Cotswold Homes Cheltenham Festival Special 2017

Cotswold-Homes.com The Property & Lifestyle Magazine for the North Cotswolds

Complimentary Copy

Anonymous Tipster Place Your Bets

Behind the Scenes with

ALICE PLUNKETT

Exclusive: ITV’s racing commentator

What to Wear?

Where to Celebrate?

Your indispensible Guide For a Day at The Races

At Home with…

Sam Twiston-Davies

WELCOME

WELCOME

to this Special Festival edition of Cotswold Homes!

The Festival takes place from Tuesday 14th to Friday 17th March – it’s a big deal in the North Cotswolds particularly because there are many trainers based locally including Nigel Twiston-Davies, Jonjo O’Neil, Richard Phillips, Martin Keighley, Fergal O’Brien, Ben Pauling and David Bridgwater. Doing particularly well this season is Nigel Twiston-Davies, a seasoned trainer with Grand National triumphs and a Gold Cup success under his belt with the wonderful Imperial Commander. He will be pinning his hopes on The New One winning the Champion Hurdle, a triumph that would eclipse all his previous successes, potentially.

“It would be the highlight of everything… wonderful for everyone here and his owners.

Cheltenham brings the best out of him and hopefully this is the year when everything falls right because he’s just a lovely, lovely horse. He just loves Cheltenham and he’ll be flying up that hill next Tuesday afternoon.”

And with Thistlecrack out of contention which horse will win this year’s Gold Cup? Champion

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rivals Willie Mullins and Paul Nicholls have both talked frankly about their best hopes for the greatest prize at this year’s Cheltenham Festival – Mullins is pinning his hopes on Djakadam and meanwhile Paul Nicholls thinks Saphir du Reu might get a place in the action, if not first past the post.

“People expect a lot from our team,” said Mullins. “Djakadam is in great form. He is coming to the age when chasers can win a Gold Cup. The first year, he was young, the second year, he had a bad prep, this year everything is going right. Would he need to improve to win? Would his last two Gold Cup performances be good enough? I don’t know. I think he is a better horse this year. I’d say the Gold Cup looks more open this year. It is one of my big ambitions [winning the Gold Cup]. It would be nice to do it. We are hopeful.”

Meanwhile, the news of Thistlecrack’s defection broke as Paul Nicholls was finishing off his one-to-one interviews with broadcast media.

“It is sad for Colin and the owners - a blow to

everyone... These horses are athletes and there are always going to be training problems. You get niggles and injuries when you are pressing buttons. It is in the lap of the gods - you are always on edge.”

Paul Nicholls has one serious contender for the Gold Cup, a race he has won four times.

Eight-year-old Saphir Du Rheu enjoyed an easy victory in the Ivan Straker Memorial Chase at Kelso earlier this month.

“He is back on track and won nicely at Kelso the other day and before that ran really well at Cheltenham. If he can jump and get his act together, he is a good horse - I am not saying he is going to win a Gold Cup but Andy (Stewart) his owner, had a decent chaser called My Will a few years ago, probably not as good as Saphir Du Rheu, and he ended up finishing fourth in the Gold Cup. You never know, Saphir Du Rheu could pick up some crumbs in the Gold Cup and get placed now. He deserves to be in the race’s line-up. He has plenty of ability and we have not seen the best of him yet.”

FESTIVAL SPECIAL 2017

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HISTORY OF THE HORSE

A Brief History of

the horse Today, England’s vibrant racing industry enjoys substantial media presence and generates billions.Yet for almost as long as society has existed, people have depended on our equine friends for far more than sport - our development and survival have been heavily reliant on our relationship with these animals.

Crucial to transport, agriculture, war and worship for thousands of years, the horse has been of inestimable worth to civilisation.

and developing the standards of horsemanship needed in battle (modern pursuits like dressage, show jumping and eventing all have military origins). Indeed, the first formal horse races to be held here in Britain were probably organised

by Roman soldiers.

The earliest cave paintings at Lascaux – around an incredible 16,000 years old – exhibit clearly depicted horses, signifying their importance (as food or perhaps mythical beings) to the very earliest forms of society. Later on, in Celtic times, worship of animals was common - their goddess of horses, Epona, was even co-opted by invading Romans, becoming a protector of cavalry. The giant chalk horse at Uffington, Oxfordshire, also seems likely to have had religious significance.

In the Roman Empire, chariot and mounted horse racing became huge industries and drew thousands of spectators, entertaining crowds

“As time passed, horse racing in England became associated with nobility and the ruling classes. James I is said to have spent so much time at Newmarket that the House of Commons had to petition him to spend more time on matters of national importance!”

As time passed, horse racing in England became

associated with nobility and the ruling classes.

James I is said to have spent so much time at Newmarket (where he had introduced racing) that the House of Commons had to petition him to spend more time on matters of national importance! Thoroughbred racing (the ‘Sport of Kings’) became popular - most thoroughbreds today can be traced back to three founding stallions. In 1654, Oliver Cromwell banned horse racing – even though he had a stud farm of his own.

It is not surprising that horses have long inspired artists and storytellers - typically appearing throughout art history as military symbols, as signs of nobility or as the subjects of artistic study. England’s most famous painter of horses, 16th century painter George Stubbs, believed that art could not surpass the splendour of nature, spending months dissecting and studying horses, publishing a book on their anatomy.

The suffering of horses has been an enduring theme – Stubbs used the motif of a lion preying upon a horse in his more allegorical works.

In modern literature and theatre, stories such as Peter Shaffer’s Equus and Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty use horses as devices to depict the human potential for cruelty and compassion.

With the development of the automobile and war machinery, horses began to be phased out of travel and combat but millions, however, lost their lives in the great battles of the early 20th century. A tormented horse famously appears as part of Picasso’s seminal ‘Guernica’ – screaming in an inferno, it has become an icon of the brutality of war. Again, Morpurgo’s famous novel, now turned by Spielberg into the film “War Horse”, is an homage to the courage, strength and determination of a horse on the battlefields of World War I, a moving tale embraced by critics and thousands of movie-goers across the world.

Here in the North Cotswolds, our love for the horse is integral to social life, work and sport, whether for hunting, eventing or racing – children plodding around on ponies, stable girls riding out in the early morning mist, a crowd with binoculars on a country lane straining for a sight of the chase or downing a pint at the Hollow Bottom to celebrate the winners at Cheltenham - whilst in the village of Nether Westcote, it is widely rumoured there are actually more equine residents than people!

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Cotswold Homes Magazine

COntEnts 8 – 11

aLiCE pLunkEtt intErviEW

12 - 13

ANONYMOUS TIPSTER

14 - 15

WHAT TO WEAR AT THE RACES?

16 – 21 AT HOME WITH… SAM TWISTON-DAVIES

WIN! tWO pairs OF CLuB/tattErsaLL tiCkEts tO THE HUNTER CHASE EVENING at ChELtEnhaM raCECOursE On 5th May 2017

The Hunter Chase Evening on 5th May at Cheltenham Racecourse is the jump racing season finale and gives the amateur jockeys their chance to take centre stage. It's a very popular fixture that invariably draws a large local crowd.

To celebrate the end of the season BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James will be performing a live DJ set after racing.

an EXCiting tiME FOr EvEryOnE at thE tWistOn-daviEs yard as THE NEW ONE takEs On thE ChaMpiOn hurdLE On tuEsday 14th!

Cotswold Homes looks back to our ‘At Home with Sam Twiston-Davies’ interview in Autumn 2015, when Sam discussed his love of the New One and all the major influences upon his life: mum Cathy, dad Nigel, brother Willie, agent Chris Broad, assistant trainer at Grange Hill Farm Carl Llwellyn, and his mentor Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls.

We've got two pairs of Club/Tattersalls tickets to give away to this fantastic evening of racing action.

To enter this competition, head to the competition section of www.cotswold-homes.com. Competition closes on 20th April 2017.

Design team: Alias www.wearealias.com

0845 257 7475 sayhello@wearealias.com

3 Imperial Square, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 1QB

Cotswold-Homes.Com The ProPerTy & LifesTyLe Magazine for The norTh CoTswoLds www.cotswold-homes.com

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ALICE PLuNKETT

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ALICE PLuNKETT

alice plunkett, racing journalist and presenter - and former eventer and national Hunt jockey - is the only woman to have ridden at both badminton Horse trials and over the grand national course at aintree. she is married to eventer william fox-pitt. the pair have four children.

2016 was both a difficult and an inspirational year for the family. despite the odds, william’s recovery from a terrible brain injury (incurred by a cross-country fall in late 2015) saw him compete at the 2016 rio olympics. now that alice is presenting for itV, and has a new role at Cheltenham, we ask what else is on the horizon.

Hello Alice. Tell us about your entry into the world of broadcasting - and how that’s overlapped with your love of racing and eventing?

I was very lucky. When I left university I evented full time. I was sponsored by a company called Racing Green which meant that I could run a team of horses and, at the same time, I was point-topointing.

A television company were doing a series called Reach for the Stars. It was a series on young people.

They had a gymnast, and a musician, and they wanted a rider. They followed me at Blenheim - the guy who was doing the story was John Peel, the radio presenter. I fell in the water but it was great telly! At the end of it, [John said] that I’d come across okay, and if I wanted to do more of it…

My focus at the time was very much on my sport, and that’s what I really enjoyed, but I then started to do a few things. I worked for Fox FM, which was my local radio at Blenheim, the next year. I worked

at Festival Radio, getting jockeys out of the weighing room to be interviewed…and the guy at Festival Radio asked if I’d like to have my own show.

It was crazy, really. Marcus Armytage wrote an article about it, and it went from there. I ended up asked to do The Derby and Royal Ascot, and somebody from the racing channel saw that and asked me to do a screen test, and so I got a job at the racing channel. And all the time I was still riding and saw it as a really nice thing to do alongside [my sport].

First and foremost, my passion was sport, and I sort of fell into the broadcasting side, I would say, but gradually I started to do more and more.

When I did Badminton in 2000 I got offered good money for my horses, and I was 27, so that’s when I went full time in broadcasting. I’ve been so blessed. It’s an amazing way of life. I’ve had great opportunities to travel the world and meet interesting people.

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Alice Plunkett

We hear you’re doing the Willbury Wonderpony charity flat race?

Indeed I am! I’ve ridden in a lot of charity races over the years. I haven’t done one for a long time.

I was approached to get involved. Hannah Francis touched all of us in the equestrian community, and both my sisters died very young: my little sister was 16 and the other was 27, so kicking cancer’s butt is close to my heart.

So I thought I’d give it one more go, but I have to say, it’s coming up at a really tricky time of year!

It’s April 20th, so it’s at the back of Cheltenham and Aintree, so I’ve got very little time to ride out.

I’m giving it a good go, though I’m not expecting to win by any stretch - although I’ve got a lovely horse to ride. It’s a huge privilege to get to go round Cheltenham again, at the age of 44 with 4 children. (Find out more at www.championswillberry. org.uk - Alice’s donation page can be found at virginmoneygiving.com).

Best of luck with that. So, you’ve got a new role at Cheltenham Racecourse: you’ve been appointed by the Jockey Club as non-executive racecourse committee director. What does that entail?

I think it’s a really interesting [role]. I’m absolutely overwhelmed and flattered to have been considered for the board at Cheltenham, and I’m alongside some hugely experienced people. So for me at the moment, it’s really a learning process.

Just watching the Cheltenham team at work is absolutely fascinating: they’re so professional, so driven. They work so hard.

Cheltenham is iconic - and has been iconic to me throughout my life. I was brought up near Chipping Norton. For all of us in the Cotswolds, Cheltenham is huge - so to be involved in its infrastructure is really interesting. It gives me a whole new angle to learn about a side of racing that I knew very little about. Hopefully, I can listen and offer bits and bobs - I’m really enjoying the board meeting side of things. It feels very grown up [laughs].

I wanted to ask about 2016, because you had a strange and difficult year by all accounts - both wonderful, as your husband William [Fox-Pitt] competed at Rio, but there was a long period of recovery beforehand, after his terrible injury.

What was that very dramatic year like?

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“Cheltenham is iconic - and has been iconic to me throughout my life. I was brought up near Chipping Norton. For all of us in the Cotswolds, Cheltenham is huge - so to be involved in its infrastructure is really interesting.”

The call I got on October 17th [2015] was undoubtably my worst nightmare. I wasn’t in France - William was competing in the Young Horse World Championships. He felt very confident. But he fell, and was left in a coma.

I didn’t get out there for twelve hours. When I got there - well, you go into a slightly weird overrdrive.

Did I think at any point during the build-up that we would be going to Rio? No, but I feel very lucky that we were part of a world class team and Will was supported as a potential Rio athlete throughout his recovery and brain injury. Because I can’t imagine what you would do, as a wife and a mother, if you didn’t have the support network we had.

It was a very challenging time. William is very much the alpha in our set-up and I realised that he’s the point of an enormous pyramid. He deals with so many people, and so many people wanted news on him. So dealing with all that was a pretty weird time, feeling responsible for dealing with that knowing full well that it could impact his chances of going to Rio, how all the [news] was going to be interpreted, how the staff would interpret it. All of that.

But we are slightly evangelical now because we were so lucky. We were teetering on the brink of a very dark place, and we came back from it.

[William] was partially-sighted for quite a long time, but now he’s fully recovered, and functioning, and back as a husband and a dad first and foremost, but also the great rider that he is.

We’re all so proud of him and what he did at the Olympics. It was a very tough challenge and it was absolutely remarkable achievement for him and his team altogether.

So yes - I’ve come out of the end of 2016 not being sad to see the back of it, I have to say! And feeling very lucky that my family is back intact and looking forward to the future.

What are you looking forward to at Cheltenham this year?

I’m really looking forward to being part of the new ITV Cheltenham team. I’ve done 15 Cheltenhams for Channel 4 and - well, it’s so boring that I keep on saying this, but I’m so lucky.There are a lot of better broadcasters than me who didn’t make the cut for one reason or another but I am very lucky to be part of this.

Ed Chamberlin is a great frontman. ITV are hugely committed, which is very lucky for racing. As we know, most sports have two or three days on terrestrial telly, but we’ve got 43 on ITV1 and 50odd on ITV4, so we’ve getting great exposure.

I’m also looking forward to being part of the committee, because it means on Sunday we look at Cheltenham as it prepares for the big meeting and have a look at what goes on behind the scenes… and my God, it’s a monster operation, what the team put into it.

So that’s a learning curve for me, but mostly I’m looking forward to the racing. Although not one of last year’s champions are returning, for one reason or another, there’s some fantastic young horses coming through.

I am a huge fan of Cue Card and have been since he won the bumper as a four year old. Now it’s looking like he’s going to be favourite for the Gold Cup this year, and what redemption it would be if he could win it - most of us feel he would have won it last year if he hadn’t fallen. I can’t wait for what I hope will be Cue Card’s Gold Cup!

Alice Plunkett

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The Anonymous Tipster

The

Tipster Our favourite jump-racing expert is back in time for Cheltenham, chomping at the bit! Here he gives Cotswold Homes readers the lowdown on four days of Festival racing, hot tips on what to bet on and why!

Tuesday, the opening day of the Festival has the best of the racing, I think. If you’ve never been before, make it this outing and be sure to get out on the course for the first race.The roar that goes up from the crowd as the action gets underway with the 1.30 Sky Bet Supreme Novices Hurdle will make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck! It’s a very tough call as there are plenty of horses that I can make a very strong case for but I’m sticking with Ballyandy, trained by Nigel TwistonDavies, as an each-way bet.There’s a small chance he may run in the Neptune on Wednesday so if you’re betting ante-post be sure to take advantage of no runner, no bet offers.

Next up in the 2.10 Racing Post Arkle Novices Chase plump for Altior - winner of last years’ Supreme Novice Hurdle, trained by Nicky Henderson. I think that he’s the best Novice Chaser around and the betting market definitely agrees but don’t expect to win a fortune though, as he’s already odds-on favourite. In the 3.30 Stan James Champion Hurdle the most likely winner will come from the top three in the betting – that’s Buveur D’Air (Trainer: Nicky Henderson) Yanworth (Trainer: Alan King) and Petit Mouchoir (Trainer: Gordon Elliott IRE). If I had to choose one of them I’d have a few quid on Petit Mouchoir but, and I fully accept the arguments against him.

I’m with The New One (Trainer: Nigel TwistonDavies). He loves Cheltenham and if he can jump as well as he did when winning the International Hurdle back in December he’s got a chance in what is a very open race, particularly as the winners of the last two years’ renewals (Faugheen and Annie Power) are both sidelined through injury. It’s wide open.

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Willie Mullins has his fingers crossed for Douvan

Thursday looks set to be a good day out for Willie Mullins, who has been the leading Irish trainer at the Festival for five of the last six years, narrowly missing out to Paul Nicholls last season for the title of Britain’s Jump Trainer.

Wednesday’s box of delights includes Finian’s Oscar, trained by Colin Tizzard, as the current favourite for the 1.30 Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle but I’m not sure he’ll take that well to Cheltenham and this looks like another open race. Have a punt instead on Neon Wolf (Trainer: Harry Fry) or Death Duty (T: Gordon Elliott IRE). In the 2.10 RSA Novices

Chase, Might Bite trained by Nicky Henderson will have short odds so if you want to be holding your breath to the finish on an each way chance I would go for Acapella Bourgeois trained by Sandra Hughes.The day’s highlight will be 3.30 Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase and the most likely horse to be first past the post for this prestigious race will also be coming over from

The Anonymous Tipster

I’m with The New One (Trainer: Nigel TwistonDavies). He loves Cheltenham and if he can jump as well as he did when winning the International Hurdle back in December he’s got a chance ...

Sceaux in the 2.50 Ryanair Chase. For the 3.30 Sun Bet Stayers Hurdle I’ll be sticking a bet to win on Unowhatimeanharry, trained by Harry Fry. Friday’s final day of racing is going to be exciting to watch in the absence of Thistlecrack, the hotly tipped favourite now out of contention, leaving the field a very different shape from the predicted outcome a few weeks ago. Before I get to the Gold Cup, however, I will draw your attention to Defi Du Seuil in the 1.30 JCB Triumph Hurdle trained

by Phillip Hobbs, and in the 2.50 Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle if you fancy an each-way there’s another chance for Nigel Twiston-Davies’s yard with Wholestone.

Nigel Twiston-Davies has high hopes for the New One

Colin Tizzard

Ireland. Willie Mullins has Douvan looking set to win but for an each way chance then have a flutter on Special Tiara trained by Henry De Bromhead.

Thursday looks set to be a good day out for Willie Mullins, who has been the leading Irish trainer at the Festival for five of the last six years, narrowly missing out to Paul Nicholls last season for the title

Willie Mullins

of Britain’s Jump Trainer. His famous star was Dawn Run, winner of the 1984 Champion Hurdle and 1986 Cheltenham Gold Cup, the only horse ever to win both races. Currently second on the all-time trainers’ list behind Nicky Henderson, he’s ‘hoping rather than expecting’ at Cheltenham, with horses from his stable in the spotlight today including Yorkhill in the 1.30 JLT Novices’ Chase and Un de

So we get to the 3.30 Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup! There couldn’t be a more popular winner than Cue Card but he was well beaten

by Thistlecrack in the King George at Christmas. I thought that he looked a little battle weary and, at the age of 11, time is now starting to catch up with him, so you have to expect it to be anyone’s race as the field makes the final turn for home - the Cheltenham hill will catch a few out and I can see Cue Card fading on the run in. If that happens it’ll be Mullins’ Djakadam battling out with Native River to the line, which latter I have been backing for weeks (even when Thistlecrack was still on to run) to be right there at the finish. Saphir Du Rheu is still a classy performer but he would have to produce the run of his life to be in the mix. It’s possible, of course, but if you’re tempted to back him then go each way as no one in history has ever complained of a return at 66-1! (William Hill – price correct on 27/02/17). Finally, just to hedge your bets in this wide-open field, others of definite interest are Empire Of Dirt and Sizing John. www.cotswold-homes.com

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EQuESTRIAN LADY

a Cotswold raCe goer’s guide to tHe festiVal wHy go to tHe raCes? The equestrian heart of the North Cotswolds beats to the Sport of Kings – a whole fraternity of prestigious names reside in the loveliest villages around here. Home to famous trainers, jockeys and owners, there’s a veritable industry going on in some of the sleepiest and most rural of outposts in this part of the world and no wonder, for down the road is Cheltenham, the centrifugal influence, where the famous racecourse hosts the most important of all events in the jump racing calendar - The Festival. If you have never been before you really should, there’s no excuse. Here is my (girl) guide to getting the most out of a wonderful week’s racing.

wHere to stay?

Everywhere will be booked up months in advance - the best fun is to be had right here in the Cotswolds, celebrating your winnings at the Hollow Bottom in Guiting Power (watch out for the film crew). Tree Tops House in nearby Temple Guiting is the ideal destination - a grand stone property enjoying fantastic rural views with a beautifully appointed cottage in the grounds sleeping up to sixteen in total, perfect for a group of friends hoping to taste the whole Cotswold experience. For more information visit www.character-cottages.co.uk

Tree Tops House

The Hollow Bottom in Guiting Power

Tree Tops House is the perfect country retreat – just book The Hollow Bottom minibus to get you home safely after celebrating your winnings!

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Equestrian Lady

To look classically elegant there is nothing better than a tweed skirt (just above the knee is the shortest you should go) teamed with a crisp ruffle shirt, a really feminine jacket and some gorgeous Belstaff boots.

When to go?

All days have their own particular character.

If you want to show off your glad rags then go on Ladies Day (although no self-respecting Cotswold girl will be doing wannabee-at-Ascot; see What to Wear) and if you’ve got any Irish blood in you, get down to the Guinness Village on Thursday to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. You can still experience the thrill of the crowd without the squeeze of Gold Cup on Tuesday stand by the finishing post for the first race of the day and the cheer as they set off will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Just make sure you leave plenty of time - latest by eleven o’clock from here, if you don’t want to miss the first race stuck in a queue of traffic!

What to wear?

This isn’t Ascot, dear. It can sometimes be freezing and / or wet, so sensible country racing folk will be wearing the obligatory uniform of

tweeds, Barbours and posh boots. Think layers not legs out - if in doubt, pop in to see Bonnie at Mangan & Webb in Stow on the Wold for a proper racing coat and some sartorial advice.

“Ladies should always make an effort with their appearance. To look classically elegant there is nothing better than a tweed skirt (just above the knee is the shortest you should go) teamed with a crisp ruffle shirt, a really feminine jacket and some gorgeous Belstaff boots.”

Where to eat?

All good race days have to start with a great cooked breakfast, so stop off at the Plough Inn at Ford on the way there - or, if you don’t mind being gawped at, get yourself a Range Rover, a picnic basket and a folding table and host your horsey friends in the car park. Once inside, head for the Champagne Bar. Forget the diet, for this is food heaven. A carb overload is perfect for keeping out the cold and soaking up the alcohol and there is plenty on offer, whether you fancy

a burger and chips or you have booked a fine dining experience in the Panoramic - one thing is for sure, you won’t go home hungry.

How to bet?

Racing’s so much more fun if you’ve got a stake on the outcome. Punters will make their way down to the bookies but stick with the Tote if you’re a novice. Buy a race card on the way in, bring a pen to make notes and take time to read up a bit before the start of every race. You will find all sorts of helpful information about likely odds, previous winners, probable favourites and racing colours - it doesn’t matter whether you go local and plump every time for Sam TwistonDavies or choose the prettiest silks, just don’t bet on half the field each time or you won’t cover your stake, even if you get lucky! Simply opt for a win on a favourite, or an each-way flutter on a horse with longer odds - and most importantly, only put in your purse what you are prepared to lose. www.cotswold-homes.com

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Sam Twiston-Davies

At Home with Sam Twiston-Davies On a balmy late summer’s day in 2015, Cotswold Homes was lucky enough to secure an exclusive interview at home with Sam Twiston-Davies. Grange Hill Farm sits amongst spreading patchwork fields with panoramic views that sweep around the valley and hills, the perfect spot for a ninety-strong collection of racehorses being trained by his father Nigel at their yard. am is cheery, relaxed and chatty despite a long slow drive back from Ditcheat.There are chickens pecking away serenely in the garden, roses crowding round the back door and an Aga draped with clean washing in the farmhouse kitchen - an archetypal, informal Cotswold embrace that emanates comfort and warmth. Sam makes us a cup of tea, sitting in his socks at the kitchen table, talking about his love of good food and home comforts.

“In everyone’s life there’s a rock and for me, that’s Mum. Mum is great. If ever I am down she’ll always be the first person to ring and she’ll always be here. Here, there are no enemies and I always feel welcome.There’s always chocolate in the fridge, ice cream in the freezer, crisps in the larder - home is just a great place to come back to every day.”

We hear you love Haribo, can make a mean omelette and great eggy bread – aren’t jockeys supposed to spend their time trying to lose weight?

“I’m lucky. I never have to sit in the sauna. I’m around ten stone in the summer and will eat a big meal a day. When I need to lose a few pounds I do it by eating less. I’ll have a cup of tea in the morning, then ride out two or three lots at Paul’s and get home having had a

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breakfast bar and maybe some fruit. I try not to eat a meal after 6.30 in the evening when I am riding, to give my body a chance to burn off some of it before bed. When I sit down I can get bored – just thinking about food makes me hungry - so then I will pick away on Haribo whilst I am playing on my X-box.

Sweets don’t weigh much and are fast-burn.

For Willy [his brother, a flat jockey], it sounds crazy, but sweets are very important just to keep his body running because he has to keep his weight down [to around eight and a half stone] whilst the worst for me is if I have to do a ten stone after Christmas. Fortunately, these days I am usually at Kempton in the King George, a level weights race, or riding for Paul or Nigel in the handicaps, hopefully on heavyweights!”

Do you generally spend a lot of time at home?

“I do. When Mum has a dinner party I hide upstairs – I’ll say a quick hello, grab something from the fridge, go up to my room - there’s nothing like coming in and just crashing.

Jockeys are under a lot of pressure so you do things that take you as far away as possible from racing. I’m good at finding ways to switch off; I like going to the cinema, playing footie for Hollow Bottom FC, and when I’m on my X-box the last thing I think about is racing. It’s important to have that downtime.

“When I have a great day the phone will be flat out on the way home but on a bad day no one wants to speak to you. Mum, Dad, my brother Willie, my agent Chris Broad... your immediate family and closest friends are the people you want in your life, who are there for you, care whatever happens, who tell you things are all right and give you back a sense of perspective, because the game we are in is really such a small bubble and you can get so caught up in it sometimes.”

Having a trainer as a father must have been good preparation for the pressures of life as number one jockey for Paul Nicholls?

“The pressures and competition are more intense now than when I was growing up, when there was no riding on a Sunday, when the boys would be going out, when there was no summer racing and they’d go off on long holidays, that’s just how it was. AP [McCoy] really helped to change the face of all that - doing it in a way that everyone followed, the good diet and the way he operated. Back in the day, if someone didn’t go out, the lads would ask: ‘where were you last night, is there something wrong with you?’ but now if I were riding tomorrow I wouldn’t go out. It’s Olympian now at the top of the sport, these days, riding amongst the very best from all over the world.

Sam Twiston-Davies

“The thing Paul’s taught me is to keep focused on the next race. If we have a win he’ll celebrate it, then it’s straight onto the next one and the one after. I love that hunger in him, the fact that he’s looking forward all the time.” www.cotswold-homes.com

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Sam Twiston-Davies

“I have seen how hard it is being a trainer, the ups and downs my father’s been through - to be able to give that amount of yourself to every owner, it’s hard.”

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“Everyone says AP is their hero, one of mine too, but I have learned more from Carl Llewellyn [now Nigel’s assistant trainer] than anyone else – about mortgages, how I talk, how I look and how I present myself, not just at the races but day-to-day. He’s lived with us since I was small - seeing him work with Dad was second to none as experience.

They’re the best of friends, always have been. Both are my role models, my heroes.They’ve barely ever had a cross word and I like to think I can get on with Paul in the same way. Obviously it’s different because I live here, he lives there, but that’s a good thing. If he has something to say after a bad race I can go home, think about it without getting heated and the next day he’s back to normal. He’s great because he never bears a grudge. He’s moved on so I have to, too.

“The thing Paul’s taught me is to keep focused on

the next race. If we have a win he’ll celebrate it, then it’s straight onto the next one and the one after. I love that hunger in him, the fact that he’s looking forward all the time.To him failures are just opportunities to evaluate, to assess the mistakes so we don’t make them again. I have learned from him to brush myself off, get on with it and move forward.

“I have seen how hard it is being a trainer, the ups and downs my father’s been through - to be able to give that amount of yourself to every owner, it’s hard. If I have had a bad day I like to switch the phone off so I wouldn’t make the obvious choice to follow in Dad’s footsteps whereas Willy is a great communicator, really good at lifting everyone back up after a difficult day. If he does, I will support him all the way. My dream for the future is to be there with Paul seeing the future stars come

Sam Twiston-Davies

through, watching the three year olds and seeing them as chasers, the potential Gold Cup winners, seeing everything we have worked for flourish and enjoying longevity together like dad and Carl, like Paul and Ruby [Walsh].

Was losing on Big Bucks a turning point for you?

“Well,Twitter’s an interesting one but I probably learned more from riding Big Bucks than from any other defeat.The whole of the community of racing can be behind you but then you can get so much – I don’t want to say hate because that’s not the right word – so much anger. At the end of the day there were only three things that really mattered - that the horse came back okay, that Paul and [owner] Andy Stewart were happy.

“At the time, though, it was very hard – hundreds of vicious tweets on the way home, even telling me

they hoped I crashed my car, people coming up to me in the street in Cheltenham when I was out that night with the lads telling me I was no good, that I had given him a poor ride, crazy stuff. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through but it’s true that sometimes you learn more from defeat than you ever can from winning. Now I am able to deal with disappointment much better - I don’t bite back. I try to rise above it, put it in perspective. It’s definitely made me the jockey I am now.”

What’s easier to deal with - Twitter trolls or being snogged by Frankie Dettori?

He laughs. “Yeah, Frankie’s really sound but he got me once when the camera wasn’t on him and I was like, that was different, and then the camera was on him and he did it again! That was one of the best days ever, to win on Dodging Bullets in a Grade One. Frankie bred him, knew him from a

very young horse and it must have been a hell of an excitement. It’s the same when I watch Willy or Ryan Hatch, people I am very close to like Jamie Bargary, for example.You’re hoping and thinking with the jockey, you ride the race with them, you see how they are travelling and the lines of thought they are on, how things are going.

“With AP that’s what made him so amazing to watch - he made so few mistakes.You look back at the race and wonder what must he have been thinking five strides before then, because he did this rather than that. His instinct is something all jockeys would love to employ into their own riding – the best jockey that you will ever see, impossible to beat, riding ninety five per cent of the time without any mistakes. All I can do is learn and strive to get better, to be stronger, to try to be more like him, but no one will ever match him. www.cotswold-homes.com

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Sam Twiston-Davies

The question is, can you get enough rides to become Champion Jockey this year?

“Dickie [Richard Johnson] has had a flying start because he has been riding a lot of the horses that AP would have done. AP rode for John Ferguson, too, so my good friend Aidan’s also getting lots of winners. Paul is always quieter in summer whereas we’re guaranteed to be busy every Saturday for the rest of the winter. I’m raring to go now, especially having been down to Paul’s yard and schooled a few of the young ones. I’m thinking that one’s going to win, and that one, and that one – wow, all these horses in one yard! Lots of novice chasers, maybe thirty graded horses and a few handicappers – it’s staggering to see so many coming through, plus the established horses like Dodging Bullets, Saphir du Rheu and Silviniaco Conti, all likely to do well again this season.

“Last year, Paul had a winner for twenty Saturdays in a row – each time the team is not just hoping but confident that something is going to win, everyone’s going round thinking positively, and a lot of the time it works on the big days, too, the belief that you are making the right decisions. It conveys itself to the horse as well – your confidence creates great trust, so you’re both at your best.

“Going round on Dodging Bullets at Cheltenham was like clockwork, everything on a heartbeat, flowing, lovely, just finding that rhythm – it was wonderful. Putting the championship aside, I believe Paul gives me the best chance to win the big races.Take Saphir du Rheu - Irish Saint had taken a Grade Two apart at Kempton but Saphir beat him by fifteen lengths at a canter at Aintree - he’s got the potential, he’s very exciting. Obviously 20

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All I can do is learn and strive to get better, to be stronger, to try to be more like him, but no one will ever match him [AP Mccoy].” everything has to go right but if all turns out well in the prep stages. We’ll have to see what he does in the Hennessy, if he goes. If he can step up, then he could well be a Gold Cup horse.”

his beloved horse whilst laughing at his known contrariness towards treats, explaining he turns his nose up at everything from Polos to carrots, being simply content with his usual feed.

Before we leave, how about a photo or two of you with The New One? We step out into the sunshine again, and as we walk down to the yard Sam points out various horses including Brian, a carthorse belonging to his mother Cathy, who was trusted with the boys when they were little. In another field is Bindaree whose owner Mr Raymond Mould, Sam’s godfather, passed away only a week before. “Our whole family will always be deeply indebted to Mr Mould - as Nigel’s longest standing owner he ensured our yard’s good fortune. It was his kindness that made Mr Mould best friend to Dad for many years - they were on the phone to each other every day and inseparable to the end.”

Would you ever let anyone else ride The New One? “Hopefully the occasion will never arise but The New One I realise is a true hero.The New One’s nearly a guaranteed winner and I have always been loyal to him - but Dodging Bullets is a great horse, too. I rode him for the first time at Aintree the year before last and then hadn’t sat on him again until Cheltenham.You’d never get close to the adrenalin rush of winning at Cheltenham. With the Tingle Creek I promise you that was such a surprise.To see him transform like that was unbelievable, it felt like he could go round again, making a mockery of every other horse out there. It was mad. He felt like my horse because we progressed through our first major season together, and of course, he was the horse that really cemented me and Paul as a team. I think Dodging Bullets and The New One will always be my favourites.”

It is clear how much Mr Mould is missed today, and how hard his loss is on everyone at the yard.

As we reach The New One’s stable, Sam fusses

Sam TwiSTon-DavieS

Tell us about your relationship with Harrison James & Hardie – you have just agreed your third year with the company as your sponsors but surely you must have had better offers this season?

“It’s more the relationship we have than anything else. Being a jockey takes a lot out of you and it’s great to work with people who understand what you do and are passionate about it. I have worked with other people in the past, but what's great about working with Harrison James & Hardie is all about what we can do for each other.

“The directors are very easy in the demands they make of me and work around my schedule.

My day is so hectic, I am all over the place - for example, next week I will be in Perth and then maybe at Paul's, then Warwick and Newton Abbott – and sometimes my plans change at short notice but it’s never a problem even if I have to re-schedule things we have agreed. I try my best to do everything that I can for them, of course, but it’s amazing to be allowed that time and flexibility.

“That’s what makes it work so well for both sides - it’s a mutual understanding and it’s so pleasing that they are genuinely interested in the

Sam at Stratford with Harrison James & Hardie Director James von Speyr

sport. For example, the directors usually sponsor one of the races at the Showcase so I will go up to the Panoramic Restaurant before they have lunch to tell them what I think about the day ahead, giving my opinion on who’s got a chance in this race and whether I reckon I will do well in a particular race, for example. It's great as they really appreciate my input because it makes it more exciting for them and it’s the same for me too, knowing that I am making their day even more enjoyable.

“It’s infectious that everyone in the company is so interested and passionate, especially James.

Although it sounds crazy, the race I would have loved to win last season was the Harrison James & Hardie Maiden Hurdle at Cheltenham, after the company sponsored the Amateur Chase the year before, which my father won and I was so jealous because I couldn’t ride in it. Then last year in the Maiden Hurdle I came second – I am determined one day, hopefully, that it’s going to go the right way!”

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Photography: Sarah Matthews Reproduced by kind permission of Worcester Racecourse

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