Sean Flanagan: Emotions high for William Munny in the Michael O’Sullivan Supreme

William Hill ambassador Sean Flanagan previews his rides at The Cheltenham Festival on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Cheltenham Festival is a time of year that every jockey looks forward to and hopefully I’ve got a few nice rides at the meeting this year.

I’ve not flown myself over to the meeting this year as although the plane is very handy, I do like to have my car with me to get me about when I’m over here.

Tuesday, Cheltenham

My only ride on the first day is aboard William Munny (1.20pm) in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and, if he does go and run a big race, I’m sure the emotions will be very high.

I know I had taken over the role with Barry Connell before Michael (O’Sullivan) had his accident, but at the same time he was still involved, and I used to ask him about the horses, he was still being very good to me. He was a very grounded, level-headed lad that never got carried away. He appeared on the scene after riding a few point-to-point winners to then fall into one of the best novice hurdlers at the time in Marine Nationale.

You could see from his reaction the day he won the Supreme that he was very appreciative of everyone that had helped him along the way, and he was still that way right up until the day he had the accident. The day William Munny won at Punchestown was the day after his funeral and it took me a few minutes to get back into the parade ring as I just wanted to gather all my thoughts. I think the English style of racing will suit him as they will go quicker in the Supreme than what they did the last day when I rode him in the Listed novice at Punchestown. Workahead beat him at Leopardstown on his first run of the season, but he did plenty wrong that day as he was a bit keen and fresh. He still did plenty wrong the second day when he got beaten by an aeroplane in Kawaboomga. He had excuses in those two runs, before winning last time.

I think the stiffer track here will suit him here as well as the better ground. He might not be as keen on the sounder surface, and we have fitted the hood as well. They are all positives and the fact he is coming in off the back of a win will give him a bit of confidence as well. I suppose the only question is has that win come too close to this race, but we will only find out on the day. I expected him to win the last day, and go and win well, but suppose the way I had ridden him on the day it wasn’t even about winning. Instead, it was about trying to teach him as much as possible as we had it in our mind, we wanted to get him in line for the Supreme.

First and foremost, I wanted to him to switch off and have a clean round of jumping then take whatever came my way. The main positive I took out of it was how he went through the line. I had to bypass the fence away from the stands to get him pulled up. The way he went through the line suggests he is a horse with plenty left in the tank. He is a very keen horse to ride in a race, but during the preliminaries he seems quite relaxed. He doesn’t get overly buzzy pre-race so I would be hoping he would be okay, and the first-time hood can only be a help.

If he did go and win this, how do you react, and what do you do? It is hard to know. I suppose we will have to see how it works out on the day, but hopefully Mikey will give us a shove in the direction from the skies above and we can run well.

I’ve not got a ride in the Champion Hurdle, but I find it very hard to oppose Constitution Hill. People might poke holes in his work, but he has never let anyone down on the track. Brighterdaysahead is second favourite, but most of her form is on slower ground and State Man has a little bit to prove as he hasn’t really come back to what he was last year.

Wednesday, Cheltenham

Marine Nationale (4.00pm) is my big ride on the second day in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and he is worthy of his place in the market behind Jonbon. He won the Supreme in 2023 and his form is good. He missed a large part of his novice chase career, and he has only had the three runs over fences this season, so he is very unexposed in a way. He stepped forward from his Christmas run at Leopardstown to his run back there at the Dublin Racing Festival. There is probably a small bit of room for him to come forward again and Barry (Connell) thinks that he has done that.

There were plenty of positives to take away from his last run. I thought I was going to pick Solness up the last day, but he just kicked again on the flat. Will he be able to do that up the hill here, I’m not so sure, but that remains to be seen. He is a course and distance winner over hurdles at Cheltenham and it is a little bit of a horses for courses thing there, so we know this lad has ticked that box.

At the price Jonbon is, would I be backing him if I was a betting man, probably not, as I just think the younger legs coming through might have something to say. The stiffer finish here and the drying ground is going to be a big help to Marine Nationale.

In the Cross Country Chase, I’m really looking forward to getting back on board Vanillier (3.20pm), who is an old favourite of mine. He seemed to be rejuvenated with a set of blinkers on him at Punchestown last time while the ground drying out here will be a big plus to him.  Stumptown is favourite, but we are getting 10lbs from him. A former Albert Bartlett winner, he is a very classy horse and I’m hopeful he could run a nice race. It would be fantastic if I could get a festival win on him. He is only 10 years old, so he still has a bit of life in him and the blinkers the last day showed that. He is not too high in the handicap, and I would like to hope he can run a good race.

The Grand Annual is always a competitive contest and I’m on Midnight It Is (4.40pm) for Gavin Cromwell, who also has My Mate Mozzie and the King Of Prs in the race. The last time I rode him, which was at Fairyhouse in January, it was probably my fault a little bit that we were not closer at the end. We jumped the first couple of fences well, and we were in a nice enough position, but he just went a bit laboured in my hand. I was blaming the ground, so I gave him a little chance mid-race, and I ended up being further back than I wanted to be, and he ended up coming home really strong.

If I had him a bit further forward mid-race, I could have possibly been closer, but at the same time the ground was a bit slower than he would have liked, so this nicer ground will help him. I didn’t ride him the last day, but that race might have come quick enough after Fairyhouse. I think at the prices he is at I think he is a good each-way bet.