of yearlings and I had helped break them in. That was how that all came about.” 

Inauspicious start

Despite a mishap on his first British ride – ‘Silver Dollars headbutted me in a bumper at Sedgefield so I had blood pouring down my face during the race’ – Hughes has since proven himself as one of the most successful jockeys in the weighing room, riding his 1,000th winner over jumps in Britain and Ireland on My Old Gold at Wetherby in January 2019. 

Though he hinted otherwise in a 2023 interview, the now-40-year-old – who is fast approaching 1,900 winners – is not imminently considering life after the saddle, despite a lack of big-race rides at the Cheltenham Festival. 

He said: “I haven’t thought about retiring – I don’t think I’m doing the job too badly – and I’m feeling well in myself. I’ll keep going for a couple of seasons yet! 

“I just haven’t really had the opportunities to ride the real big winners at Cheltenham – I’ve had a lot of stick over the years.  

“You’re riding horses that have only just scraped in there and they haven’t got a real chance. Sometimes it can be a horrible experience when you’re not going there with fancied rides.” 

Cheltenham Gold Cup contender

However, Hughes has ridden three handicap winners at the Cheltenham Festival – Hawk High (2014), Ballyalton (2016) and Mister Whitaker (2018) – and had dreams of causing a major upset in the 2020 Cheltenham Gold Cup when the 50/1 chance Real Steel moved menacingly into contention. 

Hughes, who takes the ride on The Real Whacker whom he partnered to Charlie Hall success in this year’s renewal, remembered: “I was thinking ‘someone like me is never going to win a Gold Cup’ when I came there on the bridle on Real Steel but he just didn’t stay, he emptied out very quickly.  

“The Real Whacker is a real good ride for me to pick up – he’s won a few times around Cheltenham and it’s nice to be associated with a horse that’s good enough to run in these sorts of races.” 

Michael O’Sullivan will be sorely missed

There’s nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said, but I would just like to send my sincere thoughts to Michael O’Sullivan’s family at this time.

He will be sorely missed. Not just as a jockey but as a person above all, as you will have seen from what everyone has said or written about him since his death last weekend.

Michael’s funeral this week really hits home how dangerous the sport is, which we do day in day out.

The atmosphere in the weighing room has been difficult at times, as it’s so close to home. It puts into perspective the dangers of this game.

Winners make up for disappointing day at Haydock

Last Saturday I had quite a poor day at Haydock with two well-fancied horses disappointing, but I picked up a couple of winners this week at Southwell and Ludlow to make up for it.

It’s been a quiet week outside of that, and I’m looking forward to the weather improving so I can get back on the golf course.

High hopes in the Eider

I head up to Newcastle for their feature race today, which is in front of the ITV cameras and forms part of the David Power Jockeys’ Cup.

The Eider Chase is a race that stands out on the calendar and has a long history. It’s exciting to be involved, especially when there are points to be gained.

I’m sixth place in the Jockeys’ Cup table, and I think that compares to my school reports: “Gavin could do better!”.

I ride Passing Well (2.10) for Jamie Snowden and he ran a massive race at Lingfield last time, when stepping up to over three and a half miles and being beaten a head.

Hopefully, he can reproduce that kind of effort and going up even further in trip may just suit him.

The favourite, O’Connell, will be tough to beat, but Passing Well is in great form at home and the stats suggest he is improving every time he moves up in distance.

So, hopefully, he can help improve my school report and get me some more points!

Gavin Sheehan is an ambassador for BetVictor

Sam Twiston-Davies believes a varied source of rides has been the key to his strong David Power Jockeys’ Cup performance this season.

The 32-year-old rider is currently in third place in the race for the £500,000 top prize awarded to the jockey who tops the leaderboard on the eve of the Grand National, and he attributes his success to support from a number of stables.

He told Sporting Life in the third of their David Power Jockeys’ Cup podcast series: “To be competitive in the David Power Jockeys’ Cup means that you’re having a good season.

“It means you’re busy, you’re riding for the right people, and riding in the best races on the Saturdays.

“I’m lucky to ride for the likes of James Owen and Anthony Honeyball.

“The way I ride suits some people and I try to make owners enjoy their day. I do my homework and do my best and make sure I get everything as clinical as I can before a race so it goes as smoothly in the race itself.”

Cheltenham Festival hopefuls

Twiston-Davies and Jockeys’ Cup rival Harry Cobden share the rides on The Gredley Family-owned runners, and the former is looking forward to the Cheltenham Festival with leading Triumph Hurdle hope East India Dock.

He beamed: “I loved him winning over the course and distance [in the Triumph Trial in January] and he showed a great attitude winning on ground that wasn’t very nice.

“I’ve been reading a lot of the coverage, including from Timeform, and the figures he produced were quite impressive and I’m really looking forward to it.

“To have a horse as short as him in the betting – and the feel that he’s given me – is incredibly exciting.

“A lot more are tempted to go for the Boodles these days and there are only half a dozen who look likely to be really competitive.”

Twiston-Davies will also ride Master Chewy in the Ryanair Chase, with connections keen to step him up in trip following his gutsy Game Spirit success at Newbury last time.

He explained: “Newbury is a straightforward track but he was in top gear everywhere.

“So, if they go as fast in the Champion Chase on the Old Course as they did in Ireland the other day, and he misses a fence, then you’re stuck.

“We are hoping he will be able to relax and get into a good rhythm in the Ryanair and if he does that then he might find the 10 lb or so of improvement to see him run a very big race.”

Happy Prestbury Park memories

Having enjoyed plenty of success at the Cheltenham Festival between 2010 and 2016 for his father Nigel Twiston-Davies and Paul Nicholls – including three winners at the 2016 meeting – Sam endured some lean years before galvanising The Real Whacker to a short-head success in the 2023 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.

He recalled: “I went a long time without a Cheltenham Festival winner and it was seven or so years before The Real Whacker won which was really special.

“When they called the photo finish and said he had won it was as special a day as I’d had in a long time.”

With Potters Charm – who will bid to follow in the footsteps of the yard’s The New One who was beaten in the Classic Novices’ Hurdle before winning the Turners Novices’ Hurdle – set to join East India Dock and Master Chewy at Cheltenham, there is every chance that Twiston-Davies will add significantly to his Jockeys’ Cup total over the next couple of months.

 

Nicky Henderson has provided an update from Seven Barrows on leading stars Constitution Hill and Jonbon ahead of the Cheltenham Festival. 

Both horses will spearhead stable jockey Nico De Boinville’s Jockeys’ Cup challenge over the four crucial days next month, with ITV showing six races each day. 

Speaking about 2023 Champion Hurdle winner and this year’s favourite Constitution Hill at a recent press day, Henderson explained: “We went into Kempton with half a mind that he could easily get beaten. If he did we felt if he got beaten then that we would be alright in March, but he was good at Kempton Park.  

“Cheltenham was something else though and that absolutely did me in. It was a no-win situation unless he did something, which he did do, by keeping everyone on their toes by trying to destroy a hurdle.

“The Willie Mullins racing festival didn’t tell us everything because they were going very hard that day (Lossiemouth and State Man) and it would have been fascinating to know what the end product was.  

“It has left more questions than answers as one of them was going to get beaten.

“The one good thing is he can travel off any pace. That pace Lossiemouth found difficult at Kempton Park was no worry to him as he can travel at a very high speed.  

“They will go hard, but I think his weapon is he can hold that.” 

Jonbon is an equally strong favourite, with the nine-time Grade 1 winner hoping to break a run of second-placed finishes at the Cheltenham Festival when he contests the Champion Chase. 

He was last seen in action when landing the Clarence House Chase at Ascot last month. 

Henderson said: “I think he did get the recognition he deserved at Ascot, it seemed like the world had got behind him and they were very good to him that day. 

“He is an entertaining character as well and he and Constitution Hill are so different. One is the most laid back you would ever come across and the other is a complete fuss pot and can’t stand still for two minutes. 

“You have got to win the Champion Chase to be a champion and he deserves to. He has won two Shloer Chases, and you can’t blame the Clarence House Chase defeat as him not acting around Cheltenham as he made one shocking mistake, which he was lucky to stand up from – you can’t count that against him.  

“He goes around anywhere. He loves Sandown, and we know that, but he enjoyed Ascot the other day and I thought that was a really good performance.” 

Victtorino continued his love affair with Ascot when courageously shading a thrilling finish to the Betfair Swinley Handicap Chase and bagging another 10 points for Charlie Deutsch in the David Power Jockeys’ Cup.

The Venetia Williams-trained seven-year-old was pushed all the way up the run-in by top-weight Threeunderthrufive, with both horses taking it in turn to bob their heads in front.

However, it was Victtorino who put his head down when it mattered most and the 7-2 winner was a nose ahead on the line under Charlie Deutsch, giving him a fourth win at Ascot from five visits.

Charlie Deutsch and Venetia Williams in the winner’s enclosure at Ascot (Focus On Racing)

Williams said: “It was a strong pace on loose ground, but I didn’t think it was too testing. I thought we would get outsprinted, and that we were beaten. I didn’t know he had won and we were yelling our heads off.

“We will take it one race at a time, but with his good record round here, we just might keep coming back.”

Altobelli turned what looked a competitive Betfair Exchange Handicap Hurdle into a procession down the home straight.

Successful in a course and distance contest four weeks earlier, Harry Fry’s charge was sent off the 11-4 favourite for this event over two miles and three furlongs and cruised to the front under Bryan Carver between the final two flights.

Despite wandering around a touch once clear, Altobelli was still three and three-quarter lengths ahead at the line.

Fry said: “He loves it here and it’s a shame we don’t have a festival here in four weeks.

“He was 5lb higher, but looked even more impressive today. He’s relished the step up in trip. It will be exciting to see where he ends up and he’s three from three at this distance.

“He’ll be entered in the Coral Cup and we’ll take it from there. I’m looking forward to putting him over fences next season.”

Also celebrating a Jockeys’ Cup winner was Ben Jones, who  conjured up a powerful late surge from Samuel Spade in the Best Odds On The Betfair Exchange Handicap Hurdle, with Ben Pauling’s charge making light of his 12st burden to prevail by four and three-quarter lengths at 14-1.

Pauling said: “That was a good ride. He’s a bit of an enigma because when he’s good, he’s good, but when he doesn’t want it, he just won’t go.

“Today, Ben pinched yards and picked up ground at most of the hurdles, he was very good.

“He’s the type of horse that could go to Punchestown, as he’s not good enough to win the Coral Cup.”

Leading David Power Jockeys’ Cup contender Sam Twiston-Davies believes working with success-driven trainers over his career has led to him being a better jockey.

The Cotswolds-based rider – who is currently third in the Jockeys’ Cup standings behind Harry Skelton and Harry Cobden – was brought up around success in his formative years, with his father Nigel counting Grand National wins with Earth Summit (1998) and Bindaree (2002) amongst an impressive CV.

Nigel has now been joined by Sam’s younger brother Willy on the training licence and it’s a partnership that is always striving for further success.

Twiston-Davies told Sporting Life in the third of their David Power Jockeys’ Cup podcast series: “I was really lucky growing up – I remember the Grand Nationals – and we were brought up around race horses.

“We were spending time at the breakfast table with Carl Llewellyn, Tony Evans, Dave England, Tom Molloy – jockeys who rode a lot of winners and were then educating me and my brother Willy about everything, not just racing.

“We were experts in sex education well before the classes started at school – it’s a shame there wasn’t a GCSE in it!

“But Nigel has always been so successful because he has always had a go at winning the big races, he wasn’t scared of any horse.

“Willy is as bad a loser as me which is handy. Willy and Dad are very good as straight away they look to next time and what they can do to win, whereas I’m always just angry at being beaten.”

Early grounding

Twiston-Davies honed his craft in the point-to-point scene, but recognises the impact that his mum had on his early development in the saddle.

He explained: “Where my mum was so good was that she would encourage me and tell me that the point-to-points were there for me to learn, so there was no pressure as Dad was always elsewhere at the races.

“As a result, I could learn without pressure.

“I went the wrong way, failed to weigh-in, and I was able to make a lot of mistakes and learn quickly.

“So, when I became a conditional jockey, I was a lot more comfortable.”

Ditcheat role

Following notable amateur success on the likes of Baby Run in the Foxhunters’ Chase at the 2010 Cheltenham Festival, Twiston-Davies began to ride out at Paul Nicholls’ Ditcheat yard, eventually going on to become their stable jockey in 2014.

He recalled: “Ruby Walsh stopped and I came in to ride Big Buck’s one day. It didn’t go to plan in the Cleeve Hurdle but I started to get more involved at the yard and the horses were winning at the second meetings for me.

“I actually accepted a job for Dai Walters, Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, but Paul rang me back and I ended up with him.

“It was a remarkable time – we had winners on 26 Saturdays in a row – and Paul has had so many great wins.

“He was so good at training a horse perfectly to the day for one race; there were so many occasions when he said ‘this was the plan’ and it worked out impeccably.”

Returning home

Following a dip – ‘my confidence wasn’t great, I wasn’t riding at my best and I was second-guessing everything’ – Twiston-Davies returned to the family’s Grange Hill Farm stables in 2018 and has enjoyed a renaissance, including a 2023 Cheltenham Festival win on the Patrick Neville-trained The Real Whacker.

However, he looks back fondly on his time with Nicholls and their shared achievements.

He said: “I haven’t been down there [to Ditcheat] in years but we still have a good relationship and have shared lots of good memories over the years.

“He wasn’t the easiest to ride for but he was so good. He just wants to win as badly as any jockey and it’s understandable when he gets upset – you see how much it means to him.”

“Harry [Cobden] is quickly catching up Ruby Walsh, but I’m the third-most-winning jockey for Paul and I’m proud of that.”