FEATURE FERGAL O’BRIEN
THE PREVIEW SHOW Join Aly Vance, Martin Kelly and Hayley Moore for the Raceday Preview Show.
They will be joined each day by racing greats and special guests, previewing the afternoon’s racing; providing exclusive information, insight and hopefully some winners! Guests this season so far have included Nicky Henderson, Patrick Mullins, Paul Nicholls, Harry Cobden, Gavin Cromwell, Johnny Burke and lots more famous racing names. There is a fabulous line up ready to discuss the best four days of jump racing in the world, with the highlights of the RoR Parade on Tuesday and Gold Cup Centenary celebrations on Friday. Watch the Preview Show live at the winners’ enclosure on:
l Champion Day : 12.15pm l Style Wednesday: 12.25pm l St Patrick’s Thursday: 12.25pm l Gold Cup Day: 12.25pm
“If Dysart Enos or Crambo gives me a Festival winner, there will be a lot of relief”
“It won’t be a walk in the park for her, as there are a few good horses from Ireland coming over, and I think Jeremy Scott’s Golden Ace is a beautiful filly, while Queens Gamble is also smart. “It would be lovely for us and Paddy to have a winner there together. Dysart Enos is one that does need Paddy.” In racing, initial plans can often be torn up, and O’Brien believes deviating from his original blueprint for Dysart Enos could be a benefit to her come the big day. He added: “It was very important to take Dysart Enos to Cheltenham in December to give her a feel for the place. I was very grateful to the owners for allowing me to do that. Once we realised that if she won a Listed or Graded race, she would have a five-pound penalty, we wanted to avoid all of that if we could. “She won at Doncaster the last day, like we hoped, but I think her run at Cheltenham against Harry Fry’s horse [Beat The Bat] was very solid. Whether it is Dysart Enos or Crambo or anything we run before those two that gives me a Festival winner, there will be a lot of relief when it finally happens. “You dare to dream and that is why we do it, and hopefully one of them can go in and we can get the job done.
day as the finished article. Connor had done a lot of work on him to get him to where he was at Ascot. “At Grade One level, you are talking small margins and he only won by a short head that day. “Paddy [Brennan] wanted to ride him as well, but I felt, looking to the future, Crambo is young, and I just felt I needed to get someone on him to know him for seasons to come. “Johnny has been there and done it and has ridden in Grade One races since he was 18. He has won on Love Envoi at the Cheltenham Festival, so he has been there and got the T-shirt.” As much as O’Brien insists having Burke in the saddle is a big plus for Crambo, he feels that stable jockey and close friend Paddy Brennan is essential to the chances of Dysart Enos. Since winning the Grade Two Goffs UK Nickel Coin Mares’ Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race at Aintree in April, the six-year-old has once again looked the real deal this season, after registering three victories from as many starts over hurdles. He added: “Dysart Enos has been a fantastic mare for us and is six from six. She has done everything we have asked her to do. She has just been phenomenal.
Jessica & Caroline Rowles Nicholson www.jessicamarydesign.co.uk 07950 026 305 Jessica Mary Design, 134 St Johns Hill, London SW11 1SL Beautiful handmade hats for races & weddings ~Bespoke available~ See our collections at The Cheltenham Festival Stand 16 ~ The Shopping Village
48 CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL PREVIEW MAGAZINE
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