Ex-footballer Peter Crouch and his wife Abbey Clancy have starred in Paddy Power's amusing new advert for the 2021 Cheltenham Festival.
The former England striker, 40, is shown preparing to watch the four-day meeting at home, while being commentated on by racing pundits Matt Chapman and Gina Bryce.
As if they’re assessing a horse ahead of a big race, the tongue-in-cheek video begins with Crouch in bed, waggling his feet as he watches the racing – introduced by Chapman as “number four, Definitely Punching.”
Model Abbey throws Peter a pair of lucky pants, before he flicks through various football shirts in the wardrobe, with Chapman quipping “he’s moved stables a lot” – in reference to Crouch playing for 12 different teams.
The ITV Racing presenter marvels at Crouch’s height in horse terms, observing “he must be 20 hands at least.”
While Bryce jokes that Crouch is “unlikely to be wanted for breeding.”
Cheltenham’s most successful jockey of all time, Ruby Walsh, makes a cameo, remarking: “Even the Irish will back this English banker.”
Eventually, Peter settles down onto the couch to watch all the action, where he accepts a snack from Abbey – a crunchy carrot.
In 2020, Paddy Power ambassador Crouch tried his luck as a jockey in a clip for the firm.
And it’s the second time the couple have teamed up for the bookmakers, as they starred in a football advert which launched at the start of the season.
Ambassador Peter Crouch said: “Thank you, Paddy Power – it’s not often I’m compared to a thoroughbred. Usually, it’s just ‘workhorse’.
“It’s a shame we can’t be at Cheltenham this year, but Abbey and I are going to be enjoying the festival at home.”
Spokesman Paddy Power said: “This Cheltenham, there’ll be one mainstay of the Festival, the couch, so we wanted to celebrate the viewers’ saddle by putting the UK’s favourite couple on it, too.”
