UK Horse Racing Tips

There are and continue to be countless characters in horse racing, the sport of kings, over the years. From all angles, the riding, the training, the owning, right through to the colourful peripheral characters that have made their mark on racing over the decades (a nod to the late great John Mccririck!). With the magnificent and much awaited Cheltenham Festival just around the corner, it feels like a good time to centre in on someone who has more than made their mark in this prestigious event. And that individual is none over that talented jockey, Davy Russell.

Beyond horse racing circles, David ‘Davy’ Russell is of course best known for his association with Tiger Roll, whom he rode to back-to-back victories in the Grand National in 2018 and 2019. However, the 41-year-old Corkman has an enviable record at the Cheltenham Festival too, where he has ridden a total of 22 winners and ranks and impressive sixth in the all-time list of most successful jockeys. He features in many Cheltenham Guides such as cheltenhamguides.com and for good reason.

Russell rode his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Native Jack, trained by Philip Rothwell, in what is now the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase and, with the exception of 2019, has ridden at least one winner at every Cheltenham Festival since. In 2018, he rode four winners, including Presenting Percy in the RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase and Balko Des Flos in the Ryanair Chase to win the Leading Jockey Award for the one and only time. A record viewed by many to be beyond impressive.

Of the four main ‘championship’ races at the Festival, Russell has won just one, the Cheltenham Gold Cup (though what a race to win!), aboard Lord Windermere, trained by Jim Culloty, in 2014. However, he in fact was completing a notable double, having won the RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase on the same horse in 2013. Indeed, that year he also rode Tiger Roll to the first of his four victories, so far, at the Cheltenham Festival, in the Triumph Hurdle.

Russell is also, jointly, the leading jockey in the history of two of the most competitive handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival, the Coral Cup and the Pertemps Final. So far, he has won both races three times, in the case of the former on Naiad de Misselot in 2008, Carlito Brigante in 2011 and Diamond King in 2016, and of the latter on Mall Dini in 2016, Presenting Percy in 2017 and Delta Work in 2018. It will take a jockey of quite some talent to overshadow the achievements of Davy Russell.

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