GG had the opportunity to speak to Jamie Snowden in advance of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. We discussed his biggest team ever for this season’s Cheltenham Festival, his relationship with Gavin Sheehan, and the heart-rate busting drama of sending out a winner at the meeting.
GG: Our Weekend Watch Podcast took an alternative view of a Cheltenham preview night where our tipsters gave their top 10 bets of the Festival. So who would be your top 5 chances at the Festival next week?
Jamie Snowden: “We’ve got nine horses entered and that’s the most we’ve had in our career to date from a yard of 60 odd horses, which is a good indication of where the yard is headed, though not all of them will run at Cheltenham. Colonel Harry won’t be running, he picked up an infection on his back leg and Milldam is another one who won’t be running, he loves deep ground and it won’t be deep at Cheltenham.
“Up For Parol is another who wants deep ground and there may be a race at Uttoxeter for him. Git Maker was second in the Kim Muir last year and is in the Midlands National as well this year which is worth double what the Kim Muir is.
“Of those who are going, we’ll start with Hollygrove Cha Cha. She’s in the mares’ novice and won five of her six career starts to date, culminating in a Grade 2 at Sandown last time out that we won with You Wear It Well two years ago. It’s a route we’ve taken to Cheltenham Festival glory in the past and she’s definitely on target for that, but the only time she got beaten was at Taunton by Jubilee Alpha of Paul Nicholls’. The New Course’s stamina test should suit her better and she (Jubilee Alpha) is 8/1 while ours is 33/1 and that price difference is probably a bit extortionate.
“Super Survivor is a horse who’s really pleasing us. He got lost in the bog in the Welsh National last year but is in the form of his life, winning the last two and is hurdling very professionally. He could go well in the Pertemps.
“Then Ga Law is an interesting one as he likes good ground. The weather will hopefully play ball for him. We’re yet to confirm 100% which way we go with him as he’s triply entered (Ultima Handicap Chase, Ryanair Chase and Stayers’ Hurdle). It’s perhaps not the strongest of Stayers’ Hurdles, and could be an open division.
“Marche d’Aligre was second in the Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow to a French horse rated 148; we got beaten a couple of lengths by him and are rated 121 so we could be well-handicapped. A bit of cut in the ground would help.
“Wendigo might be the one though. He’s the shortest-priced of our horses, and of the English horses in the Albert Bartlett. He looks a very promising individual and has a similar profile to The Jukebox Man, who was second in the race last year. He was third in the Challow, while we were second in the Challow, staying on all the way, and our chap should improve for stepping up in trip.”
GG: For a syndicate horse like Wendigo, has Gavin Sheehan been the perfect rider for that experience? And how has it been being a part of his journey to the Cheltenham Festival?
JS: “I’m going to be slightly biased here and say he’s the perfect rider for all of our horses. He is a very talented jockey and he and I have a great relationship. We don’t always see eye to eye, but understand where each other are coming from.
“Wendigo was bought in the embryonic stage of the Racing Club and we’ve progressed together. One of the co-founders, Jordan Wylie, was my old corporal from the army, so our roots go back a long way. It’s great fun and great to have a flag-bearing horse like Wendigo.”
GG: What is it that sets winning a Cheltenham Festival contest apart from any other time of the year?
JS: “Quite often people ask me what it feels like and it’s very hard to put into words, but I can put it into numbers! The BHA were doing an experiment when Present View won in 2014 where they had a heart monitor on a trainer, jockey, owner, everyone involved.
“Your maximum heart rate should be 220 less your age, so my maximum heart rate should have been 184. When Present View crossed the line it was 193! I’ve got a graph up here in my office and there was a stewards enquiry that day which shows it flatlines before the result was confirmed, and then it went right up again.”
GG: Has there ever been an occasion, as we’re seeing with Lossiemouth this year, where you’ve had a dilemma about what race to run one of your star horses in?
JS: “Yeah totally, you’re debating it the whole time. I debate it with my wife, my head girl, everyone involved, because we’ve all got opinions. It’s one of the joys of racing, the planning and the plotting.”
GG: We took a lighthearted look at predicting the Cheltenham Festival, but what is it that you look forward to most about the Festival?
JS: “Well we’re all fans of racing. Just because I train some racehorses doesn’t mean I’m not a fan of the sport. We love heroes and we love champions; the driving into Cheltenham, the colosseum where champions are made, tingles the nerves. You don’t want to come out of there with your tail between your legs, but quite often you do. There are those times when it works though and they are absolutely magical.”
GG: Is there a sense of expectation this year with British trainers that there might be a closing gap between themselves and the Irish dominance?
JS: “There’s a lot of talk out there about the Prestbury Cup and England vs Ireland, but ultimately we’re all out there competing as individuals vs individuals. For us, it’s Jamie Snowden vs everyone else: I want my horses to win, Nicky Henderson wants his horses to win, although having said that, I would prefer Constitution Hill to win the Champion Hurdle instead of Brighterdaysahead because Constitution Hill’s trained just down the road from here.
“I think the gap will close and we have Nicky’s horses in form this year compared to last. But the English vs Irish thing I’ve always thought was a concept loved more by the press than anything.”
GG: From a betting point of view, would there be one horse, trained by yourself or otherwise, who you’d be looking forward to next week?
JS: “Thankfully I’m not a gambler so you don’t need to rely on me for tips. I do want to see champions win though, so I want to see Constitution Hill win and I want to see Galopin Des Champs win three in a row (in the Gold Cup) and come back next year for four in a row. It’s not an English-Irish thing, I’m a fan of the sport and a fan of the horse. I don’t think we’ve got a horse for the Gold Cup next year though, otherwise I wouldn’t be wishing that!”
GG: Wendigo in two years’ time maybe?
JS: “There you go! Let’s hope Galopin Des Champs doesn’t win five Gold Cups.”
Jamie Snowden was speaking on behalf of BetVictor before the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.