Davy Russell was always going to be heading for Cheltenham. He just didn’t know whether he’d need to pack racing kit or just his civvies.
Russell’s incredible riding story has yet another chapter to be written after a dramatic turn of events which sees him back at the Festival again. Three months ago, he declared his career was over. Having fought back from serious injuries to hit the heights again, he finally called time on riding seven days before Christmas after winning aboard Liberty Dance at Thurles. Yet fate would soon dramatically intervene.
Less than a month from that announcement of retirement, a broken leg for Jack Kennedy saw Russell return almost instantly to fill the gap left by Gordon Elliott’s stricken No.1 jockey. Kennedy’s failure to recover in time for the Festival now means the 43-year-old will again race on the iconic turf. Russell is synonymous with the meeting. He was the leading jockey five years ago, incredibly, he rode at least one winner there for 13 consecutive meetings between 2006 and 2018. Such is his affection for Cheltenham and the biggest four days in the game, he would probably have come over anyway to watch, but now he’ll be in the thick of it once more.
Russell said: “I’d be a fan of the racing anyway, so I’m sure I would have been going over there and keeping an eye on things. I’d have travelled alright, but it is always nicer to be going over there for a reason. I’m sure it would still have been nice to go there just as a spectator, but I wouldn’t really have known what to do with myself. It would certainly have been different for sure, but I won’t have to face that for another while yet.”
Of course, it’s the sickening setback for Kennedy which has brought about the current situation. Russell has been in that position himself and, looking at the turn of events, said: “I was happy with my decision [to retire], but then happy with both decisions.
“I hadn’t really stopped. It wasn’t that much of an issue. Look, it’s hard for me to be the one talking to Jack because I am now the one who is filling in his boots. There’s not much I can say. I’m slotting in for him. Jack is a tough individual and, hopefully, it won’t play on him too much.”
Russell thrives on the big occasion. Winners at the Dublin Racing Festival last month showed he’s still the man for a big occasion. Now it’s the biggest of the lot, but, although he savours Cheltenham, he’ll think more about the potential enjoyment side of the week when once business is taken care of.
Asked about being excited to be back for it, Russell said: “I haven’t really thought about it like that. I suppose it would be the same for anyone who is working at the Festival that it sort of goes by those people a lot differently to the actual racegoers.
“For some reason, I was never really any other way. I don’t know why that is. It’s just the way it was and has been for me all of the time. We have a busy weekend here in Ireland, so I’ll keep looking at that and get over there to Cheltenham on Monday. It comes around so fast, it happens so quickly and it is on you. So then you just have to go and do it.”
**Davy Russell is an ambassador for www.starsportsbet.co.uk
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