HONEYSUCKLE, Shishkin and Allaho.

Three good things next week or a mug’s treble? Ivan Yates is not put off by short prices and fancies all three. “I’m on at better prices,” he quickly adds. “Sometimes odds-on shots are good value and sometimes 20/1 is a bad price. It depends on your opinion.”

The former Government minister and bookmaker still loves a bet and is as excited as ever ahead of Cheltenham. Next week he is fronting a 30-minute racing programme on Virgin Media Two every evening (Mon-Fri) at 11pm.

“We’ll have Barry Geraghty, Matt Chapman and Paddy Power – proper racing people. It’ll be a mix of insight and gossip, with a few laughs too. Conor Moore, the impressionist, is contributing.”

But finding winners is the most important thing for Ivan and he won’t be swayed from his short price treble. “I was disappointed when Benie Des Dieux was beaten by Honeysuckle two years ago but I decided then to just follow Honeysuckle and I’ve done that ever since.

“Shishkin is what I call an ATM horse. Early in his career I heard that connections thought the world of him. He’s in the mould of Altior and Sprinter Sacre, two other Champion Chase winners I followed religiously. Shishkin has to fall to get beaten. He looked beaten at Ascot and still got up to win.

“Allaho is generally regarded as the Willie Mullins banker of the week. If he gets beaten we may all go home.”

Despite getting his fingers burnt by Envoi Allen last year, Ivan believes it makes sense to stay loyal to Grade 1 horses who have proven their ability to get the job done. “If one of them loses at least you can say you lost on a proper horse. I can’t understand how some punters will take their winnings from a horse like Honeysuckle and fritter them away in a handicap on some yoke that’s only fit for Freshford.”

Schooldays

He says his first Cheltenham memory is from 1972. “I was 10 years of age and in boarding school in Bray. I was great friends with Johnny, the school’s caretaker and handyman. I had no background in racing but I asked Johnny to place a one shilling treble for me and they all won. The last leg was The Ghost in the Kim Muir. I was ecstatic.”

And so a lifelong romance with the turf, Cheltenham and betting was born. “Over the years I fell in love with certain horses who I won money on. The Champion Hurdle was particularly lucky for me – I have great memories of See You Then and Sea Pigeon but the day Brown’s Gazette whipped around at the start was painful.”

Ivan opened his first Celtic Bookmakers shop in the late 1980s and the firm traded until 2010, operating 64 shops at its peak. He recalls some rollercoaster highs and lows during the Cheltenhams of that era. “We did a lot of ante-post activity – I would happily lay 10 grand wagers months in advance. On the day of the race it wouldn’t be unusual for me to be watching in the raceroom, knowing that the horse in front is going to cost me £250,000 if he jumps the last and gets up the hill.”

As a bookie Ivan liked to take on hot favourites at Cheltenham. “I always felt the racing was so competitive that just one mistake could be enough to get the favourite beaten. Do you remember Mulligan in the [1997] Arkle? He won five races before Cheltenham and went off evens on the day. But he made one mistake at the fourth last and came down.”

However, Ivan’s bravado caught him out the very next year, when Istabraq won his first Champion Hurdle. “The horse had won the two-mile and five novice hurdle the year before and I just didn’t think he had the pace for two miles. I never stopped offering 7/2 about him for the Champpion Hurdle and it cost me £300,000.”

Brave Inca in the 2006 Champion Hurdle was another result that had Ivan reaching for the brandy. “He ripped the guts out of me. Our shops in Wexford and Gorey were cleaned out. The pain was seared into me – you tend to remember those days.”

Ruby winners

As Ivan’s betting shop empire folded, he turned poacher and, oddly for a former bookmaker, developed a penchant for backing short-price favourites who he felt could be relied upon. “I have great memories of Ruby Walsh riding Cheltenham winners I’d backed.

“Big Buck’s was a personal favourite – I just backed him over a cliff. My only complaint was I never had enough on him. He used to hit a flat spot in his races but Ruby would time it all perfectly. Quevega was the same – many a time she looked cooked jumping the last but she never let me down.”

Here’s hoping Honeysuckle gets him off to a good start next week.

Ivan Yates presents The Green Room Cheltenham Special on Virgin Media Two at 11pm, Monday to Friday next week. Live racing from Cheltenham will air on Virgin Media One, from Tuesday to Friday from 12.50pm each day with highlights on VirginThree each night at 7pm.