F EATURE DAVID MAXWELL
and is a bigwooden brute to ride. The St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup is the perfect race for him as you can drop him in on the inside and hewill travel, jump and stay. Hewill gowell so I will try not to fall off him.” Preparing to ride at The Festival is a longway from where it all started for the father of two,who dabbled in event riding before turning to racing. Recalling the moment that got himhooked on the sport, he smiles: “I remember it like itwas yesterday – the first time I jumped a chase fence. Itwas on about a 100 rated point-to-pointer trained by Henry Hill at Cottenham with SirMark Prescott starting. The flag goes down and we gallop down to the first andwe can’t have been going very fast as theywere not good enough to but I was like, ‘OhMy God - no horse can take off at this speed!’ I got to the fence, closedmy eyes, realised I didn’t die and from thatmoment I was hooked. The speed of thoroughbreds galloping at chase fences is a pure adrenaline rush.” Since the days of charging around the likes of Cottenham in point-to-point races his skills in the saddle have improved considerably; something he attributes to the support of now retired Festival- winning rider-turned jockey coach Dave Crosse. “Aside frombuying a bunch of decent horses the next best thing I didwas get Crossey to teachme how to ride them. It is not just the stuff that youwatch in a finish. So much of it is course management and things likewhere you are in a race, howare you going to ride that race and the nuance of tracks. Crossey started improvingmy riding inmymid 30s from a lowbase to an acceptable level. He is a good coach and he has been a big help.” At the age of 43, Maxwell is verymuch a flagbearer for amateurs of his generation. Andwhile the discussion of retirement is something hewill have to come to terms with, he hopes he still has plentymore Festival appearances still to come: “People love racing for the heart and passion and I think that is why people like me. I think I will knowwhen it is time to call it a daywhen I stop enjoying going to small courses on aMonday. If I keep it sensible and keep on top of the injuries I could go on for ten years ormaybe more.”
theatre thatmore than a quarter of amillion people across four days are hugely passionate about and having a great time. That amateurs can go and play in this – that tome is fabulous.” In any normal year a number of amateurs will take their place in the starting line-ups, but Covid-19 protocols not onlymeant the four days were staged behind closed doors, but only professional riders were allowed to take part by the sport’s governing body, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). “Itwas badmissing The Festival last year but you have to remember the context of whatwas going on. Itwas a national emergency and they are events andwhen you are in the middle of one you just have to deal with it. I thinkmy needs are secondary to the general population. I think racing handled itwell as the sport continued to the best of its ability. “My friend, and driverMohammed Sidat, died during that time. I still miss him every day as hewas just a lovely human being.Whatwas happeningwith Covid was just appalling so the fact that amateur sports people couldn’t gallop their horses around the track is kind of neither here nor there.” Therewill be no stoppingMaxwell this year, and he highlights BobAnd Co and Cat Tiger as two of his best chances of victory,while Feu du Large could give him a first opportunity to ride over the cross country fences in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase. “BobAnd Cowill go for the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup again and I’d say Cat Tiger,who I thought previouslywouldn’t get three miles but it looks like he does, for the KimMuir. I could also have Feu du Large for the Glenfarclas Cross Country. He is quite slowbut he seems to like jumping the cross country fences at Pau. It would be nice to have a spin in that before I die. Cat Tiger is a nice horse that is a very good jumper and he is bold. He is quite sharp. I thought hewas a shoe-in for an Aintree Foxhunters’. He is not quite bold enough over those fences but he is great over a park fence and is lovely to ride. Hewonwell atAscot last time and I think a KimMuirwill suit him. BobAnd Co is an absolute savage
THE JOCKEYCLUB . CO . UK 45
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