Jamie Snowden Interview: GA Law is in much better form this time around
Cheltenham Festival winning trainer JAMIE SNOWDEN was gracious enough to give us some of his time lately for a chat about the upcoming Cheltenham Festival, his stable star GA Law and the form of stable jockey Gavin Sheehan, courtesy of BetVictor. Read on to find out why he is sending GA Law back to the Ryanair, his thoughts on the Festival's draw with no Constitution Hill and much more...
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"The obvious place to start is with GA Law. You've decided this week to head to the Ryanair rather than a handicap. Can you explain your thinking behind the decision?"
Jamie Snowden: "So, last year we had all the entries under the sun for him! He was a Paddy Power Gold Cup winner, and really had the world at his feet. He was a very decent novice chaser, but took a nasty fall in the Sky Bet chase when coming to win his race up at Doncaster.
That probably took a lot longer to get over than we necessarily thought at the time and he ran well, finishing 5th in the Ryanair last year, but he definitely was not in the same kind of form as he is now. Obviously, it's taken a while to get him back but I thought in the Coral Gold Cup he showed real signs of life.
His jumping was very good that day and I think he then stepped forward again when we dropped him back in trip and won on Trials' Day. I thought he was pretty impressive that day winning a handicap off 150.
The handicapper has put us in a position where we're either carrying top weight in in the Plate or chancing our arm in in the Ryanair, and obviously we were only 5th last year as I say in not as good form as right now, so I think it does make sense to supplement him for the run
Is there something about the Ryanair this year that makes you think, apart from his current form, that he should be better for it? Perhaps the pace, the ground, the size of the field? Was there anything specific like that, or is it just purely his form and the fact he's bouncing at home?
JS: "Well the race doesn't have a Shishkin in it this year! Obviously, he was only second last year and Envoi Allen is obviously a formidable opponent as is Banbridge and a few others. We're probably doing it on our horse as opposed to other horses and he's been working great, jumping brilliantly. Interestingly enough, Paige Fuller, who was our conditional jockey and rode out a claim for us is now working for RaceIQ which does a lot of figures and tries to put figures on how horses jump.
Supposedly, last year in the Ryanair he lost two lengths overall with his jumping. In the Hennessy Gold Cup of this season, he made eleven lengths with his jumping, and on trials day, he made 15 lengths through his jumping. So, it kind of puts into perspective perhaps where we were this time last year as to where we are this year."
On a less positive note, Constitution Hill was ruled out earlier this week. Do you think that racing’s poster boy at the moment missing the Festival means a bit of sparkle has been lost from the Festival?
JS: "It's a good question, but the Cheltenham Festival is the Cheltenham Festival and has been the Cheltenham Festival long, long before Constitution Hill! The sparkle of the Cheltenham Festival is certainly still there. Obviously it's a great shame that Constitution Hill isn't lining up and that is a great shame for everyone associated with Seven Barrows, but also for our sport in general.
It's always brilliant when you get two wonderful horses lining up against each other and it becomes a proper fight as every championship race and event should be, so it's a shame he's not there, but it certainly doesn't detract from the sparkle of the Cheltenham Festival."
A fair few people have tipped Willie Mullins to have a record-breaking year in terms of winners in 2024. He must be the envy of all in the training ranks! Do you think there's something to be said for maybe a playing field leveller like they have attempted in other sports such as a draft or salary cap?
Or do you think it's a case of just taking your hat off to those at the top of the tree and saying that's the standard, that's what the rest of us have all got to aim at and one day try and catch them and surpass them?
JS: "Yeah. I suppose Michael Dickinson trained the first five home in the in the Cheltenham Gold Cup some years ago, Fred Winter was a phenomenal trainer in his time and it wasn't so long ago that Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson were having all the winners and the Irish could hardly even get one winner on the board let alone dream that Willie Mullins was going to take home all 28 races!
No, I think it's the circle of life and I think Willie's in the dominant position at the moment and is obviously the envy of everyone, but it's only a matter of time before the wheel turns around and somebody else will become the dominant force. I think that's sport, that's the way of life, and we’ve gotta go with it. But, listen, good luck to him."
Wrapping things up, Gavin Sheehan has had a brilliant season and is going from strength to strength with you and with outside rides. So, with Gavin having had such a good season, does it give you confidence that there's more success for you two as a team, for him on his own and is the target a couple more after You Wear It Well's triumph for you two last season?
JS: "Several questions in there! I'll probably start out with the last question. We were very lucky and fortunate to have a winner at the Cheltenham Festival with our 3rd ever runner at the big meeting. Having come from Paul Nicholls' and Nicky Henderson's previously, I sort of rather naively felt that it's kind of easy. That this is just what happens. You're there, you turn up, you have runners, you have winners. Well, it took us 9 years to have another Festival winner!
It really just goes to show how tough it is. This is the pinnacle of our sport and it is very, very hard to get horses good enough to run, let alone win. We are very fortunate that we're having a great few seasons. These last five or six seasons have been brilliant for us, and we're lucky that we got lovely horses that can win good races throughout the season. It would be wonderful to go and have another festival winner. We would love it and we'll definitely give it our best shot, but we know how hard it is and we'll take nothing for granted.
As for Gavin's success, he's always been a very talented jockey, and we were lucky enough when he left his job at Warren Greatrex's that he came rode a few for us and really the relationship has blossomed and it's wonderful to see him doing so well."
"I take great pleasure in not only seeing him winning races for us, but seeing him winning good races for other people - as long as he's not beating us! It is a wonderful relationship and long may it continue."
Jamie was speaking to HorseRacing.Net on behalf of BetVictor.