'I know how hard it is to ride winners as I went long enough without having any'

Some tongue-lashings are easier to face than others. With arms aloft in celebration after breaking his Cheltenham Festival duck aboard Gordon Elliott’s Champagne Classic, JJ Slevin knew his trainer would be waiting in the winner’s enclosure with both barrels loaded.

Why? A day before that Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle success of 2017, Slevin, desperate to ride something else in the race, put in a call to Elliott in a bid to orchestrate a last-minute switch.

JJ Slevin: 'Coming back in after the race, Gordon turned to me and said: ‘You’re some clown''Credit: John Grossick

Slevin, from Enniscorthy, County Wexford, smiles at the memory. “If the Martin Pipe had been run in Ireland I’d have gotten myself off the horse, but because it was at Cheltenham I didn’t know how to work the system and I was stuck on Champagne Classic even though I was mad to ride something else in the race," he says.