Ex-jockey Mick Fitzgerlad insisted Cheltenham remains the pinnacle of National Hunt Racing, as Prestbury Park hosts its second meeting of the season.
For one of jump racing’s most experienced and decorated riders, this venue holds a special place and has shaped some of the outstanding moments of his career.
The former Gold Cup winning jockey shared: “Cheltenham is The Olympics of our sport. The festival is like our Olympics, but every year.”
As anticipation builds for the weekend ahead, track conditions are expected to be at their toughest with heavy rain and strong winds set to dominate.
“Yeah, huge. Because visibility is a problem. You’ve got mud flying back at you. And if you’ve only got one pair of goggles, when do you pull them down”, explained Fitzgerald as he offered his expertise.
He went further and stressed: “You’re jumping obstacles, you can’t be blinking your way around. So you need four, five, six pairs of goggles.”
Riders will also be battling ground conditions this weekend, as Fitzgerald noted, “Yeah, it’s going to be pretty soft. It’s not as deep as I thought it would be. But once they have the first race and the rain starts to get in, it will then become hard work.”
Ground report @CheltenhamRaces for @itvracing pic.twitter.com/RWsYcifCA6
— mick fitzgerald (@mickfitzg) November 14, 2025
But weather aside, this November fixture also acts traditionally as an early indicator of which runners will emerge as early contenders come March.
“If you go back in time, through the history books, you’ll see quite a lot of horses who ran here, not necessarily won here, but who ran here in one of the feature races at this weekend’s meeting, will feature at the festival. It’s uncanny, honestly,” he said.
Fitzgerald later added the horses he is most excited to follow: “Look, you can’t help but like certain people and certain trainers who have been on the big time and maybe tumbled off a little bit. Philip Hobbs is one of those. He’s got a really nice horse called Sober Glory that I really like.
“There’s a horse called Weejun Stroll of Paul Nicholson. I really like him. I think he’ll be a very good chaser. So he’s one to watch.”
“You can walk the track on a Sunday, and by Tuesday afternoon, it’ll be totally different ground. This place dries so quickly, and especially as you have changes in temperature, it’ll dry out”, further revealed the racing pundit as he reflected how sharply the course can change during Festival week.
The former festival star is no stranger to Cheltenham, having ridden 14 winners and twice finished the week as leading jockey.
With racing to commence, Fitzgerald looked back on his legendary status around the paddock, as he revealed the standout memory from Cheltenham: “I think probably 1999. I rode a treble on Gold Cup day, including winning the Gold Cup, was the leading rider at the festival as well because of that. Amazing. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
