Rachael Blackmore can't wait for the 2023 Cheltenham Festival to get under way and she'll be hoping to add to her 12 wins at the meeting so far over the course of the week.
The last of those came in the Gold Cup 12 months ago and it could be another huge week for the Tipperary jockey.
Here's what the Betfair ambassador had to say about her three rides on day one:
1.30 – Inthepocket
The rain and the changing ground means that Inthepocket now goes for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.
He is a very nice horse, he kept on well to win a Grade 2 novice hurdle at Naas just before Christmas, when he probably wasn’t helped by the omission of the last two flights of hurdles, and he ran a solid race in the Grade 1 Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival last time to finish second behind Il Etait Temps.
He is a horse who has a big future, and hopefully he can run well here and get the week off to a good start.
4.10 – Honeysuckle
There is not much more that I can say about Honeysuckle that I haven’t said before. She is an unbelievable mare, and she has been an unbelievable mare for me. She has been incredible for my career. All that she has achieved, and I have been lucky enough to get to ride her.
As has been well publicised, this will be her last race, I won’t be looking back. We can look back when it’s over. She has given us all the big days that she could have given us so far, the crowds have been brilliant, and I would love her to have one more big day.
She’s in great form, she still feels like she is very well, she still feels like she has plenty of fight in her. She showed that when she battled to hold off Vauban for second place behind State Man in the Irish Champion Hurdle last month.
It’s a very strong race, but Honeysuckle is in great order at home, she’s showing us all the right signs, everyone is happy with her. It’s great that she is going to Cheltenham again, and it’s great that I am going to get to ride her again. Regardless of what happens on Tuesday, she has been phenomenal mare, and it will be brilliant if she can go out on a high.
4.50 – Bad
It was nice to pick up the ride on Bad for Ben Pauling in the Boodles Hurdle. Spare rides are very difficult to get at Cheltenham, and I have never ridden for Ben before, so it was nice to pick this one up.
I don’t know very much about Bad, but he looks like a nice horse. I watched his runs there in France the other night, and he looks very straightforward, it looks like he jumps well. He finished second in his first two hurdle races for Didier Guillemin at Bordeaux in April last year, and he was impressive in winning there in November.
Ben and his team are positive about him, and his handicap rating of 126 looks fair, it is lower than the rating he was given in France. All his form in France is on soft or heavy ground, so the rain shouldn’t do him any harm, and I am looking forward to riding him.
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