FEATURE DAVY RUSSELL
I t isn’t cast in stone, but there’s a good chance this year’s Cheltenham Festival could offer the opportunity for a farewell we didn’t think we’d get – to a man who has been nearly ever-present in the winners’ enclosure over the past decade or so. It will hinge on the fortunes of Jack Kennedy, who faces a race against time to recover his fifth broken leg at just 23 years of age. The racing world is willing him on, of course, but waiting in the wings is the ultimate super sub in Davy Russell – just weeks after he dramatically called time on his illustrious career back in December. A quick chat with his long-time friend and ally Gordon Elliott makes it clear that a year-long Frankie Dettori- style farewell was never going to fit the style of someone like Davy Russell, who shocked the racing world when retiring on the spot after guiding Liberty Dance to victory for Elliott at Thurles on 18 December 2022. It was a decision which Elliott hints that he perhaps initiated, though he was quick to explain that the timing felt right for Russell, who has ridden almost 1,600 winners during his long career. He said: “I’ve known Davy since I was 16 or 17 years, we used to ride point to points together. He really became a part of the team in 2008, when he rode his first winner for me on a horse called Tharawaat at Navan. He’s ridden a lot of winners for me. He stays with me when he comes up, so we’re as much friends as we are colleagues. “Davy didn’t retire because there’s anything wrong with his bottle, or because of an injury. He retired because of the position I was in, in that I had to let Jack (Kennedy) become first jockey. He’s a young lad on the way up and if I didn’t give him that role, I may have found myself in a position where I wouldn’t have been able to hold on to Jack. It’s a testament to the man that we had a chat about it and he knew he was coming to With Davy Russell on standby to come out of retirement for this year’s Cheltenham Festival, Nick Seddon speaks to Gordon Elliott to learn more about the man with 25 Festival winners under his belt… Waiting in the wings
“I’ve known Davy since I was 16 or 17. He’s ridden an awful lot of winners for me, and he spends a lot of time here. We’re as much friends as we are colleagues”
a bit to do jumping the last and was drifting right on the run-in, but Davy had saved enough under his sleeve to get him over the line. It was vintage stuff.” The motion of Lord Windermere being Russell’s finest hour is put to Elliott and he is quick to mention the small matter of two Grand National wins 146 miles up the road at Aintree on a certain Tiger Roll. “I disagree with that; his finest hour was on Tiger Roll!” he says. “His record at Cheltenham is second to none, he goes back there and pulls something new out every year. “He gelled really well with Tiger Roll. Keith (Donoghue) used to ride him in the Cross Country race and Davy would take over in the Grand National. He just had so much confidence in the horse.” Kennedy’s optimism and ability to come back from such a setback means that we’ll be waiting right until the wire to find out if we’ll see Russell in the saddle one more time, but Elliott stresses that the prospect fazes neither him nor the veteran rider. He said: “Davy will still be a part of the team and he’s a great man for a bit of advice. I’d say Davy would be over there riding out for us in the mornings and if anything happens to Jack, he’ll be ready to go. “He’s still going to be a huge part of team Cullentra and he’ll be at Cheltenham one way or another!”
the end of his career and he said to me that it was time for Jack to take over and for him to take a step back. “We’re keeping everything crossed that Jack can be back for Cheltenham. It’s going to be tight and he knows that – he’s number one and all the horses will be waiting for him. Davy knows that he’s to step away once Jack is back.” The fact that four of Russell’s latest five Festival winners have been trained at Cullentra House Stables is a hint at just how much influence Elliott has had on the 43-year-old’s career – for all that, his finest hour in the Cotswolds, when winning the 2014 Cheltenham Gold Cup with Lord Windermere, was for Jim Culloty. The pair have teamed up for seven Cheltenham Festival winners in total and it’s certainly more than a brief pause as Elliott nominates his favourite, when showing patience in abundance on The Storyteller in the 2018 Festival Plate. Elliott explains: “I do remember when he won at The Festival on The Storyteller, he was just awesome. He ran in the Plate after running well in a Grade 1 at Leopardstown on the last day and Davy just gave him a masterful ride. He was a strong favourite for the race but he wasn’t the easiest of rides. Davy was able to just tuck him in and switch him off. He was just so slick in the saddle and timed his bid to perfection. He still had
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