The day Gifford ended his Cheltenham hoodoo with a memorable double
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Eyewitness tales
The late Josh Gifford's widow Althea recalls the day the ever-popular trainer finally saddled his first festival winner when Golden Minstrel won the Kim Muir in 1988
Statistics are a funny thing, aren't they? Josh was champion jockey four times and rode winners at the Cheltenham Festival, but he never even had a ride in the Gold Cup and never won the Champion Hurdle. Then when he started training we had plenty of winners at Cheltenham – but none at the festival for 17 years.
I have no idea why that happened; obviously we talked about it but it was just one of those things. Josh never did anything different – he could be quite stubborn like that – but once Golden Minstrel had won, suddenly they came flooding in. In fact, we had a double that day with Vodkatini landing the last race.
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Published on inCheltenham Festival
Last updated
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