Latest news with #DavidPowerJockeys'Cup
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Cheltenham festival 2025: Champion Hurdle tops the action on day one
Greg Wood Good morning from Cheltenham racecourse, where all feels as it should do on the first day of the festival meeting despite the track's admission over the weekend that the crowds are not (yet) flooding back to the meeting as many would have hoped. This is the first year of a new-look festival, with more handicaps to boost competitiveness and field sizes, and also several new measures to improve the 'customer experience', and it will presumably not be until this time next year that we get much of an idea of how it all worked out. One of the key indicators of customer experience, of course, is whether they emerge from the most concentrated four days of betting all year with their noses in front, and Tuesday's opening card will be a potentially crucial first engagement between punters and bookies as all four of the Grade One events have a short-priced favourite. Bookies' PRs have been falling over themselves for the last few days, trying to come up with increasingly eye-catching estimates of how much the industry will lose if all four favourites oblige. As ever, their numbers should not be taken at face value as a. no-one will be checking the books and b. they get paid for mentions, not historical accuracy, but it would certainly put the punting fraternity on good terms with themselves if the four-timer– which currently pays around 7-1 – were to come up on day one. That, of course, also suggests that it is around 1-7 that at least one of the supposed good things will be beaten, but if Constitution Hill can justify his odds-on price in the Champion Hurdle at 4.00, then any pain felt as the result of a defeat of a favourite or two earlier in the day will be largely erased. He is already rightly hailed as one of the greatest hurdlers of all time, but a second Champion Hurdle, after he was forced to surrender his crown without a battle 12 months ago, would be one of those festival moments that no-one who is there to see it will ever forget. It's possible to think that Constitution Hill is the likeliest winner this afternoon while also believing that Brighterdaysahead, his main market rival, should be a fair bit closer to Nicky Henderson's gelding in the betting. A magnificent race is in prospect, in the midst of a card that has something for everyone with three ultra-competitive handicaps also in the mix. There was, a little surprisingly, around 3.5mm of rain at the track overnight but Jon Pullin, the clerk of the course, reports that the turf has 'taken it really well'. As a result, the meeting will open – as it generally does – on good-to-soft, and while daytime temperatures are unlikely to get back to the double-figures we all enjoyed last week, there is little or no rain in the forecast. Some thoughts and picks for the first day card are here, the wonderful Don McRae's recent interview with Harry Skelton, the clear leader in the race for the new £500,000 David Power Jockeys' Cup is here, and we're set fair for another thrilling week of action in the Cotswolds. As always, you can follow all the action and reaction as it happens here on the blog, with race previews, links to video form, news, live commentary and more. The famous Cheltenham roar is now just a few hours away! Share
The Guardian
10-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘I've seen both sides of drink': Harry Skelton on family heartbreak, ambition and Cheltenham
'There were some times that were very rough,' Harry Skelton says calmly as he remembers a defining period of his life when, as boys, he and his brother Dan found a way to cope with the slow death of their mother from alcoholism. 'A lot of families have gone through worse but it was, at times, really hard and it was evident what was going on.' At their sunlit yard near Stratford-upon-Avon, the Skelton brothers are deep in preparation for this week's Cheltenham festival. Last year Harry rode four winners, which were all trained by Dan, and their prospects for more success over the coming days are high. Dan looks likely to end the season as champion trainer while Harry is second in the jump-jockey standings and on course to win the inaugural David Power Jockeys' Cup which, using a points-based system for races televised on ITV, awards the leading rider a staggering £500,000. So there is neither anger nor bitterness when Skelton addresses a distant trauma. Instead, he is reflective and perceptive as he charts how he and his brother found light amid the gathering darkness of their mother's illness: 'We were just kids and it was out of our control. But we got on with it and we had ponies and chickens and entertained ourselves. I think that's why me and Dan are so close, because he's always been there for me. He's four-and-a-half years older and he's supplied me with a fantastic career and made me what I am today.' Did their mother understand that her boys were on a path to racing glory? 'No, I don't think so. We were at Paul Nicholls' yard when she died. I was 16 and I'd just started riding. My mum and dad [the Olympic champion showjumper Nick Skelton] had split up when I was two. We went to live with my mum and then, when I was around 10, we moved back to Warwickshire to live with Dad. In the last three years we'd probably become a bit more distant. It was tough but we were young and ambitious. We had a very driven father and we were like that as well. We were very focused.' Skelton's hero as a young jockey was AP McCoy and like the great champion he refrains from drinking alcohol. 'I've seen both sides of drink, obviously,' he says. 'It got the better of my mother and so it was a bit of both in terms of her and AP's influence. It can do wicked things to people and I never wanted to go down that road. And, growing up, I wanted to be AP McCoy. So I didn't drink because AP didn't drink. I thought: 'If that's the sacrifices you have to make, I'm up for that.'' His addiction, like McCoy's, is to winning. Skelton pauses when I ask if he savours his winners? 'It's so hard as a jockey. I go to the races sometimes and out of six rides I've had trebles, four-timers, five-timers. But as soon as one race is finished, if you ride a winner, your job is done. That's what you were meant to do. All that's relevant is the next one, half-an-hour later.' The 35-year-old nods wryly. 'Our game's very good at keeping your feet on the ground and keeping you in the moment. As a jockey you can't get too ahead of yourself because you get beaten a lot more times than you win. And it's the losing that's hard to get over. They 'override' the winners. Failure hurts.' He is such a likable and intelligent jockey that it seems important to linger over his four winners at the Cheltenham festival last year. 'We had two winners on two days, on the Wednesday and Thursday with a double both days. I always dreamed of going there to win Grade Ones and having doubles because I grew up watching Ruby Walsh riding winners left, right and centre. When you get a taste of that you just want more and more. 'There's an expectation now, this year, and that's different. But if people are expecting you to have winners, you're doing something right. If you're not having any pressure you're not training the right horses, you're not riding the right horses. And this year there's more pressure, more expectation. But hopefully we've got the team in its best form and we'll deliver.' Skelton skips through their list of rides and the chosen horses ring out with winning promise. 'L'Eau du Sud has got a great chance on the first day, in the Arkle. He's got a lot of good form and ticks most boxes. Willie Mullins' Majborough is just ahead of us, the favourite, but he's only had two starts over fences. We've got a big chance there. 'I'm also really looking forward to riding Protektorat in the Ryanair Chase. He's in great form and two-and-a-half miles around the New course at Cheltenham is made for him. It's a stiff finish and stamina really comes into play and he has every chance.' Be Aware is the favourite with numerous bookies in the Coral Cup and Skelton says: 'He's got a really big chance. At two mile five, it's going to bring out some more improvement and he goes in really fresh.' He also namechecks Take No Chances in the Mares' Hurdles and Catch Him Derry in the Pertemps Network Final – but he and his brother know they have a long way to go before matching the might of the Mullins yard. 'We'd love to do that in years to come. We want to win as much as we can and, down the line, go to Cheltenham and challenge Willie for every race possible. We're working towards that.' Ambition and resolve pump through the Skelton yard and it makes sense that Sir Alex Ferguson should be one of their owners. They shared a stunning victory with Ferguson when Protektorat won the Ryanair Chase last year. It's moving to hear Skelton read the message Ferguson sent him when he became champion jockey in 2021. After the old manager praised him in intricate detail Fergie ended his note with these words: 'You have to stay at the top of the mountain. You have been given that winning feeling. You cannot go back.' The Skeltons are close to fulfiling their primary goal of the season. 'The objective to start with this year was to try to make Dan the champion trainer and it's looking good,' Skelton says, with his brother almost £600,000 clear of Paul Nicholls in second place. In his quest to become champion jockey for a second time Skelton is 23 winners behind Sean Bowen but he makes a telling point: 'I'd love to be champion again but it's going to be difficult to catch Sean. He's had more than 200 rides [more] than me. My strike rate is better but I just ride for Dan. I'm so involved here that I don't really get the option for many outside rides. I wouldn't want it any other way because I absolutely love working with my brother.' There is also the large compensation of the half-a-million pounds Skelton will surely win as he is 52 points ahead of Harry Cobden in the David Power Cup. In financial terms it's the equivalent of a jockey winning 10 Grand Nationals and Skelton agrees that 'it's a life-changing amount of money. That doesn't usually come along for a National Hunt jockey.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion How will he use the money? 'Bridget [Andrews, his wife and former jockey] and I have a little boy. Rory is 10 months old and that money can really help with his future education and upbringing. A lot of people have helped me and I would like to be able to give them something back. Racing's been fantastic to me so I'd like to give something back to racing – whether that's one of the charities or somewhere else in the industry that's given me so much.' Skelton's love of racing and his shared bond with other riders is evident in his emotional reaction to the death last month of Michael O'Sullivan, the young Irish jockey. 'It's awful. Just horrific for his family, his friends and weighing room colleagues. A lot of jockeys live on their own and we talk to each other. We're like a family and, suddenly, he's not there. For the person that sat next to him every day at the races, it's very tough.' He looks up, his eyes burning with intensity. 'Being a National Hunt jockey is not glamorous. We choose to do it but it's very dangerous and we walk the tightrope every day. There's just something in us that makes us willing to take that chance. I suppose it comes down to the taste of victory, and the adrenaline of riding, that makes us a little different.' Bridget has won races at the Cheltenham festival and so she understands the thrill and risk of racing implicitly. But did O'Sullivan's death make them consider the dangers in a new way? 'No, not at all. Of course it would be unfair on Rory if Bridget was still riding. She misses riding the Cheltenham festival winners but she says now that her job is to be the best mother to Rory, and that's exactly what she is. We know it's a tough sport.' Skelton, who is much more charming and urbane than most jockeys, slips back into the amusing stereotype of the driven iron man when describing his reaction soon after the birth of Rory. 'He was born at 10 past five in the morning and I left at 10 past 10 to go to Sandown for five rides.' What might have happened if labour had been delayed? 'I'd have told her to push quicker,' Skelton says, channelling his inner McCoy. But his wry smile reveals that he is joking. 'Rory was born after four days of labour – or should I say four days of torture for Bridget. It was an emergency C-section and thankfully everything was good. But Bridget knew that my brother was chasing a trainer's championship. I'm not sure how many wives would understand that I had to go five hours after the birth to do my job. But as long as Bridget and Rory were all right, which thankfully they were, there would never have been a conversation about it. Bridget knew I had to go and she wanted me to support Dan and ride winners.' When Bridget and Rory pop in to say hello it's obvious that Skelton is smitten with them. 'They mean everything to me and it's the same with my dad,' he says. 'We speak every day and we're very close. And then there's my grandad. He's 95 and he calls me every day on the way home from racing, whether we've had a winner or a loser, and he'll tell me what I've done wrong. He gets so much pleasure from our success but he lets me know what I could have done better. But that's family – they're your toughest critics as well.' Skelton smiles as the painful memories of his mother's illness retreat still further. Surrounded by his wife and son, his brother, father and grandfather, Skelton adds one last line with winning clarity: 'Family is everything.' Harry Skelton leads the David Power Jockeys' Cup. Visit
BBC News
10-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Cobden hopes to 'inspire' new generation of fans
Jump jockey champion Harry Cobden said he hopes to help "inspire" the next generation ahead of this week's Cheltenham Festival. Cobden became only the eighth rider to win the championship since the 1980-81 season when he clinched the title on the eve of the final meeting last April. The 26-year-old was speaking on a visit to his former primary school in Yeovil."When you go racing now it's typically an older generation, so if you can come here and inspire the next generation to possibly go racing then it's only a good thing," Cobden told BBC Points 26-year-old is fourth in the current jump jockey championship standings, with 89 wins. Last year's runner-up Sean Bowen leads the way on said he would love to win the title again despite describing it as the most "difficult" thing he has done in his career so far."Since I got a licence, being champion jockey was something I always wanted to do at some stage of my career," he added."It was probably the most difficult thing I've done in racing in terms of the amount of rides you have, the amount of hours you have to sit in the car, you need a great team around you to make it all happen. "It's something I've done once, I'd love to do it again, but you need to be in the right position for all that pressure, and the most important thing is to stay injury free." Somerset-born Cobden works with trainer Paul Nicholls and has seen demands for his time, including sponsorship and media appearances, increase since winning the championship last spring. He is set for a busy Cheltenham Festival, but Bowen will miss the week after losing an appeal against a seven-day suspension handed to him by the whip review is also second overall in the new David Power Jockeys' Cup competition, introduced this season for televised races only, which offers a prize pot of £500,000 to the winner. "If I can finish in the top three I'd be really happy. I still haven't taken my foot off the gas, and obviously first prize is what everyone wants to win, isn't it," he said.
