Name: Cheltenham Festival 2020: Behind the scenes with Katie Walsh
Uploaded: 2020-03-03T07:00:33.000Z
Duration: 5 min 26 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Well, Katie, here we are. Cheltenham racecourse.  Never gets old, does it?

To-infinitive

Never does and, to be honest with you, as soon as you see the Cheltenham sign,

you start to get a feeling like no other, to be honest.

And you walk through, it's race day.  When do you really start feeling in the zone?

To be able to walk in those front doors as a jockey  with your bag over your back and your saddle under your arm,

it's just a great place to be.  You feel very lucky.

People who haven't ridden and haven't been in here, we can't really imagine what it's like being here

during a Festival afternoon,  away from what's going on out there.

For me, I can't speak for everyone,  but I was just delighted.

I was always on great form, so I was like: ‘Where else would you rather be?’

It was like winning the Lotto. 'Here we go,  we're in Cheltenham and we're going to have a ride each day.

This is super.’ Some people are a bit more quiet,  a bit more reserved, I was more happy-go-lucky, I suppose.

And, I guess, just because there's so many more guys  riding than there are women,

that this massive cavern that is the male jockeys'  weighing room is a pretty hectic, exhausting, intense place.

There's so much going on because  there's so many people coming and going all the time.

It's hard to believe that it's as empty  and as quiet and as peaceful now.

I've just never been in here  when it's like this.

I noticed your brother had neatly marked  his 59 Cheltenham winners with his little corner here.

Well, it's quite a big corner.  So whoever sits here now will feel

the inordinate pressure of Ruby Walsh. Will they want to?

I know. Can you imagine?  You look here and go:

‘Anything I do here is utter failure  because look at all this.’

He'd be curled up in the corner,  like a gremlin, tucked away like this.

And, if you're riding light, is there ever any worry  that you might be a pound or two over, or not these days?

No. I think when you come into Cheltenham, I think you'd want to be fairly spot-on with your weight.

You'll know what weight you are at home.  Everyone has scales, they're not very hard to get.

There shouldn't be a surprise when you get here,  that should be well under control.

So, you're coming out and  you're in your colours,

are you a talker or are you  on your own at this point?

Depends who's beside me!  I think at this point you just want to get going.

I think most jockeys feel like that.  You kind of have a gameplan,

you know what you're going to do and actually,  when you get in here,

it's really hard to find your trainers and your owners.  This all happens so fast.

It looks like on TV that it takes a long time,  but you're in here for jig time.

Get a leg-up and out you go. Out the gap.

And when you go down this walkway, the atmosphere's the interesting thing,

because it's lined during the Festival  and there's people either side of you

and they are quite close on top of you.  Do you find that gets the horses...?

Some horses take it  and some horses really rise to the occasion as well,

because there's a lot going on here  and there's a lot of people, as you say.

But a lot of people are saying  ‘the very best of luck, come back safe’

and you'll get a lot of that, the whole way out.  This really is like a runway.

It's a long way out there, and it's even better  when you come back in in front, that I can tell you.

So I suppose any race at Cheltenham,  I always think when you go out to the country,

either for the first time or the only time, the race begins to take shape.

You've got a height of activity  with the stand and the atmosphere.

There's always a big roar  and you can hear that.

But as soon as you jump the fence  across the top here, which is behind us,

and you really could have a conversation  with the fella beside you.

And do you? Depends how much fun you're having!

You're constantly turning, it is up and down. It's competitive.

Some horses don't take to it.  It's not for the faint-hearted and you need to be sharp,

you need to travel around here.  You need to travel at Cheltenham.

It's not for a slow slogger. Definitely not.

Jumping the last, you need to hang on, because you don't land up on top of the winning post.

If you land at the back of the last and you look up  and you think you're treading on water,

I'm afraid it's not going to be good enough.  When you know your horse is responding

from the back of the last, and you're thinking  and hoping that you might get there, it's unbelievable.

But there's nothing like galloping up here,  up to the winning line.

You can't wait for it to come quick enough  and it's just lovely to pass it in front.

This has got to be one of the great  walk backs in sport, hasn't it?

When you ride a winner here,  you're usually the last horse to come back down.

It is the greatest parade ring  to walk back into for a reception.

What they've done with this,  there is no feeling like it.

They have the hospitality on the right-hand side,  there's people hanging out over the balconies

saying ‘well done’. It's just a very special feeling  that I feel very lucky to have felt.

What was the most intense feeling  you had walking back into there?

When those gates open up and you come in,  you feel like you're on stage.

You know what I mean? You feel like this is it  and this is when the roar happens and that's your moment.

But this is full of people, it's a coliseum. When you get back in here, it's kind of like an echo.

You'd go back and do it all again,  wouldn't you?

Of course I would. Everyone would.  There's no feeling like it.

You have everyone looking down on you  and everyone's roaring and clapping,

and you're here with trainers and owners  and connections that are just over the moon.

And then you're back into the weighing room  and you have to forget how brilliant you are

because you've got to do it all again. New day, new dollar, new job. Has to be done.