Cheltenham Festival 2019: Sam Twiston-Davies places hopes on Al Dancer in Supreme Novices' Hurdle

Sam Twiston-Davies has revealed his best chance of a Cheltenham Festival winner is Al Dancer, trained by his father Nigel, in Tuesday's Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

At 18, Twiston-Davies saddled Baby Run to victory in the Foxhunter Chase and claimed his first Festival win. Success followed onboard The New One in 2013 and Twiston-Davies won the 2015 Queen Mother Champion Chase with a stunning performance to see Dodging Bullets first past the post ahead of a competitive field.

After three wins in 2016, Twiston-Davies has endured winless weeks in the last two years but is optimistic about his chances in Tuesday’s curtain raiser.

“Al Dancer is my best hope as he’s just won the Betfair Hurdle at Ascot,” he said. Al Dancer showed off its Cheltenham credentials with a fine win in February and is favourite to claim the Sky Bet Supreme Novices Hurdle.

“It'd be amazing to get a win this week, any winner would make it a dream week and hopefully we can start the festival off well with an Al Dancer win. But we work incredibly hard all year round - yes Cheltenham is a place you dream of riding winners but winning is such a great feeling, I’d do anything to ride a winner, any day, anywhere!"

While favourite, Al Dancer faces stiff competition from an open field. The Ruby Walsh-Willie Mullins combination has won this race in four of the last eight years, which gives Klassical Dream a reasonable shot at winning.

The horse had been impressing in France and has won its two races since joining the Mullins yard in December.

Angels Breath comes into the race with decent form, a win at Ascot and second at Kempton recently, but Cheltenham is not kind to inexperienced horses and the Nicky Henderson trained runner will do well to get something out of this in just its fourth race.

Further down the field, Itchy Feet deserves some attention if there’s no rain and Aramon has a large amount of potential to fulfil at some point. Fakir D’oudairies will grow in confidence if the going is softer but bidding to become the first four-year-old to win the race since 1999 suggests this is an unlikely chance.

“If I do get a win, to try and describe in words what it means in words is near impossible - but what I can say is that it’s a feeling that nobody will ever be able to recreate. For the supreme, you’re so focused on your job at hand you wouldn’t realise it till the end.”

Twiston-Davies is known for his shy but driven personality around the racecourse. He mentions his experiences meeting celebrities Jeremy Kyle, Chris Hughes and James Simpson Daniel, but he tries to avoid any additional attention. “To be honest, I tend to keep myself to myself during Cheltenham week and stay fully focussed.”

The most prestigious week in racing’s calendar carries an additional weight of expectation on jockeys to deliver for owners, trainers and the millions of extra punters. Racing careers are defined by Festival wins and with that in mind, Twiston-Davies tries to keep his preparation as straightforward as possible.

“Over the Cheltenham festival, I'll try to keep the week as normal as any other. First things first, early in the morning I’d have a little ride out to get warmed up before heading off to the races. Once there I’d walk around the track and get a feel for the course, next is box talks where I meet guests and talk about the day ahead then ultimately I get ready and the racing begins. As soon as I’m done I shower, drive home, have my dinner and then get a good night’s sleep. All in a day’s work!

“Diet-wise, I’m very lucky in that my weight is relatively good and I can do minimum weight without too much fuss. I'll try and eat one substantial meal and then tend to snack throughout the rest of the day varying from fruit to sweets so that the sugars help keep my energy up. I do enjoy fast food meals but I’ve got to be selective when having them, for example when I’ve got a day off or maybe if I’d have a heavy weights race the next day.

“I'll hopefully go through the festival without picking up any injuries. So far in my career, I've had knocks all over my body - from broken collar bones and elbows to a grade 4 rupture of my spleen - it feels like I've had it all. With certain injuries, it obviously takes time to recover but I’ll ride again as quickly as possible as soon as I’ve been given the all-clear.”

Sam Twiston-Davies was speaking on behalf of Racing Post Results.