Jack Kennedy Last week was pretty unreal if I’m honest. Anyone would be happy with one winner at Cheltenham so to have four was just a dream come true to be honest. Tuesday I went there and it looked like Apple’s Jade was my best chance of the week and she was disappointing but you just have to dust yourself down and get on with it because I knew I was in the fortunate position to have more good rides later in the week so I had to get over that disappointment and think about them then. I suppose it was a good thing that Samcro was in the first race on Wednesday as he was the one I was most looking forward to for the week. There was plenty of hype about him but I wasn’t nervous at all, not even after Tuesday, it was just the same as any other race really and I was just excited to be getting the opportunity to ride this type of horse that I would have grown up dreaming about riding at a place like Cheltenham. I’m only 18 and to be riding a horse like Samcro is just class. People probably still don’t know how good Samcro can be because he’s still doing everything right and very easily so naturally it was very exciting to be riding a horse like that. I was just more delighted for Gordon, Gigginstown and all the team that he won really as I’m in there every morning, full time and I’m part of that team. Gordon is very good to me and gives me a lot of opportunities so I’m always delighted when any of Gordon’s win whether I am riding them or not. Wednesday was a bit of a strange day when Ruby got the fall because I think everyone inside in the weighroom would have appreciated what he did to get back for Cheltenham and it was just very unfortunate for him to be ruled out again. Everyone growing up would have looked up to Ruby Walsh so it’s not nice when you see something like that happening to anyone, but especially in the biggest week of the year. But it’s the biggest week of the year for everyone so you’ve to keep thinking of yourself and your own rides but definitely everyone was very disappointed for him. When I was growing up and was riding on the pony racing circuit Davy Russell was my favourite jockey and the one I watched a lot more than anyone else and he was one of my heroes so to be in the position I am with him and pretty much on a team with him where we are sharing rides out of Gordon’s is unreal to think about. Even after robbing me of being leading jockey at Cheltenham last week he’s still my hero and I don’t think anyone could change that. I was just happy to be in the position I was in. I saw a few things on Twitter before Cheltenham, all these prices to be leading jockey at Cheltenham and it was hard to believe that my name was on that list, it was just a bit surreal to be in amongst some of the names, it was just a bit mad but to be in a position that I even got so close was just stuff you’d dream of and I’m very grateful to all the people that make that happen. Cheltenham was Cheltenham and you don’t get much time to reflect in this game. A couple of falls on Monday would bring you back down to earth fairly quick but that is part and parcel of this game and there’s plenty of racing coming up this week and more festivals to look forward to. I’m very ambitious in myself but also very conscious that you don’t get ahead of yourself so I don’t set myself any targets, I just keep the head down and work as hard as I can and take it day by day. There’s a lot of festivals coming up with Fairyhouse, Aintree and Punchestown and I just want to try and keep riding winners and I’d love if Gordon was able to be champion trainer this year. It’s going to be very tight again and there’s a lot of racing left in this season but that is his dream and with the help of God hopefully he’ll be able to do it.
