IN 1991 a young Willie Mullins advised me to back The Fellow for the Gold Cup. He was 33/1 and I knew of his trainer, Francois Doumen, and so I took the tip. He was beaten by a short-head by Garrison Savannah that year but I kept following the horse and he finally won the Gold Cup in 1994, beating Jodami.

That was the best Cheltenham I ever had. I backed Balasani to win the Stayers’ Hurdle and he got it in the stewards’ room, and I had Mysilv in the Triumph Hurdle, all in doubles and trebles.

Years later I was at the Breeders’ Cup when I was approached by a French woman who recognised my face. “Who are you?” she asked me. “I see your face every morning.”

Turns out she was Berenice Kondradt, wife of The Fellow’s jockey, Adam. She knew me from the photo in her house of me leading in The Fellow after the Gold Cup!

This article is taken from The Irish Field Cheltenham Magazine 2023. CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY