J J Slevin’s William Hill blog: Can’t rule out the Champion Chase for Banbridge

William Hill ambassador J J Slevin reflects on the honour of becoming the newly retained rider for Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, shares insights into his continued partnerships and recent successes, and looks ahead to key rides and big hopes for the upcoming season.

Double Green: A perfect late Christmas present!

I was delighted to receive the call to become the new retained rider for Simon Munir and Isaac Souede. It was like the perfect late Christmas present. I’ve had plenty of rides for them over the years, but Daryl (Jacob) stopped quickly after winning the Grade One at Limerick on Impaire Et Passe, and thankfully they reached out to me straight away, so I was happy to come on board.

I’m still going to work with Sean and Bernardine Mulryan, who own the likes of Fastorslow, and I’m looking forward to continuing that as well. I wouldn’t think things in my week will change too much. I’m still going to ride out for Joseph O’Brien, Martin Brassil, and Stuart Crawford. Other than popping into Willie Mullins’s yard, it won’t change much from that.

Willie obviously has some very nice horses for the team at his yard, which I look forward to seeing, while O’Toole, who won well at Ayr yesterday, has been a decent horse all along. When he goes back over fences, he will be a nice horse.

A winning start and high hopes ahead

It was a great start to the new association to get a double at Ayr, and it was especially nice to start off on a winning note with my first ride in the new role. Hopefully, we can continue that trend going forward. This all comes on the back of having a good time at Leopardstown over Christmas, riding two Grade One winners for Joseph.

Home By The Lee has been a fantastic horse for the team, and it was great to win the three-mile Grade One hurdle for a second time. He might go straight to the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham now, where hopefully he will run well again. He hasn’t been beaten far in it in the past. I know it is hard to say that the horse will win on his third trip there, having been beaten in his two previous starts there, but he is going there with a good shout. I don’t ride him out too much at home, and I hadn’t sat on him this season until the other day. I knew Joseph was quite happy with him. He is definitely in good heart at the moment.

It was a big performance by Solness the day before in winning his Grade One as well. He travelled well and jumped exceptionally. He fought them all from the front, and it was a brave performance from him. I think after that you would have to look at the Queen Mother for him, and he is well entitled to line up in it.

Gold Cup, Ryanair and Champion Chase all possibles for Banbridge

Although I couldn’t ride Banbridge in the King George, it was great to see him win as he has been a great horse for Joseph and Ronnie Bartlett. He has got a fantastic win record, as he has won more races than he has lost, and to win a King George is massive as it is an iconic race. It was a great race to watch, and Paul (Townend) gave him a lovely ride.
He has the option of the Gold Cup or Ryanair, but you couldn’t rule out the Champion Chase either, as he won a Grade One over two miles at Punchestown. I’ll leave that one for Joseph and Ronnie to sort out!

Hopefully, it will be a dry spring, as that is the main thing he needs – good ground. If Cheltenham was too soft, he would probably skip that and go on to Aintree. One thing with the new role is that you will hopefully see me over in Britain a little bit more, and I’m down at Sandown on Saturday, riding one called Mr Barrowclough for Nigel Twiston-Davies.

He won a bumper on his first start, and although he has been off for a while, hopefully, he can run a nice enough race on his debut over hurdles. It is great to be back riding for Nigel after I spent around a year with him in the past. They are a great team, and it will be nice to be joining forces with them again.