‘To own even one winner at the Festival is what I have always dreamed of’
FOOTBALL LEGEND HOPING TO GET ON SCORESHEET WITH CORAL CUP HURDLE HOPE SHAKEM UP’ARRY
THE one thing certain about this year’s Festival is that it will be a Cheltenham like no other. There will be no footballers behaving badly, for starters.
Or, to put it more fairly, harmlessly enjoying a brief respite from the pressure of the professional game.
Just one of the many magical aspects of the Festival has long been its attraction for sportsmen and women from different spheres.
Cast a net across Prestbury Park on any of the four days and you will trawl a selection of golfers, cricketers, rugby players and athletes.
But the real bond between football and racing has always been just that little bit stronger than most.
Ask Sir Alex Ferguson or Harry Redknapp. The two great managerial mates – and rivals – would sit together and watch the 2.45 from Wetherby before trying to outwit each other in a three o’clock kick-off. “People thought I was in the dressingroom, going through tactics with my team, but me and Alex would be having a bet,” recounts Redknapp in one of his books.
Ferguson has interests in several horses but his star, Clan Des Obeaux, is giving the Festival a miss this year, having flopped when well fancied for the 2020 Gold Cup.
However, Redknapp has a shout with Shakem Up’Arry, who is now likely to go for the Coral Cup tomorrow.
“To have a winner at the Cheltenham Festival is what you dream of,” says Redknapp, who owned his first horse, Slick Cherry, back in the Eighties.
“But it is not easy.”
If Shakem Up’Arry takes its chance, Redknapp, like the rest of us, will be cheering him on from the comfort of his living room.
But while the Festival has long been associated with tales of footballers letting their hair down, Redknapp says he will not miss the party side of the week.
“I love the Cheltenham Festival but I’d rather sit at home and watch it on television,” he explains.
“Good luck to those who want to go to get boozed up and unwind but that’s not for me.
“I go to the races because I love the horses and the sport.”
And Harry knows the ups and
‘People thought I was going through tactics but me and Alex would be having a bet!’
“I love the Cheltenham Festival but I’d rather sit at home and watc h it on TV anyway”
downs, having seen one of his best horses, Bygones In Brid, suffer a fatal fall at Taunton in 2012.
“He was a certainty to win that day and we were going to take him to Cheltenham,” recalls Redknapp.
“But when he came to the first hurdle, the sun was so bright, he stepped into it, went down and broke his neck.
“I’d lost my horse. I was in bits. There’s a lot of sadness in racing. It’s awful leaving a track without your horse because you get to love them so much.”
But like so many, that love for horses keeps Harry coming back and when his horses’ racing careers are over, he makes sure he finds a good home for them.
Shakem Up’Arry has at least a couple more years’ racing left in him but will be long odds against winning whichever race Redknapp and trainer Ben Pauling opt for at the Festival.
And while a surprise win for his horse would be that ‘dream’ come true for Redknapp, he will also be cheering on the Moores – jockey Jamie and trainer Gary – and Goshen, the horse that so dramatically came to grief at the final obstacle when miles clear in last year’s Triumph Hurdle.
Redknapp says: “I was so disappointed for Jamie and Gary. They are such lovely people, such great people.
“I managed a football team in a charity match for the Injured Jockeys Fund last year and Jamie played for me.
“What a lovely character he is, and Gary is just different class.
“And Goshen is a machine. They deserve to win the Champion Hurdle and I hope they do it.”