Gold Cup win? It wouldn’t be the first shock at Cheltenham
TEA FOR TWO doesn’t need to win Friday’s Cheltenham Gold Cup to give his rider Lizzie Kelly a sense of triumph.
Even to circle at the three-mile two-furlong start is to arrive at a personal landmark.
Kelly is the university graduate turned professional jump jockey who watched in awe as Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh broke new ground in a sport dominated by men.
“Nina and Katie are the two jockeys that I used to watch as a kid,” recalls 23-year-old Kelly.
“Nina and Katie set the standard, but neither of them has been given the opportunity to ride in the Gold Cup.
“So it’s a big thing that I’m doing something they’ve not done, and it makes me proud of all the work I’ve put in – I’ve wanted to be a jockey since I was 10 years old.”
Like Walsh and Carberry, whose fathers are Grand National-winning trainers, Kelly has family contacts to draw on – Tea For Two is part-owned by her mother Jane and trained by her boss and stepfather, Devon-based Nick Williams.
But this is no case of horsey nepotism.
Kelly has ridden the eight-yearold to each of his eight career wins, including the prestigious Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton Park in January 2015 and the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase – the first success by a British or Irish female jockey in a Grade 1 race over hurdles or fences – at the Sunbury course 11 months later.
After delivering at odds-on at Exeter last month, Tea For Two is a 50-1 shot for Friday’s test – odds Kelly views as an oversight.
Sent off at 25-1 for the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day, Tea For Two was outrun by the now-sidelined Thistlecrack, but crossed the line within a short head and a head behind the winner’s stablemate Cue Card, who heads the Gold Cup betting alongside stablemate Native River.
“His run in the King George was very good – based on that form you would say he’s got a good chance of being placed,” argues Kelly.
“I think the extended three miles will help him, and you’ve got to go for the Gold Cup when you’re fit and healthy.
“If he was trained by a topfive trainer and ridden by a top-five jockey would he be shorter? “Yes.” It was in 1984 that Linda Sheedy became the first woman to ride in the Gold Cup, pulling up 500-1 nohoper Foxbury before the 13th fence, as the glory went to the Jenny Pitman-trained Burrough Hill Lad.
That it has taken 33 years for a second female to contest the meeting’s signature event betrays the glacial change within the jumping world.
“It’s frustrating,” admits Kelly, who excelled on two of this week’s mounts, Agrapart and Coo Star Sivola, for a headline double before ITV viewers at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day.
“I’ve had big successes and not had very much from it – outside rides are few and far between,” adds the jockey on the 10-winner mark for the campaign, still five short of last season.
“But we can’t all be Tony McCoy. You have to look at it from the other point of view – there are plenty of lads out there who are really struggling.
“I never came into it thinking I would be the kind of person who has 50 winners a season.
“There are lots of jockeys who would love to have the job I have – and you can’t spend your time thinking and getting a chip on your shoulder.”
Kelly will also find employment as a pundit on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Festival coverage, while joining Willie Mullins’ team for morning track work.
“That’s something I’ve done for a couple of years now – you ride such great horses, and I can’t believe he lets me ride them!
“It’s a great week. Unfortunately, it flies by.”
Kelly, a 20-year-old student when beating McCoy and Richard Johnson on board Aubusson at Cheltenham in January 2014, expects to take five rides over four days, and concedes: “A good Cheltenham for me is a couple of horses placed.
“But I thoroughly love what I do. I get brilliant rides and I get some fantastic winners.
“I wouldn’t be the first shock winner at Cheltenham. Keep the dream alive!”