BLOG NINETY THREE

Good Sunday Evening,

I always like to set the tone of the blog with a thought:

“The best horses don’t just carry us over fences—they carry us through life.”

On the eve of Cheltenham week, I thought I’d write a blog and include my Cheltenham selections from a preview I did last week at The Station Bar in Portrush, Northern Ireland, for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust.

Talking of that… what an amazing place to visit. The most beautiful beaches and golf courses, and the friendliest, most welcoming people. We had a fantastic time and were warmly hosted by Danny Coyle and his team. Derek “Tommo” Thompson and Darrell Torrens were unfortunately stuck in Dubai, but we managed to talk Jordan Hopkins into hosting at the last minute and he pulled off a fantastic show. Tom Hughes joined the panel alongside myself with deep insight into every race, as did the two National Hunt jumping legends Bob Champion and Ian Watkinson. Plenty of fun—and many Guinness—were had by all.

Selections to come later in the blog… keep reading.

Continuing the jumping thread, last Sunday we won the historic feature race, the John Bigg OXO Handicap Chase, with Mahon’s Glory, who was given a lovely front-running ride by Lee Edwards and is owned by the Hold My Beer Syndicate and Chris Nightingale. Mahon’s Glory jumped really well all the way around and gave us a massive thrill, as well as a big confidence boost heading towards the Topham Chase at Aintree during the Grand National Festival. Exciting times for us all.

The busy time continues at home where on Saturday we galloped the whole yard, and there are some exciting horses in the mix for us this year. We’ve had plenty of rain, which has meant lovely grass gallops for the early part of 2026 up until now, and we have our string fit and ready to go for the turf season ahead. Very exciting.

On a somber and sad note, we sadly lost Sensorium on the gallops on Saturday after he suffered a fractured leg. It was a very sad day for the team, who had worked so hard with him, and it was a completely unexpected injury. Our thoughts are with his owners and the staff who were so close to him, and we are thankful to our team of vets from Rossdales who were so caring, attentive, and responsive straight away. We will miss your friendly face in the yard, Sensorium. Fly high.

Since my last blog, where I wrote about suicide, sadly racing lost another young lad a few days ago to suicide. Please reach out for help if you’re feeling down or having suicidal thoughts—there is so much support available both in racing and outside of it. The damage left behind is so much worse than what can be talked through and handled going forward. Please just talk.

As the clock keeps ticking and life goes on, the show must go on, as they say in Hollywood—and in life in general.

Back to the Flat: we have some decent runners this week on the All-Weather in the UK with good winning chances. That leads us into Dubai on Friday, where there’s a possibility that all four of our horses out there will run again and hopefully have good chances before flying home. We then head to Chantilly in France for a Listed race where Baker Blue runs for us.

As you can see, it’s a super busy time for Team DCR with runners over jumps, on the Flat, in the UK, Dubai, and France.

As promised earlier, here are some of the horses I liked in the preview I did last week:

Tuesday

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – El Cairos (7/1)

Arkle – Lulamba (15/8)

Champion Hurdle – Tutti Quanti (25/1)

Wednesday

Turners Novices’ Chase – Act Of Innocence (12/1)

Brown Advisory – Romeo Coolio (4/1)

Queen Mother Champion Chase – Majborough (5/6)

Thursday

Mares’ Hurdle – Wodhooh (8/11)

Stayers’ Hurdle – Ballyburn (12/1)

Ryanair Chase – Fact To File (4/6)

Friday

Triumph Hurdle – Minella Study (7/1)

Albert Bartlett – Doctor Steinberg (3/1)

Gold Cup

I’ve got three for this race. My landlord William Jarvis says he can’t see Jango Baie losing at 9/2. I think The Jukebox Man (4/1) will win and give Spurs fans something to cheer about this year. But I’m reliably informed by Tom Hughes—who’s done all the studying and stats for this race—that the good thing could be Spillane’s Tower (16/1).

A great week ahead, and may all the horses, jockeys, staff, owners, trainers, fans, and everyone else return safely and have a fantastic time.

I won’t be attending Cheltenham this year, but Gee Gees Wine Bar will be open and I’m sure I’ll be watching a few races from the warmth of the bar between morning and evening stables—so you know where to join us if you’re in town.

A departing thought for today:

“Some horses leave hoofprints on the ground, but the truly special ones leave them on our hearts—and those prints guide us forward when the path feels hardest.”