School's out! Tom Scudamore's daughter issues Cheltenham plea to Boris Johnson

Jockey Tom Scudamore could be seeking one last hurrah at the Cheltenham Festival this year – if his 14-year-old daughter is to be believed.

Margot Scudamore decided to take matters into her own hands when hearing schools may return on March 8, just over a week before the Cheltenham Festival, addressing a letter to UK prime minister Boris Johnson in her notebook pleading for him to reconsider the date.

Among her reasons for requesting the change, or for schools to be permitted to show ITV Racing, was to allow her to continue her education towards becoming a rider, to enable her to watch her beloved Kingswell Theatre compete and that her father may not have many more opportunities to shine during the fixture.

"My dad [Tom Scudamore] is going on 39 and as a jump jockey he is reaching the end of his career," she wrote. "So I think it is important…[as] an aspiring jockey myself that I should watch the festival."

Having found the letter when checking through his daughter's school work after riding out on Wednesday, Scudamore posted it on social media prompting a landslide of amused replies in favour of the amended curriculum.

"She'd been cross all day, then Boris came out and said that schools could be back on March 8, so she decided to take matters into her own hands," Scudamore said on Thursday.

"It did make me laugh. She's absolutely racing mad and has been for the last few years – a switch has definitely been flicked in her. She rides out for my brother [Michael] and rides Kingswell Theatre. He's the most important person in the world to her, alongside her ponies."

Margot Scudamore urged Johnson "not to get her started" on Kingswell Theatre, who she outlined may be reaching the end of his career too, although her father is hoping her words may prove to be premature.

"She thought she should make herself heard, although I'm not so sure about her writing me and the horse off – I hope she's in for a shock!" he said. "Her headmaster had a word with her to explain that she shouldn't necessarily be using time in English to be writing letters to the prime minister."

Tom Scudamore: 'Margot thought she should make herself heard'Credit: Edward Whitaker

Schools across Britain are closed due to the ongoing pandemic with parents having to home-school their children, a task Scudamore is embracing as best he can.

"There are a lot of people in the same position," he said. "We're fortunate that we're in a rural location so they have space to get out and the chance to do things outside. The school's doing a good job keeping them occupied and we're all having to make the best of it."

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