Jockey John Gleeson (18) celebrates winning the Weatherbys Champion Bumper with A Dream To Share on day two of the Cheltenham Festival. Photo: David Davies/PA
Owner Michael O'Leary celebrates with Delta Work after winning the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham. Photo: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Racegoers cheer on their horses. Photo: Andrew Matthews/PA
Staff from Gordon Elliott's yard cheer on Delta Work on its way to winning the Glenfarclas Chase. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA
John Gleeson
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Jockey John Gleeson (18) celebrates winning the Weatherbys Champion Bumper with A Dream To Share on day two of the Cheltenham Festival. Photo: David Davies/PA
Mud-splattered and triumphant as he stood on the podium, it had not sunk in for 18-year-old John Gleeson that he had just ridden a winner in his first ever Cheltenham race – even before he sits his Leaving Cert later this year.
Former champion jockey Davy Russell had been the first to congratulate him soon after he passed the finishing post in the last race of the day, the Champion Bumper.
The winning jockey was still wide-eyed with disbelief that 7-2 shot A Dream to Share really had turned out to be exactly that.
His father, Brian Gleeson, the racing commentator for RTÉ and ITV, said it had been a nerve-racking experience and he had been “walking the box” before the race.
He laughed as he admitted his son is a lot calmer, and added: “He gets it from his mother.”
He deserves it – he has put so much into it and trainer John Kiely too – it’s a dream
As they watched him pass the post, the family, from Dungarvan, Co Waterford, hugged one another while John’s girlfriend, Orla Queally, said she was “so proud of him”.
“He deserves it – he has put so much into it and trainer John Kiely too – it’s a dream,” she added.
On a day of driving rain and wind, we needed a heart-warming moment, and it didn’t come much better than this – a horse bred and previously owned by a well-known racing commentator, trained by an 85-year-old and ridden to victory in the JP McManus colours by a teenager.
Every morning before school, John would go down to the paddocks to ride out on A Dream To Share.
John Kiely will be 86 in May and has been going to Cheltenham since the 1970s, but gave up riding three years ago due to Covid.
“I’ve spent my life in racing. You never think as a youngster you’d get to be in this hallowed spot,” he said of his winning jockey.
One Christmas Day, John Gleeson’s mother, Claire, announced that she had chosen the name and wanted to call it A Dream To Share because that is what the family wished for.
The dream was to have a winner at Cheltenham and they wanted everyone to have a part in it.
John’s school, St Augustine’s Friary College in Dungarvan, had been very supportive and allowed him to take the week off.
“I have all the pre-exams over and it’s coming up to Easter so I got the time off easy,” he said, adding that winning will not change anything as he faces into his exams in June.
Claudine Keane during day two of the Cheltenham Racing Festival. Photo: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
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Claudine Keane during day two of the Cheltenham Racing Festival. Photo: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
“I’ll have to put my head down next week and crack on like normal, but we’ll enjoy today and it’s special to get the win here,” he said.
He admitted he has “got the bug now”.
“All the lads and everyone in school was watching, so they’ll all get a good kick out of that,” he said.
On a wet and miserable day at Prestbury Park, everybody was talking about Ladies’ Day – but it was hard to find it.
There was nothing like the feathers and finery of an Irish race meeting, and sensible coats and racing hats dominated the style stakes.
Officially, Ladies Day had been done away with in 2020 because organisers wanted to keep the focus on the racing.
Unofficially, fashion company Holland Cooper was running a competition that lasts all week.
A mother and daughter from Cork were dashing to get umbrellas as dark skies loomed. Mum said: “It’s very different to back home – it’s all tweed here.”
Spotted on the course was former Ireland football star Robbie Keane with his wife, Claudine.
It’s very different to back home – it’s all tweed here
The couple had flown in yesterday morning and were flying back last night.
“We don’t have the children with us today,” said Claudine. She enjoys Cheltenham and, wrapped in a warm camel wool coat, was not too bothered by the rain.
“We’re Irish – we’re used to this,” she said.
There was serious talk on the course of a £400,000 (€456,000) bet that had been placed on Willie Mullins’ Energumene, who defended his Champion Chase crown with relative ease.
Owner Tony Bloom, the Brighton & Hove Albion FC supremo, admitted only that he had “a few quid on” and had not been disappointed.
Sam Twiston-Davies celebrates after riding The Real Whacker
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Sam Twiston-Davies celebrates after riding The Real Whacker
Meanwhile, the earlier part of the day had belonged to The Real Whacker in the Brown Advisory Novices Chase, although the story was the real whacking the bookies took at the hands of the punters.
“I can assure you, the bookies have been murdered,” said colourful jockey-turned-tipster Paddy Merrigan in the winners’ enclosure.
“Nobody believed in this horse. I told everyone to back him. I done all the previews, but I was laughed at,” he said.
“The bookies got educated here today. The whole of Ireland has backed this horse for six months. We have cleaned the bookies out, it’s over. I can assure you it was the biggest bet of my life.”
Merrigan said only that he had won “more than a tenner and less than ten million”.
Asked how he felt, he said: “Not as good as I thought, but I have the money.
“Well, let’s see if they pay me. They’re probably done for at least 50 thousand.
“I’ve 100 more on a docket in my pocket,” he said.
Paddy Power said that after The Real Whacker was available at odds of 25-1 in January following his victory in the Paddy Power Novices Chase, “some shrewd punters spotted an opportunity to hit us where it hurts after he went off at a fraction of that price today at 8-1”.