Gold Cup victory for Jonjo snr – and an afternoon off school for Jonjo jnr

Eyewitness Tales

Jonjo O'Neill jnr recalls the afternoon his father trained Synchronised to win the 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup

I was 14 that spring, riding out in the morning before going to school. Synchronised was a horse who never really showed anything at home, never really caught anyone's eye, but about ten days before the festival a change came over him – it was like a flower starting to blossom.

He'd won the Lexus at Leopardstown at Christmas and hadn't been right after that, but in those last ten days we could tell there was something good happening.