JJ Slevin’s William Hill blog: Looking to bring Home the Gold Cup with Banbridge

William Hill ambassador JJ Slevin previews his rides on Days Three and Four of the Cheltenham Festival, including Home By The Lee in the Stayers’ Hurdle and Banbridge in the Gold Cup.

Things really start to hot up for me at the Cheltenham Festival during the last two days of the meeting where I look to have plenty of nice rides next to my name.

Cheltenham, Thursday

On Thursday, I kick things off aboard Galileo Dame in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle (1:20pm). She gets a lovely pull at the weights being a four-year-old. It is a big field, but I think the ground will suit her and we are hoping for a nice run tomorrow. She ran second behind Hello Neighbour in a Grade One juvenile the last day so that was a very strong run. I think it is a good shout that they are going for this race over the Triumph Hurdle and we would be hopeful she can run a good race. The Triumph Hurdle was the plan for a long time, but when they looked into this race a bit more, and realised she was getting a nice weight concession, they decided to go for this race as it looks like being quite a strong Triumph Hurdle this season. She has some good flat form to her name and you would be hoping she can be bang there at the end of the race.

In the two and a half mile novices’ handicap chase (2:00pm) I partner Nuburgring. He hasn’t won yet over fences and he disappointed over them the last day at Leopardstown, but his first two runs over them were good at Navan and Punchestown. Going up to two and a half miles will hopefully suit him a bit better. It is going to be a big ask as he hasn’t got that much experience over fences, but he has a nice weight on his back so are hopeful he will go well. This race popped up on the radar when we realised he wasn’t going to be a Grade One horse over fences it was then we thought we would try him in a handicap. I think this step up in trip will suit him well as I thought he was going to be a staying hurdler this season if he stayed over them.

I’m back on board Home By The Lee in the Stayers’ Hurdle (4:00pm), who finished a good third in the race 12 months ago. He has been really good this season and hopefully the ground will stay dry for him. He is in good form and I wouldn’t swap him for anything in the race. Hopefully he can make it fourth time lucky in the race. When he came back in the autumn he seemed to be in much better heart. I can’t really put it down to anything why this season he seems to have stepped up on his form. I think Teahupoo will be hard to beat in the race again, but I think he will give him a good honest race. I know the race has tended to be won by horses younger than 10 years old, but I don’t look into the stats too much. I just ride the horse how I find him and look at what form he is in and go from there.

In the Plate (4:40pm) I ride a horse called Jordans for Joseph O’Brien. He is a novice chaser being pitched into an open handicap which will be tough, but he ran a good race in a Grade One the other day behind Impaire Et Passe. It will be more of a fact-finding mission with him and it is hard to say he is well-treated off a mark of 148. Although he is a novice he does have plenty of experience of racing from when he was over in France.  I think this extended two and a half miles should be right up his street. He has worn the hood the last few times and that will help him handle the occasion.

Friday, Cheltenham

I’ve only got two rides on the Friday but it great to be riding Lark In The Mornin at the meeting again in the William Hill County Hurdle (2:00pm) having won the Fred Winter on him last year. He has always been a hard horse to train and we just about managed to get him out at Leopardstown on his last start. Joseph was keen to keep him fresh for Cheltenham so hopefully he has had a good preparation for it. He jumped a little bit slowly at Leopardstown and got on the back foot a bit, but then he came home well. It was a nice run for his first start of the season. He hasn’t had any away days as Joseph likes to keep them at home and keep them fresh. Although this is on a different track to last year, I think you have to take confidence he has run well at the meeting before. It is a very competitive handicap hurdle, but you would be hopeful he could be involved.

The Gold Cup (4:00pm) is a race all us jockeys want to win and I’m really looking forward to riding Banbridge in the race. I didn’t ride him at Kempton Park in the King George as I was back in Ireland, but Paul (Townend) gave him an unbelievable ride. He stuck his neck out and really tried hard. Il Est Francais took them along at an unbelievable tempo and he was just able to manage to wear him down. I’ve just got to go out there and ride my own race on him and see what happens and how the cards fall.

It will be hard to beat Galopin Des Champs, but hopefully we try and give it one shot at him and see what happens. It shows you the ability he has to be able to compete at the top level at the different distances that he has done. It would be hard to say when I got off him after winning the Grade One over two miles at Punchestown last year that I thought he would end up in a Gold Cup. But it has been a fair journey by him and great training, and planning, by Joseph and his owner Ronnie Bartlett. The ground is key to him so hopefully the ground remains dry until at least 4pm on Friday. The question mark is whether he will get the extra two and a half furlongs required in the Gold Cup, but he relaxes well, and he switches off, so he gives himself every chance that he will get it.