The 2026 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner and Betway ambassador reflects on his rides at this year's Festival, which included three feature race wins.
It was another hectic week at the Cheltenham Festival, but to have won the big feature race on three of the four days was incredible. While there were some frustrating moments, I’ll look back on the 2026 Festival very fondly. As I said beforehand, I never go into the week setting myself numerical targets, or setting out to be top jockey, but I was thrilled to finish the week with four winners and be the festival’s top rider once again.
It’s tough to pick a highlight from the week when you win the Champion Hurdle, the Champion Chase, and the Gold Cup, but Gaelic Warrior on Friday gave me some thrill, and he honestly blew me away with that performance. I thought he had a great chance going into the race, but I never could have imagined that he’d win in that fashion. Not many horses win Gold Cups like that, and it was actually going so well throughout the race, I was thinking something would surely go wrong. Thankfully it didn’t, and it was just a huge performance.
His jumping was incredible. He just seemed to meet every fence on a good stride, and that helped him stay the trip as he wasn’t expending energy or clouting fences on the way round, so he had plenty left after the last to breeze up that hill. I haven’t had a chance to watch the race back, so I’d struggle to compare his performance to my other wins on Al Boum Photo and Galopin Des Champs just yet, but I can’t believe how easily he did it, so it would have to be right up there with the best of them.
Another monstrous performance during the week was Lossiemouth in the Champion Hurdle. I was fairly confident she’d run a huge race going into it as she’d travelled over well, and she usually comes to life at Cheltenham, so it didn’t massively surprise me that she was able to put up a performance of that calibre. I was very happy with her throughout the race. In fact, I was very happy heading to the start as I could just feel how well she was within herself, and after jumping one hurdle, she was hard on the bridle and I knew we were on a going day with her.
I was delighted with King Rasko Grey in the Turners because I had plenty to choose from in the race for Willie, but I just felt he was with the one who had the most potential to improve over that trip. It was a competitive race, but he took a huge step forward from Leopardstown, and I was able to put him in the position I wanted over the longer trip. I think he should be a horse to follow over the coming years as I think he can improve again, and he’s definitely going the right way.
Although I was gutted to get beaten on Final Demand, I was thrilled for everybody involved with Kitzbuhel, and he’s had a fantastic season. There was a point halfway up the run-in I thought that I’d win, but we just couldn’t catch Kitzbuhel, so I was disappointed to be on the wrong one but happy that Final Demand showed that he can battle, and that was much more like it after he disappointed us at Leopardstown.
Bambino Fever was one of our biggest disappointments of the week, and I’d say the ground was plenty quick enough for her. She dived at the first, and did the same at the second, so we were on the back foot from that point. She seems to have come out of the race absolutely fine, though, so hopefully there’ll be some more big days in her going forward.
Jade De Grugy ran another cracker, and although I had half a sniff at the last, I was never confident I was going to pick up Jack Kennedy on Wodhooh. Gordon’s mare is tough, and she kept finding out in front, but I was delighted that Jade De Grugy ran her race because it’s never easy coming back from chasing in such a competitive race at the Festival.
It would have been greedy to win the feature race on all four days, but Ballyburn was one I just thought got away from me. I got caught for a bit of room coming down to the last, and that just stopped my momentum at a crucial stage of the race, so although I’m thrilled he’s run his race, I can’t help but feel I’d have gone really close with a clear run.
Selma De Vary ran a nice race in the triumph, and I’m sure Karbau will win races with a bit more cut in the ground, but of the beaten horses, Kopek Des Bordes is the obvious one to follow for the rest of the season. Kopek is a beast, and he’d have won that Arkle without the mistake at the last. The prep he’d had as well going into Cheltenham was less than ideal, so with that under his belt, he’ll take some beating wherever he goes next.
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