Nico de Boinville: Might Bite actually tried to pull himself up going past the stands with a lap to go
The jockey looks back on his highlights from last week’s Cheltenham Festival.
Might Bite has one of the highest cruising speeds in racing, and we were doing a half-speed all the way round in the RSA. It was incredible.
Obviously, a lot of people have focused on what happened after the last but he actually tried to pull himself up going past the stands with a lap to go. He gave himself a breather there, a good breather, and I had to ask him to go on again after the water jump.
He kicked on again in a manner very similar to Coneygree and he absolutely winged the second last. I saw the same stride at the last but he lost concentration – he had one eye on the entrance – and put down on me.
Looking back, I maybe should have popped the last, as he veered straight towards where he came out onto the track. But once the loose horse came past him near the finish he thought “the job is not done here.”
Some have suggested he emptied out on the run-in but to do what he did – to basically go from a standing start to galloping again in such a short space of time – is definitely not the sign of a tired horse. We have a horse of immense potential to look forward to now.
I was really happy with River Wylde in the Supreme. He probably ran above expectations. I am not sure what he will do now or next season, but he is a very slick hurdler, and some good horses have finished third in that race, as we saw last week.
Altior was very rapid from the back of the last to the line in the Arkle, and fully put the race to bed. I’m in little doubt that he would have won if Charbel had stood up.
I was really looking forward to riding Claimantakinforgan in the bumper as I thought he was a massive price, and he ran as well as I expected him to do in finishing third.
I think the form of his earlier second at Doncaster is seriously hot and I think Tom George’s winner, to who we were giving 7lb there and were beaten just over 2 lengths, is a very good horse. And so is ours.
We were all on the back foot against a seriously impressive Un De Sceaux in the Ryanair but I thought Josses Hill ran with plenty of credit in fifth, though we do know that Soldier In Action is a lot better than he showed in the Triumph Hurdle.
It was a good week, pretty much job done – and Kempton on Saturday wasn’t too bad either with two wins and three seconds from six rides – but if I was gutted for one horse all week it is Constantine Bay in the Albert Bartlett.
He was the “what if” horse of Cheltenham for me.
He got badly hampered 2 out and the way he flew home had me thinking he would have been right in the mix but for that.
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