BERNARD Jackman is becoming an increasingly familiar face in the Irish racing and equestrian world.

The former rugby professional is acting head of high performance sport with Horse Sport Ireland and at Cheltenham he was helping Horse Racing Ireland by recording a series of video interviews with racing personalities for social media with co-presenter Fran Berry.

Just before jetting off to Florida this week to meet some Irish show jumpers, Bernard told us: “I’ve been to Cheltenham five or six times before but this was my first time to do all four days. It was class.

“We were up at 6.10am every day and on the racecourse exercise grounds. The access we had to the top names in racing is unbelievable, compared to rugby, soccer or even Gaelic games. The likes of Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott and Gavin Cromwell all gave us their time, even though they were very busy.”

On Gold Cup day Bernard also found himself working as security in the parade ring. “I was in there after the Gold Cup when I saw a man in a J.P. McManus sweatshirt posing alongside Galopin Des Champs.

“I recognised him as Daniel Jarvis, a self-styled prankster who has made a name for himself gatecrashing major sporting events. He was celebrating on the pitch with the South Africans after the World Cup, performed the Haka with the All-Blacks at Twickenham, and even walked out to the crease at Lord’s in his cricket whites.”

Bernard is a friend of the Turley family and, realising that the celebratory photographs would be spoiled by the interloper, our hero muscled in and pulled the intruder to the side. The photograph here tells the story perfectly.

No doubt the prankster is already planning to hit the Paris Olympics this summer. What a shock he will get if he tries to pose alongside Ireland’s gold medal-winning show jumpers!