Top Irish jockey JJ Slevin: My 20/1 tip at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival, why the track is one of the best in the world, taking on the mighty Galopin Des Champs, Constitution Hill’s fall from grace and my first cousin could end up usurping Aidan O’Brien I am very fortunate to be riding for top owners in Simon Munir and Isaac Souede in Ireland.
“Slevin was speaking to BOYLE Sports, who offer the very latest leopardstown betting”
It’s great. They are good people to work with and I really enjoy riding for them. Simon [Munir] and Isaac [Souede] are great people to deal with and they have a top backroom team headed by Anthony Bromley and Daryl Jacob. I’m very happy tipping away there and getting plenty of success. I am very fortunate to be in the position I am in.
I have been very fortunate all the way along in my career. I started off with Joseph O’Brien as an amateur and got good opportunities there and all the way along I’ve been fortunate to be associated with Martin Brassil, who has had a number of good horses. You won’t get too far in this game if you don’t have the right engine under you.
My season has gone OK so far but I want to top last season’s win total Numerically it is ok. I’ve had 27 or 28 winners between Ireland and England so far. Obviously, I got hurt last year so I had 32. My best ever season is 44 in Ireland and four in England, so if I could top that I’d be happy. It’s hard – anything over 30 winners in Ireland is a good enough year for the likes of me. That’s what we’ll be aiming foI missed out on winning the King George last year through injury – you win some, you lose some
It was brilliant for Joseph [O’Brien, trainer] to win such a prestigious race as the King George. If anyone is going to be a horse’s back, it’s great to have Paul Townend take the ride. He’s a great fella. That’s the way the game goes, you win some, you lose some. Leopardstown is one track where you will learn the most about a horse – and it is where Mullins puts his foot down. You learn massively. All those horses, the novices in particular; the novice hurdlers, novice chasers, bumper horses. You learn everything about every Irish horse at Leopardstown.
Leopardstown at Christmas is where you learn a lot. Everyone turns up. You’ve got all those big handicaps, big fields, you’ve got all the top trainers. It’s a competitive week’s racing and it’s a tough week to ride at, because there’s all the good horses around. Those big field handicaps, you need to be on the ball. It’s a long week riding it but it’s an enjoyable week if it’s going your way! It’s not going your way.
We’ll see all those good bumper horses and novices from Willie Mullins’ yard. By the first of January, you’ll have a fair idea of what’s going to be turning up in Cheltenham in March Galopin Des Champs is devastating at Leopardstown – he’ll be tough to beat in the Savils Chase
It looks like Galopin des Champs is going to start there again. He’s obviously very, very good and he’s won Gold Cups and he’s done this and that and everything. He’s been pretty devastating at Leopardstown where he’s going to be very hard to beat, no matter who turns up.
Inothewayurthinin’ got beat a good bit last time but he’s going to improve. Fastorslow is going to be in there. He gave Galopin a bit of a run in the Irish Gold Cup. But Galopin in Leopardstown at Christmas is hard to beat. He is so good around there. He loves those fences. I’m riding Fastorslow, I’m looking forward to it. He’s a standout horse for me. He had a lovely run in the John Durkan and now he’s back up to three miles on hopefully on ground that is not too soft for him.
Blizzard Of Oz is a good thing in the Listed handicap chase. It’s a tough handicap chase with a big field, three miles around Leopardstown. I am looking at Blizzard of Oz. He ran a lovely race in the old Hennessey. He made a bad mistake at the fourth last, and that knocked him out. He’ll have a nice lot of weight on his back, but he’s a class horse and if he got a bit of luck in running, he could have won that race.
The Paddy Power is not an easy race to win. I have actually been second in it three times, and third once! My 20/1 shout in the December Hurdle. So that’s going to be a good race. It’ll be interesting. Lossiemouth is 4/6 favourite. She’s a very good mare, she can go two miles, and two and a half. I don’t know if Anzadam will take her on, or Irancy, or Wodhooh and Casheldale Lad.
The big news is that Brighterdaysahead looks like she’ll be supplemented too which will mean a huge showdown with Lossiemouth. El Fabiolo could be good value at 20/1. He could be interesting.
I’m riding Home By The Lee in the Christmas Hurdle. Another good race in prospect. There are a few young stayers around like Ballyburn who had a very good last run. Teahupoo, if he turns up, is a class horse, and Bob Ollinger. I think I’ll be on Home By The Lee. He’s been a great horse over the years and I also schooled him this week. He is in good shape, and he has been primed to run in the race. He is such a great old campaigner and is ten now. Those young horses Teahupoo and Ballyburn are fast three milers. But Joseph has kept Home By The Lee fresh for the day. He will give it his best go anyway.
Leopardstown is one of the best tracks in the world
Big fences and loads of jumping. There are five or six down the back, two along the side and there’s three more once you get levelled off down the bottom and up the straight. There is a good pull at Leopardstown, a good pull home but proper Grade 1 track with proper fences. They take a lot of jumping and you need the right animal underneath you.
If you’re on the right horse, it’s the best place in the world to ride around over fences. Usually over fences, the best horse wins, even in those big field races. Recently I’ve been lucky at Leopardstown. Home By The Lee winning there was great and Solness winning a Grade 1 there last Christmas was also brilliant. Those are the two stand out days.
I’ve been lucky just to be riding there. It is where all the top class horses go. So just to be riding there over Christmas is a good thing to do – to have even one winner over the four days makes it a good week because it’s such a competitive race.
I don’t know what my Boxing Day looks like – but Banbridge is all set to defend his King George crown at Kempton in what looks a really strong renewal Banbridge is definitely coming over. I don’t know where I will be going just yet. It depends on what people are wanting to do and where people are going. I schooled him on Monday and he’s in really good shape. He’s come on a lot from his run in the Hilly Way Chase in Cork. He didn’t really sparkle, but he felt really good this week.
Joseph has a few tricks up his sleeve. I think we’ll see a similar Banbridge to the one that was in Kempton last year. At this point in time, it looks like a strong King George. There’s never really a weak one to be fair but this is as strong a field as we’ve seen for the past few years.
What Gaelic Warrior did in the John Durkan was an unbelievable performance. But the only thing about that race and the way he did it, he really had to dig down and fight with all he had. He gave himself a pretty hard time. He has had plenty enough time to recover but he’s still going to have to back that up and reproduce that form again. In fairness to Willie Mullins, he is able to pull a horse out again after that sort of race and they do usually perform.
He’ll bring them along at a merry gallop in the King George. He’s still got to go three miles as well. Maybe he’ll be a better ride with getting the fizziness out of him after that first run. He won’t be as forward and maybe he’ll settle a bit better. Kempton will definitely play to his strengths.
Jango Baie is probably like a staying two-miler who looks like he’s going to be able to step up in trip soon Those horses that are able to win at two miles and then have a bit of stamina to get an extended distance, they can be very dangerous horses. He could be a very good horse when he goes out in trip. He was a very consistent horse last season, so we don’t really know.
He’s untested out of novice company, but the fact that he could do it over two miles and looks like he’s going to be a stayer means that he’s definitely a main danger in that race. The Jukebox Man could be good. He’s a good horse and won at Kempton last year and he had a very good win at Haydock. So, he’s on the up. A young horse on the up is what you need in these sorts of races. He’s a lively outsider I’d say. Realistically, it is hard to get away from Gaelic Warrior. If I was offered the ride on something, I would have to choose him!
Sir Gino could make his comeback in the Christmas Hurdle – he’s a live contender Given what he went through with his serious injury he’s a very good horse. He missed a large part of last season, but the fact that Nicky [Henderson] is thinking of bringing him back to the Christmas Hurdle after running him over fences, shows the high regard he holds him in.
I don’t know what the story is with Constitution Hill, but in his absence, Sir Gino is a live contender. It’s very frustrating to see where Constitution Hill has ended up after being such a superstar I’d think so. It’s just very frustrating to see where he has ended up from being such a superstar. He destroyed Jonbon in the Supreme and bolted up in the Champion Hurdle. Then he’s fallen in three of his last four runs, most recently at Newcastle. It’s really tough to watch what has happened and it’s not going to be easy to fix it.
If you told me I could have him for six weeks I think I could get him jumping well at home and he’d be going well. But then you could send him out and run him again and he could fall again. I don’t care what they say about riding or schooling, I think it’s going to be hard to fix it.
If I was Nicky Henderson and I was training him. I’d be very nervous on the stands looking at him. It wouldn’t be easy now, he’s got the right people around him. Nico [de Boinville, jockey] is an unbelievable horseman, and Nicky Henderson is a genius. So, if anyone’s going to fix it, it’ll be them. Ultimately it depends on the horse. Every horse is different and you have to treat every horse as an individual. Some horses can be lazy jumpers and not be getting their front end up. A fall can help a horse to concentrate.
Constitution Hill has probably lost his nerve and is not thinking the way he did on his approach to a hurdle and he’s paid the price for that. He can probably do all the schooling you want at home and he could look brilliant and hunky dory. If he got up to Champion Hurdle speed, he could do it again. With every Champion hurdler, you’re living on the edge all the time. Most of them, with the exception probably of Hurricane Fly, do fall. I fell on Istabraq. It would be great to see him get back to his old self
It does. In a world in which the Irish have had most of the good horses, it is good to see the English with a proper horse that they can latch onto and follow. Michael Buckley seems to be a great character and Nicky and Nico are masters of what they do. It would be great to see him come back and strut his stuff again and hopefully stay upright! I wouldn’t be writing him off by any means, you know.
There have been some unbelievable battles at Kempton Silviniaco Conti was good. There have been some great King Georges; Kauto Star winning five, Long Run, Cue Card. There’s been some unbelievable battles up the street in Kempton and it’s never not won by a top class horse.
he English-Irish rivalry in racing is starting to shift back to a level playing field now It can definitely sway back again. I grew up with the point to points. My Dad trained pointers and I would have been point to pointing from a very young age. I watched all those Irish lads produce all those horses; Wexford was a big producer, Tom Costello in Clare was a big producer of horses and the Cork circuit was massive back then. I was watching all these horses win Irish point of points and be sold to England straight away and compete in England.
I remember back when Ireland had three, four or five winners it was a massive week for the Irish at Cheltenham. Then with the way the superpowers have expanded; Willie has upped his game, Gordon, Henry De Bromhead, all these lads have upped their game, and they’ve managed to attract the owners to stay in Ireland and they’ve been able to buy the most expensive horses and be able to keep those horses in Ireland.
It’s certainly shifting back a little bit more. Dan Skelton has invested heavily, Harry Derham, Paul Nicholls, Philip Hobbs, these lads are still quite strong and buying nice horses. It takes very little to swing the thing back the other way, back the way it used to be. It’s definitely starting to level out more for the Irish and English when they’re not far off competing and playing on a level playing field again.
Joseph O’Brien is my first cousin – he’s only going one way and that’s up
Joseph works very hard, that’s a given. They all do. They live and breathe horses, from breeding to the training. They think about nothing else from the time they get up in the morning to the time they go to bed at night. So, it’s a lot of hard work and they’ve accumulated a lot of knowledge over the years and obviously they’ve got a natural feel for it. Without that, you wouldn’t be going, too far, I can tell you.
The way they manage people is always very important. They have got a big staff and are such nice people. He’s fortunate to be training from a great location, with great facilities and great gallops. But the minute he set foot there he’s improved it every year. He’s built, he’s improved his facilities, improved the quality of horses. He hasn’t stopped bringing things forward from the moment he got in there. It’s massive to see where he has come from.
Even though he’s got a good start, he’s fairly made the most of it. He’s only going one way, and that’s up! He has cut down on his jumpers, but the door is going to be open for a good jumping horse, and nice high quality jumping horses. He has a select team, maybe 20 horses, but each horse that comes in the door has got the chance to be a good horse and when they come in the door with the potential to be a good horse, Joseph is able to get the best out of them. Horses that come in there as good horses often improve and get better.
Joseph has a real passion for jump racing, and the training facility really lends itself to jumping horses. It’s been very successful. Joseph enjoys jumping and he has jumping pedigree.
Both sides of the family were heavily involved in jump racing. He’s just got a love for jumping, a love for racing in general. I don’t think he’ll be reducing things anymore. I’d say he’ll always have his fair share of jumping horses. He’ll have his work cut out to catch up and take over his Dad Aidan’s winners record He’s trained more than 1,000 winners, which is crazy for someone who’s only trained not even a decade, and is still only 32.
But Aidan’s not slowing down anytime soon. Aidan is still a young man too, and he’s still got the same hunger and the same drive to get better. But if anyone is going to chase him down it’ll probably be Joseph. But he’ll have his work cut out too I’d say, with the things Aidan does and the firepower he has you know.
“Slevin was speaking to BOYLE Sports, who offer the very latest leopardstown betting”
