THE transition has been seamless though in some way, the real ‘tests’ are to come. But you are talking Paul Townend here, the two-time and reigning champion National Hunt jockey in Ireland, who has 10 Cheltenham Festival winners to his name including the Gold Cup in March with Al Boum Photo, and secured his 50th Grade 1 triumph on board Benie Des Dieux in the Grande Courses de Haies at Auteuil in May.

There aren’t too many examinations of his prodigious capabilities Townend has yet to experience in a stellar career that began with a bang as a 17-year-old winning the Galway Hurdle on Indian Pace for John Kiely in 2008, and was followed up with a maiden Grade 1 victory on his work partner Hurricane Fly in the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle just a few months later. So ‘tests’ seems an odd word to use.

But throughout all that time, the east Cork man had what he always considered the second best job in jump racing, as number two jockey to Willie Mullins. Now, with the retirement of the peerless Ruby Walsh, the long apprenticeship is over and the dynamic is different, in a subtle but very significant fashion.

Whereas once, Townend could gorge himself on the significant Closutton leftovers from Walsh’s dish, now it is him that must endure all that goes with making a choice when confronted with two, three or more of the five-star options.

And the disappointment of watching someone else benefit from him getting it wrong, as he inevitably will.

You would have to say that right now, it’s a case of so far, so very good. Having ridden at a 20% strike rate in Ireland from 1627 rides in the last five seasons up to Thursday (that’s 323 winners) and coming off season when he broke the century for the first time with 109 winners, Townend has accelerated into the new term, on 38% with 40 winners already from 105 rides.

“We went to France and Benie Des Dieux winning the French Champion Hurdle was the first big one that we rode in,” says a relaxed Townend at a press event to mark his announcement as an ambassador for Ladbrokes.

“We went to Galway and had a good week in Galway. The big thing would be the Grade 1s. If we can get one of them on board early it’d be a big help.

“There’s no other way of looking at it, it’s going to be more pressure, but if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be the job that it is. If we can get it off the ground quick, even if we could have won one of the big two in Galway it would have been a big help. But they’re all big races. Even if you go to a midweek race meeting, it’s important for that owner, that horse, on that day. They’re all pressure rides, but to land a big Grade 1 would steady the ship.”

Off the mark

There is the acknowledgement that the longer these things go on, the more it becomes an issue externally, in much the same way as an €80 million striker not scoring in his first three games. Get off the mark early and you can go about your business in peace.

“Yeah, you carry that. You mightn’t be riding any worse but it’ll be there in the back of your mind, ‘you need this.’ I think it comes with any sport, a big result is the only way to deal with it.”

He has racked up his championship-leading tally despite taking in a little break in Portugal at the end of August. Unsurprisingly, he thinks racing’s authorities should have a close season for National Hunt. Four or five days off in a business where you’re making weight and falling from a moving object at 40km/h every week, or two if you’re lucky, is not healthy.

“I think there’s an opportunity for a break after Punchestown. When the season’s over, it’s meant to be the flat time of year and you could give jump jockeys a couple of weeks off, a month off maybe, to relax and heal both the mind and the body.

“They come hot and heavy at the end of the year, from the Dublin Racing Festival into Cheltenham, Aintree, Fairyhouse, Punchestown, it’s hard on the body and the mind. If you pick up any knocks along the way, they never get the chance to heal.

“We’ve picked this profession and we do it, you’re going to carry knocks like that 80, 90% of the time. But it would be nice to have a little rest.”

It is noticeable how Mullins has targeted summer fare more in recent seasons.

“The racecourses do such a good job with the ground during the summer, you can afford to risk a better class of horse. Then the prize money means you need a better class of horse when you go to the likes of Galway. I think a lot of is the ground, you can take a chance on the horse.

Smaller man

“Now they’re Gold Cup horses running in handicaps. Even your lesser races, your novice hurdles and novice chases, you’ve horses with potential ratings of 140 and 150 running in them. It’s probably not great for the smaller man because the Kerry National or the Galway Plate, they were made famous because everyone had a chance in them. Now you’re full of Willie’s, Gordon (Elliott)’s, Gigginstown’s and JP (McManus)’s, and the rest are scraping in at the bottom of weights.

“So it’s probably not great for the race itself in that sense, but for the prize money has to be targeted. The lads wouldn’t be doing their jobs if they didn’t let them at it. Them boys put so much money into it, you can’t turn them away and say no, you can’t race because of X, Y or Z.”

Meanwhile, Walsh hasn’t become a stranger at Closutton, still a valued member of the brains trust. Townend learned so much from working at close quarters to a genius but admits that as well as he might know him, the wily Kildare man caught him on the hop when he called it a day after Kemboy’s Punchestown Gold Cup win, over Townend and Al Boum Photo, at the beginning of May.

“Personally I think he deserved to go out on a high like that because of what he’s put into the sport and everything he’s achieved. It would be sad to see him walk away from the sport not on his own terms. He’s achieved everything there is to achieve in the sport.

“He’s still a huge part of it, he’s around all the time and he’s only ever a phone call away. He’d tell you if you gave a horse a bad ride and he’d tell you if you gave one a good ride, so he’d keep you grounded, he’s always been good at that! For me, on the riding side of it, he’s brilliant. His knowledge of the sport, the fixtures, everything, he’s a great role model to have.”

Choosing a highlight between winning a championship and a Cheltenham feature is difficult because they are very different landmarks.

“With the championship, you need luck all season, you need to stay injury-free and to ride winners here, there and everywhere. Whereas with Cheltenham it’s that 10 minutes when you’ve the best horses, the best jockeys, the best trainers. It’s an achievement on one day. Don’t get me wrong, you need all the luck for that couple of minutes as well, but the championship is more prolonged.”

That sounds like he is leaning towards the former as amounting to more but he keeps breaking into a smile when the Gold Cup is mentioned and admits that he’s still not sure he has processed the enormity of being on that roll of honour. Certainly, the DVD gets plenty airing.

Just a blur

“If you’re coming back after a bad day, it’s time to stick it on! It’s still… it’s like watching it back in the third person because I can’t really remember anything about it. There’s bits of it, but the whole thing is just a blur.

“I thought we’d a chance. Obviously Ruby was on the more fancied one of ours (Bellshill). There was less pressure on Al Boum because he’d only run in Tramore the once. His work was decent enough obviously and he’d always shown the ability from the season before, but he wasn’t in the spotlight. For us, we knew what was going on behind the scenes but there wasn’t the whole pressure of walking out every morning and people asking how Al Boum Photo is going… but we fancied him to run well.”

There has rarely, if ever, been such media interest in a championship race as there was on last year’s from a very early stage, due to the involvement of eventual runner-up, Rachael Blackmore. Townend is effusive in his praise of his weigh room colleague and the positive example she is to the likes of his own sister Jody and any other aspiring young women and girls looking to make an impact as jockeys.

“Rachael broke new ground. Nina (Carberry) and Katie (Walsh) done so much, they brought it to a huge level, but at the end of the day they were still amateurs.

“Rachael’s brought it to a whole new level and she’s done it through pure hard work and ability. So it’s nice for the likes of Jody coming through to see that’s been done.”

Jody’s triumph in the Connacht Hotel Handicap for amateur jockeys on Great White Shark at Galway last month was a proud moment for all the Townend family, particularly given the horrendous struggles his baby sister had from the time she fell while schooling at Closutton towards the end of 2018.

Though she walked away from the fall, she had a vertebra wedged into her spinal cord. There were further problems when the two rods inserted in her back became infected and she endured terrible pain, and mental anguish. To win one of the most prestigious races for qualified riders so soon after returning to the saddle was outstanding.

“It’s huge. Mentally, as much as anything else. She done herself proud, as much as doing anyone else proud. It’s never easy, especially when she was young and she’d only got going.

“It’ll be hard for her to get going again now too, even with Galway, to break into that little cluster of top jockeys in the amateur ranks. But it won’t do her any harm.”

Turning her attentions to the flat is an option.

“We’re sick and tired of telling her, but now that Willie has said it it’s a better idea again!”

Cheltenham

There is so much to look forward to in the year ahead though talking about Cheltenham in September is clearly idiotic. Klassical Dream is the obvious Champion Hurdle horse at this juncture, while Al Boum Photo and Kemboy are the leading Gold Cup contenders.

The likes of Un De Sceaux seems to have retained his appetite and of course, there will be a slew of novices in the ‘could-be-anything’ category.

Perhaps the most exciting equine athlete in the yard though is Chacun Pour Soi, a talking horse for so long who blitzed a strong field in the Ryanair Novice Chase at Punchestown. You couldn’t but help think of Vautour.

“What he done in Punchestown was incredible. The day I remember is the day I won in Naas, the weekend just before Cheltenham. I came back afterwards and the boys were like, ‘Jaysus, was there any need for the speed?’ I thought I was hacking around, but that’s just the raw, pure ability he has. Then, to go and do what he did in Punchestown, that was probably as hot a race as there was in Punchestown with (Arkle winner) Duc Des Genievres, (JLT winner) Defi Due Seuil. He is very exciting.”

At this juncture it’s all dreaming. What he wants from the year ahead if granted one wish?

“If we can get more right than we get wrong, we’ll be doing okay!”