FEATURE BRADLEY GIBBS MAGIC MOMENT
Sometimes, the best decisions can be made on the spur of the moment, and for amateur rider and trainer Bradley Gibbs, the late call to enter Premier Magic in the St James’s Place Festival Hunters’ Chase will go down as arguably the greatest of his career, as he told Graham Clark …. W ritten off as a 66-1 chance by the
bookmakers after failing to complete the amateur
riders’ equivalent of the Cheltenham Gold Cup 12 months earlier, the ten- year-old gelding ensured Gibbs’ dream turned into reality in the historic event back at this year’s Cheltenham Festival. However, while Gibbs can proudly tell the tale of how he added his name to the roster of those to triumph in the extended three-and-a-quarter- mile test, the sight of Premier Magic bounding up the famous Cheltenham hill nearly never materialised. He says: “It was unbelievable to win the race every amateur wants to win. I ran him the year before and expected a big run out of him. I couldn’t see him being out of the first five. I went down the inside and it got tight and he just backed out of it. “I had another horse going there and she didn’t make it as she had a fall the race before. I said to Claire [Sheriff, partner] I would never take Premier Magic back there as it was such a disappointment with him last year. “A couple of days before the entries shut, I said we’ve got nothing for it, so I’m going to put him in and we will
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