Jockeys to Avoid at the Cheltenham Festival

It’s always hard to be critical of the guys who risk their life and limb every year at the Cheltenham Festival but it is a fact that even some of the leading jockeys don’t have a good record at the premier meeting of the year and it could damage your wealth if you choose to support them.

Some of their bad record may be down to stables that they ride for not having a good record at the Festival but much as we seek out horses for courses then it can also be said that some jockeys ride courses better than others. For example, Paul Nicholls Cheltenham Festival 2011 looks set to be a good one, but not all riders who mount his horses will be up to the job.

So who is on the Cheltenham list that we should think twice about before supporting anything that they are riding. It seems rather unfair and biased to include some of the jockeys that have not had plenty of opportunities at the Festival so we have taken a look at jockeys who have had 50 or more rides at the Festival since 1997.

Fortunately there is nobody who the list that has not ridden a winner, although there are some who have just one success to their name. Top of the list are Tom Scudamore (1/91), Noel Fehily (1/53) and Sam Thomas (1/58), those are closely followed by Joe Tizzard (3/63) and Graham Lee (4/87). Clearly, anyone following the Cheltenham Festival racing tips would probably want to steer clear of this bunch.

On all of those four you would have taken a hit if you had supported them to level stakes at SP and perhaps their record is something to remember when taking a look at who is riding your selection at the Cheltenham Festival.