Top Cheltenham Jockey – Graham Bradley

In the second of a series of daily interviews with Gold Cup winning jockey Graham Bradley, Blue Square’s Alan Alger discusses the special markets on offer during the Cheltenham Festival in which Graham rubbishes any thoughts of the Champion Jockey not performing well at Prestbury Park.

Alan – Graham, you were stable jockey to Paul Nicholls back in the early 90’s. One of our special bets asks if he can win ‘all 4’ feature races at the Festival (Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, World Hurdle and Gold Cup).

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How do you see that particular market panning out?

Graham – I’d be very worried about Celestial Halo (Champion Hurdle) if I was to take the current 40/1 that Blue Square are offering on him winning ‘all 4’. He is the weak link and to be frank it wasn’t a vintage Champion Hurdle last year. You can see that plenty of horses in contention from last year have had a poor preparation for this year’s race.

Up to and including Punjabi’s ‘egg and spoon’ win at Kempton last week, none of them had shown anything like the form required on the track. The respective trainers have commented that their horses either needed the run or were not suited by the ground but I don’t think we’ve seen a real champion emerge and certainly not Celestial Halo.

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Alan – Well we are also offering a price of 13/8 that Nicholls wins ‘any 3’ of the feature races which gives punters the chance to not rely on Celestial Halo.

Graham – In my mind the three that look solid are Kauto Star (Gold Cup), Big Buck’s (World Hurdle) and Master Minded (Champion Chase). Kauto’s performance at Kempton in the King George was awesome! To have the majority of a quality field on the ropes after a circuit was an incredible achievement.

Master Minded looks as if the unintended absence has done him the world of good and I know that Paul thinks he is back to near his best. It’s likely to be a weak Champion Chase anyway as the others will all want to swerve him. Big Buck’s is in the kind of race where very little can go wrong so in my mind should be shorter (currently 4/7). As long as Ruby (Walsh) times the race right then I do not see any danger and he’s one of the best at getting that clock inside his head spot-on. Why the big difference from 40/1 to 13/8?

Alan – Well in the other races there are other contenders from the stable for example Denman (Gold Cup) and Twist Magic (Champion Chase).

Graham – They are great horses to have as a first option let alone a second option and I’m one of the biggest Denman fans around. I just think the ground will ride in Kauto’s favour. I’d be much more inclined to back the treble of the horses I already mentioned rather than take the 13/8. What price is that?

Alan – That’s currently just a shade under 4/1. Which of the three would you be most certain of?

Graham – There’s not much more than a piece of paper between them in their respective races but if I had a gun to my head I’d say Kauto Star.

Alan – You mentioned Ruby Walsh and his ability to time a race, he’s a very obvious favourite to win ‘Top Festival Jockey’ market, any value elsewhere?

Graham – I won the award in 1983 with just two winners and a second, he won it last year with seven and a few places. He has an incredible book of rides and it almost feels like he has a head start before the tapes go up on the Tuesday.

Alan – Where will his main dangers come from?

Graham – I think anybody else will need at least four winners to beat him and I can’t see many other jockeys with that kind of obvious book of rides. Barry Geraghty and AP McCoy are around second place in the betting and you couldn’t disagree with that. In fact I think Jonjo O’Neill and AP will have some good chances in the handicaps for JP McManus.

Alan – Talking of McCoy, some people have voiced doubts about his ability around Cheltenham, what’s your opinion?

Graham – That’s absolute rubbish in my view. Isn’t he the last jockey to do the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup double? He rides the track fine, just look at Wichita Lineman last year. In my opinion that was the best ride in the history of the meeting. He can ride from the front, ride from the back and even the middle. Things can go wrong at Cheltenham but I would never say that he can’t ride the place.

Alan – I think some people have that opinion because they see him at their local track or in the bookmakers riding a few winners on a relatively uncompetitive card and expect it to be that easy for him every time. Which of course is never going to be the case at the most competitive meeting of the year.

Graham – I’d have to agree with that.

Alan – You’ve mentioned to us in your first interview when we caught up with you in Lambourn that sometimes you’ve ignored trainers’ instructions and felt the full force of their wrath. Any incidents spring to mind?

Graham – Well the most famous case was Michael Dickinson before the Gold Cup in 1983. Of course he went on to saddle the first five home and I finished first on Bregawn. I received five sets of instructions from him in the parade ring and took the decision to ignore every single one. Not because I wanted to but because I felt the pace of the race wasn’t in line with what I’d been told. A good jockey will then make his own mind up.

Alan – Well it certainly worked that day! Any examples of where it went wrong?

Graham – Well back when I was with Paul Nicholls I’d ran up a five timer on a great horse called See More Indians. It was actually Paul’s first grade 1 winner. We’d won the Feltham at Kempton and then went to Wincanton for a prep race before the RSA Chase. We won at Wincanton, where I think we were second favourite and all was well for the Festival. We lined up as 6/1 shots for the RSA Chase and got beaten 30 lengths into fifth. I think it was more the owner that was unhappy with my tactics that day but that did end my association with the yard.

Alan – Do you think jockeys live with that fear and pressure at the big yards these days?

Graham – Well I think there is more trust involved these days if you give Ruby or AP the leg up on a horse you’d expect them to know the race and the opposition inside out – and believe me they do. They might receive some instructions. Paul Nicholls is a man with opinions and I don’t doubt he tells Ruby a few of them before each race. But you have to trust the best jockeys to get it right and that’s why they are at the top of the game.