A jockey who piloted a plane to the 2021 Cheltenham Festival and landed an 80-1 winner has spied another shock victory.
Sean Flanagan, who scored on rank outsider Jeff Kidder in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at Prestbury Park in March, is booked to ride Snow Falcon in the Galway Plate next Wednesday.
The Wexford jockey missed a winner at last year's Ballybrit festival, as he was sidelined with a broken sternum and other nasty injuries following a fall.
Flanagan hopes Snow Falcon, 25-1 with bookmakers Paddy Power, will be worth the wait.
"He’s won a few Grade 2s and the better the ground, the better he will be so the weather suits us," he said.
Flanagan obtained his pilot's licence during the pandemic in 2020 and took a plane to Prestbury Park's spring spectacular.
After navigating his way across the Irish Sea, he stunned punters when longshot Jeff Kidder had too many gears for the Willie Mullins-trained favourite Saint Sam up the famous Cheltenham hill.
“I genuinely couldn’t believe it. I was stuck in a pocket coming down the hill and I had nowhere to go," he said.
“I’d got such a good run from the bend down to the last (hurdle) and I’ve gone and jumped it well enough.
"I’ve landed running, but it was probably only twenty yards from the line I started to think I’d win the race. It was a fantastic feeling."
Flanagan, 32, who took to the skies with bookmaker Paddy Power for a feature called ‘The Flying Jockey’ on their social media channels, returned home with a smile on his face.
Scooping the contest worth £33,762 was so fulfilling, he flew back the following month to ride in the Randox Grand National.
Tout Est Permis, a 100-1 shot for the Aintree marathon, could not achieve the big-priced double, but he did complete most of the course over the famous spruce fences.
“Jumping a fence and landing a plane is pretty similar – when you’re going down, it’s either going to work or it isn’t!” Flanagan said.
“Flying started out as an adrenaline buzz, but then I got to really like it.
"When I started flying I said I’d love to fly myself to Cheltenham and Aintree so they were both pinnacle moments for me.”
