You’re mostly involved in syndicate horses now. What are the top three horses to follow from your yard?
We’ve got nine to run this year. Imperial Saint has been our flag bearer. He ran in the Grand National last year but didn’t stay. His main target is the Becher Chase in about a month’s time. Three miles on a flat, left-handed track ticks all his boxes.
Kikijo needs soft ground, but there’s a very good staying handicap chase to be won with him in the middle of winter. He’s a potential horse for the Welsh Grand National. He’s only six and very unexposed over fences.
Finally, we have a new young horse with Olly Murphy called Miss Master. She’s a four-year-old who won her Irish point-to-point. Olly took her to Lambourn to work today and was very pleased with what she did. She’ll probably run in a bumper in the next two or three weeks.
Which young riders are impressing you at the moment?
There’s some good young talent coming through. Jack Stenhouse, who I’ve seen quite a bit at the Hobbs yard, has just turned conditional. He’s been an amateur for two or three years and has a lot of point-to-point experience. He claims seven pounds and rode a winner for Philip at Ffos Las recently. In big handicaps, he’s going to be very good value for that claim.
Lucas Murphy, Timmy Murphy’s son, is another. He’s still at school doing his A-levels but gave a Paul Nicholls horse a very nice ride to win at Ascot on Saturday. Seven pounds is half a stone, which makes a big difference in a massive handicap.
Up north, there’s Danny McMenamin. He’s a fully-fledged professional now, but he’s a very good young jockey who I think will be used more and more by bigger stables down south as well.
What’s your reading of the situation at Paul Nicholls’ yard, with several prominent owners leaving? Are these worrying times?
I’m sure it is frustrating for him. He’s done amazingly well and is close to Martin Pipe’s all-time record of British winners. He still has a lot of years ahead of him. But that’s the nature of being a trainer or jockey; you go through ups and downs. He’s a brilliant trainer, and nothing has changed at his yard.
It’s just a case of finding new owners. It’s hard to compete when you haven’t got the spending power for the expensive horses coming from Ireland and France, but you would never write off Paul Nicholls.
He still has a lovely bunch of horses. Managing a massive yard with lots of big egos is a challenge in itself, as Dan Skelton is finding out. Willie Mullins is about the only man who has managed to run four horses for different owners in the same race and keep everyone happy!
Nicky Henderson had a few quieter years before bouncing back, so I definitely wouldn’t write Paul Nicholls off.
Looking ahead to the November meeting at Cheltenham, what are your thoughts on the Paddy Power Gold Cup?
Dan Skelton has been very proactive, and he has horses ready early to go for these big handicaps. You’re looking at horses who have already had a run and not many will have done this season.
At the moment his horse, Madara, who ran 13 days ago, is the favourite at 9-2, which seems quite short considering he got beaten on his first run back at Carlisle, but having a run is definitely a big bonus.
Meetmebythesea is an interesting one for the McManus team and trained by Ben Pauling. If they’ve had this as a target for a while, you’d expect him to go well. It will be painful watching for Paul Nicholls if one of his former horses, Blueking D’oroux, manages to win it for Dan Skelton.
Any early thoughts on the Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase?
We’re looking to see which novice hurdlers from last year step up as they go chasing.
Sober Glory from Philip Hobbs’ yard has schooled really nicely. He was unlucky in the Supreme last year, making a mistake at the last. He looks really well and you’d expect him to be more of a chasing type. The owners had a choice, but with Joe Tizzard having Alexei, a horse taking the Champion Hurdle route, they’ve sent Sober Glory chasing. Of the British horses, he’s definitely up there with one of the best novices you’d expect to see.
Finally, the Greatwood Hurdle, a race you’ve won three times. What do you look for here?
You’re looking for younger horses that are going to step up to Champion Hurdle grade, like we did with Rooster Booster. You want a horse who looks like they’ll have the most improvement off their handicap mark. Harry Fry‘s Idaho Sun is favourite; he missed the Festival with a small injury but looked very good in his three runs last year. He’s rated 140 but could easily be 150. Jonjo O’Neill‘s Pioneer Pete, who won at the October meeting, did nothing wrong and is an improving type rated 133 and is fit and well. You want a horse that’s still on the upward curve, novices from last year, rather than a seasoned handicapper who might run well but isn’t ahead of the handicapper.
The November meeting is seen as the proper start of the National Hunt season. How is the atmosphere?
It’s grown massively over the last 10 years into a busy three-day meeting with a lot of prize money. Just having a runner there is fantastic. After the Festival this is the one people want to be at.
The general public absolutely love it. For trainers, it’s lovely to give a novice a run at Cheltenham without the hype or pressure of the March Festival. There will be a lot of trainers who, if they are hoping to go back there in March, will be keen to get a sighter in.
It is an important meeting for everyone and as a jockey, riding a winner there means the season has definitely started with a bang.
Does a jockey improve with a run and ride better as the season progresses?
Confidence is the most important thing for any jockey. If you’re riding winners, races just flow easier. I’d consider myself to be in bad form if I had no winner for two days, whereas lads are lucky if they ride a winner every fortnight.
Jonjo O’Neill Jr. is a great example right now; his yard is in form, and he’s riding with a lot of confidence. Things just seem to go your way. If you’re riding for a yard that is in form and you’ve been riding winners, going into a meeting like the Paddy Power, you’ll be in a good place.
If you’re looking to back big-priced horses, look for yards and jockeys in good form. Those 20/1 or 25/1 shots can often outrun their odds.
What attributes does a novice chaser need to show now to prove they could be genuine contenders for March? What do you like to see in a horse?
Everyone thinks about the hill at the end and stamina, but Cheltenham is a course with very few straight sections; you’re constantly turning. They need to be able to jump and gallop left-handed, and travel. It’s a quick track. If a horse doesn’t travel, they’ll suddenly find themselves a couple of lengths back. Nicky Henderson and Dan Skelton train horses which are good strong travellers with natural speed, which means they are in a good position.
Nicky loves fast horses which have won Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Arkle winners. A Champion Chase horse needs to be able to gallop flat out for two miles; that includes stamina, speed and accuracy in jumping. It is one of the hardest races for a horse to win. One bad mistake and you’re gone. Two-mile chases are fast and furious, and any mistake will cost you badly.
You and AP McCoy locked horns for so many years. What was that competitive relationship like?
It was very strange compared to other sports because we actually got on really well. We sat next to each other in the weighing room for 20 years. We were highly competitive and probably as stubborn as each other, but we enjoyed taking each other on. We had a unique relationship.
We could moan at each other in the weighing room about getting frustrated at being beaten on a favourite or making a mistake at the last for instance, which I couldn’t do with many others. It was great fun to ride against him and be part of each other’s journey through all the highs and lows.
If you could go back in time and ride one of your past November meeting winners again, which would it be?
Fair Along when he won the Arkle Trial Novices’ Chase. He was a great little hurdler but basically a pony, and he’d never run over fences in public. Philip Hobbs and I thought it would either go really well or very badly. He took to it like a duck to water and bolted up. He was a real little star, and you get a great kick out of riding a fast two-mile chaser.
Richard Johnson was speaking on behalf of Grosvenor Sport, who have the latest horse racing odds.