Retired three-time Irish champion jockey Davy Russell shares his views on Cheltenham’s star performer and the reason for the Festival’s frustrating false starts
This year’s Cheltenham Festival was an eventful week, as a big competition like that always is. The Festival’s leading jockey, Paul Townend, outshone everyone, he really is one of the all-time greats and certainly stamped his authority on the sport this year. He has a brilliant attitude, a marvellous way about him.
But the spread of winners really struck me this year, it was exceptional – different trainers, owners and jockeys, young and old, English, Welsh and Irish, all experienced the Cheltenham thrill. Even pedigree-wise, we had an array of different stallions siring winners.
We started the week with a Nicky Henderson-trained winner, Old Park Star, in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, and Seven Barrows once again had a brilliant week. Tom Bellamy rode his first Festival winner at the age of 31, while young Patrick O’Brien experienced Cheltenham success for the first time in the conditionals’ race and is a rising star.
Amateur jockey Shane Cotter is only 19, but he is already shining in the point-to-point field and his win in the Kim Muir was a real standout. He’s local to me, and his grandfather Dan Cotter bred a very good horse called Thyne Again who I rode. Similarly, Conor Stone-Walsh, who rode the cross-country winner for Gavin Cromwell, is a great talent.
Every day had its individual standout moment and in every race, there was a new story. This year, more than ever, told you just how open our sport is.
Cheltenham Festival starting woes
The high number of false starts was a frustration and the resulting spat between jockeys Nico de Boinville and Declan Queally in Wednesday’s opener received lots of media attention.
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As a jockey, you’re under a lot of pressure to get the best position and after a false start, it’s incredibly difficult to get back in the box seat.
It’s not like a game of snooker, where you can go back to video analysis and say the red ball was here and the white ball was there, and you can start again.
That’s why they need to get the start right first time, so it’s fair and everyone is happy. If you’re not happy with your position, that’s your own fault, you have to take your medicine.
The argument came about because Nico wanted to be back down the inside, but Dec was there. Nobody is innocent of not getting a bit anxious at the start and it often gets verbal. Nico got very vocal about the situation and probably shouldn’t have, but then again Dec probably shouldn’t have aired his dirty laundry in public.
In the end, I suggested that the two jockeys shook hands to draw a line under the matter – the final outcome will be decided by the British Horseracing Authority investigation.
I can forgive them for what was said in the heat of the moment and I hope the stewards will be understanding of that too. I’d be adamant in saying that, contrary to how it was portrayed in the media, there was no malice in what Nico did or didn’t say and it wasn’t racially motivated.
So what’s the solution?
The problem is that for the rest of the year, there are very few issues with the starts – it only seems to affect these big, competitive festivals. So to go changing a whole system just for Punchestown or Cheltenham is ludicrous. Unfortunately, though, they are where the spotlight falls.
At Cheltenham, it’s not the starter’s fault nor that of the jockeys – the positioning of the starts coming off a tight bend seems to be the real cause. You can’t expect 20-plus runners to come around a corner in a straight line.
All week, the winners were the horses that got a good start and were immediately to the fore – very few came from behind.
I have a big thing about the use of the flag, too. Rather than being static – raised before the start, then dropped to indicate “go”, meaning for jockeys it’s all about the anticipation – I would like to see a more visual intermediate cue of a waving flag that says you can come forward, but you’re not starting.
By Friday, as soon as the starter saw the runners in a straight line, he’d let them go, even if they were still a long way back and I think that was the right thing to do because the closer you get to the starter, the more anxious the riders are going to be.
I just hope they can find a solution before next year.
● What were your Cheltenham Festival highlights? Let us know at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance to have your views published in a future issue of Horse & Hound magazine
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Jockey Davy Russell is a dual Grand National winner and he returned to the 2022 Cheltenham Festival for the first time since breaking his neck in 2020. He is three-time champion jockey in his native Ireland and was leading jockey at Cheltenham in 2018.
