Tell us your first Cheltenham Festival memory?

I’m a bit embarrassed by how recent this will be, but neither my friends nor family had any interest in racing when I was growing up, so mine developed only when I started working in an independent betting shop in my late teens. My earliest Cheltenham memory is sheer confusion at why Dunguib didn’t win the 2010 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. All the punters thought he’d win. He was odds-on. Those types nearly always win, I thought. Needless to say, that was a steep learning curve.

What was your best day’s racing or betting at the Festival?

My first time attending, on the Tuesday in 2017. I expected it to be good, but once I was there, I really ‘got it’. The palpable buzz. The roar. The relentless after-timing when Labaik won the Supreme. Where else would you get it?

Any bad experiences you’d like to tell us about?

Before Punchestown’s 2019 festival, I backed Chacun Pour Soi for the following year’s Cheltenham Champion Chase at 40/1. My smugness reached fever pitch when Altior was ruled out of the race, leaving Chacun as the short-priced favourite. On the morning of the race, he was found to be lame. An abscess in his foot, and an absence in my wallet.

Is there any particular race at the meeting you’ve always been lucky in?

A boring answer, but no. My luck, be it good or bad, tends to be spread reasonably equally across the festival.

What’s your least favourite race of the Festival and why?

Probably the Fred Winter. A very difficult race to find the winner of, and a feat I’m yet to manage. That means I’m due though, right?

What horse gave you your biggest win at Cheltenham?

Possibly suffering some recency bias here, but Porlock Bay in last year’s Foxhunters. I backed him 18/1 antepost and went in again at 25/1 in the morning on raceday. I’m usually a pretty calm race-viewer, but the photo finish deliberations had me pacing up and down in front of the telly.

What horse was your biggest heartbreak loser at Cheltenham?

I’m sure I won’t be alone here - Champagne Fever in the Arkle. I was on him ante-post, but the pain of this one extends beyond the betting balance. Western feckin’ Warhorse. Christ!

Describe your standard Cheltenham Festival week?

I’m lucky enough that in normal times I would attend the Festival for a few days with work. We’d arrive on the Sunday and get a food shop in for the AirBnB. Textbook foundation-laying. On Monday I’d have some work things to take care of, before finalising selections for day one. Get to the course nice and early on Tuesday to meet varied groups of people, to have unvaried conversations. ‘What’s the NAP?’ ‘Have you much ante-post done?’ ‘Have ya heard anything?’. Rinse and repeat. Typically I’d fly home Friday morning and go straight into the office in plenty of time for the Triumph Hurdle. In 2020 I flew back and went straight to a hotel to quarantine.

And what’s your best tip for the 2022 Festival?

I like Dinoblue for the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle. She was extremely well-backed on her debut, and smarter people than me say the clock backs up what the eyes saw that day. The 8/1 available currently, I believe can be considered a working man’s price. ?