FEATURE DAVID MANN
Mann continued: “I was sitting up in the bar about an hour-and-a-half before the race and then the nerves really set in. People were coming up to me saying are you okay and I said I was fine. I was just taking in the fact that I had a runner in one of the biggest races at Cheltenham Festival. “We were confident we had the horse as good as he could be at that particular time. Everything went to plan, but to win it the way we did was unreal. “When he beat off Bronn coming up the hill I thought we could get this, then I could see Gerri Colombe coming up like a train and I thought we are going to get caught here. “There was a good group of us there and they were all shouting, and I was so quiet and I said, ‘Oh my God
we have been caught’. “I thought we had been pipped on the line, as you couldn’t really see. Then Matt Chapman ran over and he said Davey you have got it, I’m telling you. I was breathless and I thought is this really happening? “I’ve been going to Cheltenham well in excess of 20 years and I remember one time looking down into the parade ring thinking wouldn’t it be really good to know someone who has a runner so you might have the chance of getting in there. To have three wins there in 12 months is unbelievable. “If he comes back in the form he was in last season, and everything goes right with him, he will be a force to be reckoned with. It has been the thing of dreams and hopefully it will continue to be.”
“If he comes back in the form he was in last season, he will be a force to be reckoned with”
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