Check out our columnist's wishlist as he prepares to present the Cheltenham Festival on ITV next week.
Jump racing’s cathedral has its congregation back next week - it's going to be spectacular.
ITV will be coming on earlier than normal. We’ll be live on each day at 12.50 with The Opening Show at 9am.
I sense more anticipation for this year’s Festival than for a very long time, with people having been starved of it for a year. Tickets have been selling faster than ever and I can’t wait for it to arrive.
As the presenter for the week on terrestrial television – the below is my wishlist for the 2022 Festival.
Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore star again
This is top by a long, long way and it's Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore winning the Unibet Champion Hurdle and making it 15 out of 15.
Whatever anyone thinks of the calibre of the horses she's beating she'd then join the pantheon of great Champion Hurdlers for what she's achieved. I always argue with Ruby Walsh and say it’s a weak division bar one horse but he says she's just scared off most of the potential rivals. The one thing we both agree on is she's very, very special.
And what will be extra special is seeing her return to the winners' enclosure afterwards. Anyone who is going to Cheltenham I implore you to get there and congratulate Honeysuckle and Rachael if they win.
You'll remember at the Dublin Racing Festival in front of only 11,000 people the place was electric and the reception she received was stunning. Imagine what it can be like with 60,000-plus on day one at Cheltenham?
It's one of those moments that I'll take a leaf out of the late, great Richie Benaud and the wonderful Des Lynam’s books and let the pictures do the talking. Last year the pair came back to a desolate, stony silence. This year I’d love to see her return to an absolute wall of noise.
Big guns make for Champion Chase cracker
The big guns all turn up for the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Everyone in sport loves a rematch and we have it here. Energumene went into the Clarence House at Ascot not really on the conscience of sports fans in this country, we hadn’t seen him in Britain before. He firmly is now after that epic battle with Shishkin.
Added to the mix is his stable companion Chacun Pour Soi and don’t rule out Nube Negra either in a potentially classic Champion Chase. I just hope they all get there, we’ve been looking forward to big clashes in this race in recent years and things have gone wrong late in the day, so keep everything crossed they all get here. If they do it could be an epic.
I hope Shishkin wins – the British badly need him to – but in the back of my mind is the thought that jumps horses tend to have one big, big performance in them every season and the race at Ascot might have - and I hope it hasn't - left its mark.
I don't fancy Chacun despite what Willie Mullins has been saying on these pages, I just don’t see him flying up the hill so something could come and pick up the pieces like Nube Negra. I can’t wait.
If that’s the race of the week then the Sky Bet Supreme has been the most talked about contest of the meeting. I hope Sir Gerhard goes to the Ballymore which he’ll win, leaving the way for the Brits to get off the mark in this and I think that might be with Constitution Hill.
Winners spread beyond the biggest yards
I really hope the love is shared at Cheltenham and that we see winners from all corners of the sport.
We’ll make a big deal of the Great Britain v Ireland clash but the truth is the people at home don’t give a monkey’s. They want to back winners and don’t care where they’re trained.
But with my ITV hat on I’d love to see good stories – and underdog stories too. There are so many of those.
The best of the lot are the Northumberland farmers Ian and Ann Hamilton with their six horses taking on the might of Mullins and Elliott, a proper David versus Goliath clash, in the Champion Hurdle. I think Tommy’s Oscar will run well too. If he’s ridden like Theatreworld I can easily see him placed - behind Honeysuckle probably.
I’d love to see Lucinda Russell and Peter Scudamore have a winner with Ahoy Senor but the thing is every time I speak to Peter he diverts the conversation to Corach Rambler who obviously has a huge place in his heart. I think he has a big each-way chance in the Ultima at around 12/1.
I like the Knight Salute story for Milton Harris in the JCB Triumph and we’ll try to get his old flame Belinda Carlisle on ITV! Milton is a man who worked on cruise ships and now has a leading fancy in a Cheltenham Grade One. What makes it even better is the guys who own Knight Salute are Southampton fans so I’ll be cheering him on.
Another great story would be Paisley Park winning the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle again. All eyes will be on the start in that race. Is Paisley going to start? When they do jump off, will Klassical Dream get off to a flier again? What will Flooring Porter do in front of a crowd? It’s going to be intriguing.
Hopefully Paisley Park’s owner Andrew Gemmell will be back racing again after his heart operation as his story has touched so many people around the country.
A big week for Davy Russell
Another wish would be Davy Russell having a good week.
He can’t go on forever but remains the best rider around Cheltenham by some distance and to do what he’s done and come back from the injury he had was miraculous in itself.
I hope he's fit and well and saving himself for a big week and one of my best bets of the Festival is Galvin in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup. If he was to win that after what he’s been through that would be fantastic and owner Ronnie Bartlett is one of the most popular men in the game. It would be a hugely popular result.
Davy wants to ride Tiger Roll in the Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase. I’d love to see the horse bow out in a blaze of glory in that race. I’m often told I’m an idiot, he doesn’t compare with Red Rum in terms of Grand National legends – and yes he probably doesn't.
He isn't as great as Red Rum at Aintree but he’s won five times at the Cheltenham Festival and Red Rum didn’t do that. For this little horse to do what he’s done makes him remarkable in his own right.
I'm still very sad we won’t see him at Aintree. Over the years he’s been the best marketing tool for me to reach the next generation. I can’t get out of my mind how many kids ahead of the Grand National were dressing up as tigers and rolling across the carpet in our game of racecard charades.
He’s been the best ambassador for the sport in getting to the youngsters but because of an argument with the handicapper he’s not there in April. It has deprived the sport of an absolute diamond in terms of promoting the race.
Is it the end of the world? No. Is the Grand National still going to be great? Yes. But would it have been better with Tiger Roll in it? 100% yes.
The Moores to get among the winners
What a family they are and what a brilliant season they’ve had.
Ideally it would be Porticello in the JCB Triumph Hurdle with the memory of what happened to Goshen still fresh in the mind. Wouldn't it be fabulous if that family were to win the race? They’ve been through a lot on and off the racecourse and are a credit to the game.
And finally...
The biggest wish for most punters is to try and find some winners!
You pick up so many nuggets on the preview circuit. I’ve been working then for Sky Bet and Sporting Life and the best ones I want to pass on include HMS Seahorse in the Boodles Handicap Hurdle. Timeform’s Billy Nash was very keen on his chance.
Vauban has been napped left, right and centre and it’s remarkable that people are still backing State Man and Gaelic Warrior at what seem to be crazy prizes for the handicaps.
The four bets I’ve had are Corach Rambler each-way in the Ultima, Song For Someone, non-runner/no bet, at a big price in the Stayers' Hurdle, Galvin for the Gold Cup and Sir Gerhard to win the Ballymore - so please Willie run on the Wednesday!
Finally, and most importantly, my wish is that people going racing or watching it on Racing TV or ITV really enjoy the week.
Sport at a time like this with what is going on in the world is irrelevant but it can also be a glorious irrelevance. Everyone needs an enjoyable escape, something to make them smile. There’s nowhere better to do that than at the Cheltenham Festival.
It’s important I get the tone right but I want people to be aware of where racing stands in the importance of the world but that sport can play an important part at these times too.
What a great gesture by The Jockey Club to name the National Hunt Chase this year the 'Ukraine Appeal National Hunt Chase' and I’m sure we’ll all get behind that.
I’m appreciative too that Well Child are still involved as the official charity partner of the week and people will be able to donate and help seriously ill children around the country.
My own biggest wish? Everyone enjoys a spectacular week. It doesn’t get better than this.
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