Nick Scholfield believes Santini has the potential to provide him with another magical moment in the saddle 10 years after his first winner at the Cheltenham Festival, a feeling he insists is “everything it is cracked up to be”.
Having already surpassed the 50 winner mark for the campaign, the 32 year old rider has a number of exciting rides lined up at Cheltenham next week, headed by Santini in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Although as big as 50/1 with several bookmakers for the most prestigious prize in Jump Racing, Scholfield believes the Polly Gundry-trained 10 year old can run a “big race” next Friday and could even go one better than when finishing second in 2020.
Santini was second at the Home of Jump Racing in the Paddy Power Cotswold Chase in January and Scholfield said: “I sat on him last week and jumped a few fences on him. He seems in great form. Polly is doing lots of different things with him to keep him sweet.
“I was pleased with his run in the Cotswold Chase behind Chantry House and hopefully he has come on from that. I was taken back by the reception he got last time. When you normally get beat you are like, ‘damn it’, but he has got a huge following and he deserves it.
“He won’t worry what the ground is and if we can get him back to the kind of form when he was second to Al Boum Photo then he will run his race.
“We will go there and give it our best shot and what will be will be. We will just worry about me and him and if we can get everything right on the day then we will worry about everything else afterwards.
“If we can get him there in good form, hopefully he can run a big race.”
When it comes to physical attributes Scholfield insists that the giant framed Milan gelding has everything you would want in a Gold Cup contender.
He explained: “He is well-bred but he is also a gorgeous looking horse and if you went to the sales he would catch anyone's eye.
“He is the perfect looking racehorse and he looks like a Gold Cup horse. He has given his owners (Richard and Lizzie Kelvin-Hughes) an enormous amount of pleasure. If you are an owner/breeder you always dream of having a Gold Cup horse and he has given his connections that.
“I’m very grateful to Polly and the owners for giving me the ride and hopefully we can do the best for them.”
Over time memories can invariably fade, but for Scholfield his victory aboard the Keiran Burke-trained Hunt Ball in what was then the Pulteney Land Investments Novices’ Handicap Chase back in 2012 remains as vivid now as it did back then.
Scholfield added: “I remember a lot about it as it was a day I will never forget. Barry Geraghty rode him the time before at Kempton Park but he had to ride for Nicky Henderson and I had ridden him the time before so it was good to get back on him.
“It was my first red-hot favourite at the Cheltenham Festival on a horse that had a big following. It was the last race of the day on the Tuesday and Anthony Knott, his owner, was telling everyone he couldn’t get beat.
“I famously will never forget the moment I walked into the paddock and Anthony said, ‘don’t get brought down - that’s your only job as you will win’ - but we know it is not that simple around Cheltenham.
“Thankfully it all went to plan and he was a really good winner in the end. I appreciated what it was like to ride a winner at the Cheltenham Festival and it is true what everyone says about it.
“The first emotion is relief that you haven’t messed up, then you have the enjoyment of it. It is everything it is cracked up to be.”
Despite spending time on the sidelines with a broken leg last season, Scholfield still managed to secure the third Festival success of his career aboard the Jonjo O’Neill-trained Sky Pirate in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase 12 months ago.
However Scholfield admits that the experience of riding a winner at last year’s meeting, which was staged behind closed doors due to COVID-19 restrictions, was a surreal experience.
He added: “It was great for Sky Pirate that he picked up a big one and great for his owner Martin Tedham, who has invested a lot of time in me and Jonjo O’Neill.
“From a personal point of view it was again relief but also satisfaction as I’d missed several months of the season with a broken leg and there was also Covid.
“Tom Scudamore and Jonjo O’Neill Jnr had won on him on the lead up to the race, but Martin Tedham put the faith in me to let me ride him and I’m glad it all went to plan and that we didn’t get beat.
“Horses like Sky Pirate give you that incentive to get fit and get back as quick as you can. I probably came back a bit quick initially than I should have done but I wanted to get a good few weeks under my belt until we went into the Festival.
“I didn’t have a great deal of luck to be honest with you but we were knocking on the door, so to get that Festival winner really boosted the confidence.
“To be honest even with no crowd there I appreciated last year as much as the other two as they are still hard to get and they mean the same.
“It was a shame that the owners couldn’t make it as it is a big deal for them. To get a Festival winner in such a freak year was brilliant but surreal as it wasn’t the Cheltenham Festival of normal. I suppose I can say I’ve rode a winner the year no one was there.”
Since that victory Sky Pirate has suffered five subsequent defeats. However, Scholfield is optimistic the Midnight Legend gelding can put up a bold show on his Festival return when bidding to become the third dual winner of the Grade Three contest since 1946.
He added: “He got put in his place by Shishkin at Christmas and he was giving away almost two stone on his comeback to the Sam Thomas horse (Before Midnight) at the beginning of the season.
“He has run a lot of good races in defeat which is probably his own undoing as the handicapper doesn’t give him any leeway.
“It would be nice to go into that race with the same weight but we are not and we have just got to deal with the cards we are dealt.
“I wish the handicapper loved Sky Pirate as much as I did and gave him a chance! One thing for sure he will run his race.”
Scholfield is also excited about the prospects of Stag Horn, who will attempt to maintain his unbeaten record over jumps in the Grade One Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (Friday 18th March).
After steering the Archie Watson-trained five year old to Grade Two glory at Warwick in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle last time out Scholfield expects the talented Flat stayer to prove even more effective now stepped up to three miles for the first time.
He said: “I rode him in the Grade Two at Warwick and he did nothing wrong. The second (Gentleman At Arms) has come out and just got beat in a Listed race so the form has been franked.
“He is a bit different to your normal Albert Bartlett type as he has come off the Flat. He is a stayer and he stays all day. He has taken to jumping really well and he is trained by a very clever man so he has a lot of things going for him.
“Over the hurdles we haven’t really got to the bottom of him. On the Flat when he got beat he probably got done for speed, so who knows where the end with him over hurdles is?
“They went a good gallop at Warwick and his jumping was slick down the back so for him on his second run over hurdles to win a Grade Two was great. If he can do that at Cheltenham it will stand him in good stead. He has got a heart of gold and just keeps trying for you and if that is good enough then great.”
Nick Scholfield’s 3 winners at The Festival
2012 Hunt Ball Pulteney Land Investments Novices’ Handicap Chase
2015 Qualando Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle
2021 Sky Pirate Johnny Henderson Grand Annual
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