Victoria Pendleton is expected to announce on Sunday which horse she hopes to ride in the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham in March, which is the ultimate aim for the dual Olympic gold medallist in her ambitious attempt to switch from cycling to race-riding.
Pendleton also hopes to ride in two races on the same card for the first time this weekend, when she is due to compete at the Black Forest Lodge point-to-point in Devon. As yet, she has yet to complete in a race over jumps, having pulled up before the line in both of her starts in point-to-points on 29 November and 6 December, while her intended mount in a race last weekend was scratched a few hours before the race.
Pendleton’s almost complete lack of racing experience over jumps is becoming an increasing concern with the Festival now a little over two months away.
She would not be allowed to ride in the Foxhunters’ Chase at Aintree, which is run over the Grand National fences, as there are restrictions in place to ensure that riders have sufficient experience. As a fully licensed amateur jockey, however, Pendleton has all the formal qualifications required to take a ride in its equivalent at Cheltenham on 18 March, however limited her grounding in competitive racing might be.
Yet it also seems unlikely that she would be asked to line up against many of the most seasoned amateur jockeys in Britain and Ireland with just a handful of rides behind her, though Coral recently quoted Pendleton at 7-4 against to line up at Cheltenham, having cut the price from 4-1 at the start of the year. She is 66-1 to win the race with the same firm.
“Ideally, we would have liked to have secured her more race-riding experience at this stage,” Barry Orr, who has helped to co-ordinate Pendleton’s switch to racing on behalf of her sponsor Betfair, told the Racing Post on Tuesday. “But injuries to horses, the wet weather and lack of opportunities all played their part.
“We have managed to secure her some out side rides for the coming weeks and this weekend at Black Forest Lodge, given suitable ground and sound horses, she is scheduled to ride According to Sarah and Supreme Danehill. The intention is to give her as much race-riding experience as possible between now and Cheltenham.
“Although Cheltenham is only nine weeks away, providing there are no major setbacks we remain confident that she can fulfil the challenge and line up in the Foxhunter.”
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