Seconds Out: Oli's latest monthly blog

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Yes that’s right, the middle of March means it’s time for the Cheltenham Festival. The annual pilgrimage to the Cotswolds to watch the finest horses from Britain and Ireland lock horns on one of sport’s most impressive stages. With Cleeve Hill watching down on the theatre below, the feeling of excitement I get when I arrive at the racecourse never changes. It is one of childlike enthusiasm, nerves, anticipation and a feeling of pure unbridled joy that for the next four days I will lose myself in every single range of emotion that frankly makes me feel alive!

Racing isn’t without its flaws (yes I know, understatement of the year) but when the sport puffs its chest out, showcases itself to the world, more often then not it reminds everyone of just how special a sport it is. Think of Dawn Run, Danoli, Moscow Flyer, Best Mate, Kauto Star, Sprinter Sacre, Honeysuckle… I could go on and on and you are transported back in time to a moment that we all remember with such clarity and strength of feeling unlike any other. That is why no matter what is happening behind the scenes in racing, we must be proud of the sport, show it off with real enthusiasm and joy, and celebrate the good times when they happen.

With that in mind, may I congratulate all the owners of Gibbs Island who will provide, (touch wood) the RaceShare team with their first ever Cheltenham Festival runner. I’m sure, like me, you are counting down the days until the Triumph Hurdle and have probably been through every piece of form his market rivals have produced trying to weigh up his chances! In truth, it’s hard to really know how good a horse Gibbs Island is going to be over hurdles but so far, so good! His win at Haydock was very good given he did plenty wrong early on in the race but ended up winning convincingly and the form of his Sedgefield win was boosted with the runner up winning next time out. Obviously, there are horses with big reputations and seemingly big engines, namely Lulamba of Nicky Henderson’s and East India Dock from the James Owen stable. They are obviously respected, but if Gibbs Island improves from his second hurdles start to his third as much as he did from his first to his second then I have no doubt he will give all of us involved in RaceShare a huge cheer on the day. Owning a horse at the Cheltenham Festival is not something to be sniffed at, this is often described as the Olympics of racing and only the best of the best can go there and so for Gibbs Island to get there so early on in his career is huge testament to Tom Lacey and his team, Stan Sheppard and the purchasing team at RaceShare who clearly know what it takes to buy a good one, given their very impressive strike rate with horses both Flat and Jumps.

I cannot wait to see you all on the day, I’ll be looking out for the RaceShare badges and scarves and wherever you do watch the race I will be thinking of you. I’m not sure if you’re like me but despite my age (37 now!) I still daydream about what it would be like to own a Festival winner. Those dreams might become a reality for you all soon so on behalf of all the RaceShare team… good luck, keep dreaming and let’s all celebrate the good times!!

We have a RaceShare Cheltenham preview with myself, Lydia and Ross coming your way on the Friday before the Festival so I hope you can tune in for that. Lydia and Ross have both tipped up big priced winners on the preview in the past and I’m excited to get my card marked by them again!

See you all then and best of luck!