The winds of change might be looming for Harry Cobden, but he hopes to deliver Paul Nicholls one final thank you at the Cheltenham Festival before signing off as stable jockey to the 14-time champion National Hunt trainer.
This time next year the 27 year-old will head into the four-day meeting ready to do battle for JP McManus after agreeing a deal earlier this year to become the leading owner’s retained rider from May.
But for now Cobden will be doing his utmost to deliver the goods on jump racing’s most glamorous stage for his current boss, for whom he has already secured five previous Festival victories, before the next chapter in both of their careers begin next season.
Cobden said: "It would be lovely if me and Paul could nick a winner at the Cheltenham Festival. It might sound silly, but it doesn’t feel like it is my last one in the role. It hasn’t sunk in with what is going to happen going forward.
"I’m just going to go into the week as per usual and hopefully we can muster up something. If we can walk out of there with one winner together I would be delighted.
"I’ve ridden five winners at the Festival for Paul and we have had some brilliant days there. Topofthegame was my first Festival winner for Paul, and he was probably my most memorable one. He was a brilliant horse, and we probably never saw the best of him.
“I’ve spoken to Paul about it all, and I will keep going in there. Things will change and I will have commitments and he will obviously have someone who will take a more permanent role, but if I can still keep half-a-foot in the door that would be nice."
Assessing his most high profile rides the 2023/24 champion jockey believes that Turners’ Novices’ Hurdle No Drama This End represents his best chance of the pair celebrating more success at the meeting which ranks above all else on the National Hunt calendar.
It has been plain sailing so far this season for the Walk In The Park gelding, who registered back-to-back Grade Two wins in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham and Betfair Winter Novices' Hurdle at Sandown Park on his first two starts this term.
And having steered the six-year-old, who contested the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the meeting 12 months ago, to Grade One glory in the Coral Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury in his previous start, Cobden feels he is very much the one to beat.
He said: “He is my best ride going into the Festival and he has been brilliant all the way through the season. We kicked off winning a couple of Grade Twos before winning the Challow Hurdle the last day.
“I think the form has worked out this side of the water, it is just what the Irish have up their sleeve. With our horse he has had a good preparation and he seems very straightforward and he has done nothing wrong all season.
“Last year in the Champion Bumper I thought it was a bit of a muddling race. We went no gallop at all and then it was a sprint from turning and he got a bit tap for toe. He has improved and grown up a lot since then.
“We are now looking forward to him and getting on with this to see what he has got. I wouldn’t swap him for any horse in the race.”
Although Cobden and Nicholls have seen their past four Challow Hurdle winners rolled over at the Festival, Cobden believes No Drama This End has plenty in his favour not to follow the same fate.
He added: “I think he has got a lot of the attributes you need to go to the Festival with a young horse. You want one with a good mind, one that doesn’t boil over, one that is relaxed and one that has ability and he ticks all of those boxes.
“Hermes Allen, Bravemansgame and Stage Star all won in the Challow and got beat in this race, while Captain Teague won the Challow and was beat in the Albert Bartlett.
“It is very hard to judge those horses and compare them to each other. Everything he has done so far he has been as good as them.
“Bravemansgame went on to finish second in a Gold Cup and won a King George. This horse is obviously a mile off doing what he has done, but at this stage of his career he is every bit as good and hopefully he will keep progressing and go the same way.
“At Cheltenham the first time out he cantered around and won nicely and took a good blow.
“At Sandown Park I thought he was very impressive. In the Challow the race wasn’t run to suit as there was no speed and he had to make his own running and it turned into a bit of a sprint. We haven’t found exactly what we have got yet.”
But before getting the leg up aboard No Drama This End on Wednesday, Cobden and Nicholls will bid for Unibet Champion Hurdle glory with Tutti Quanti, who was supplemented for the race following his victory in last month’s William Hill Handicap Hurdle at Newbury.
And although this will represent a step rise in class for the Colm Donlon-owned six-year-old, who finished sixth in last year’s Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Cobden believes he more than deserves a second shot at Grade One glory in Tuesday’s feature prize.
Cobden said: “It is a very open race, and he seems to have improved an awful lot this season. If there is ever a year to supplement a horse into the Champion Hurdle it is this season.
“On all the form he has shown he will have to step up to win it, but you can’t write him off.
“The ground was very testing at Newbury and he basically galloped them into the ground.I thought it was a great performance for a horse carrying top weight.
“Some people have knocked him and said it was a bad race, but the horse can only beat what is put in front of him. I thought the manner in which he went through the race was impressive.”
While repeating those tactics against this level of opposition is a far harder task, Cobden feels that if Tutti Quanti does cut loose on the front end he could give his rivals plenty to think about.
He added: “When you go from handicaps into graded races like this it is another kettle of fish. I don’t know how the race will pan out, and the softer the ground the better for him.
“In those graded races at the Festival they do go that half a yard quicker. Hopefully he won’t be taken out of his comfort zone early in the race, but at the same time I’m not sure what will take him on.
“i suppose the plan will be to gallop from the front the last day and it will be a bit of catch me if you can, but he will have some very good horses stacked up behind him at some stage.
“Colm Donlon has put so much into racing, especially into Ditcheat, where he has been a huge supporter over the years, and if Tutti Quanti could finish placed in a Champion Hurdle then we would be delighted.”
The sole success that both Cobden and Nicholls enjoyed at the Festival came from the front-running victory clinched by Caldwell Potter in the Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase.
This year the pair look to have outstanding claims of securing victory in the extended two and a half mile Grade Two on Thursday once again with Regent’s Stroll, who like Caldwell Potter enters the race off a rating of 145.
Having looked tearaway on his chasing debut in the Grade Two Coral John Francome Novices’ Chase at Newbury, the Walk In The Park gelding has appeared much more settled in both his match race at Wincanton and defeat at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day.
And with that in mind Cobden believes the best is yet to come from the seven-year-old.
He added: “Regent’s Stroll is in a good place mentally and his work has been utterly brilliant the last couple of weeks and I feel like he has improved.
“I feel like he is growing up and getting better all the time. I think the hood has made a big difference at the races. From sitting on him I feel like he is in the right place.
“The first day at Newbury was a complete right off, then Wincanton and Cheltenham on New Year’s Day were races to get more experience. He has now got that experience and we feel there is a bit more to offer, like lots of others in the race, but he has had a run around there so I think we are a nice place with him.
“It is probably a bold thing to say, but I think he could be a genuine graded horse in a handicap. If he can do on the track what we see at home I think he has got a massive chance as he has had a brilliant preparation for it."
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