Jonjo O’Neill Jr was aboard the 100/1 shock winner of the Triumph Hurdle on Friday and joined Matt Chapman and Paddy Brennan on episode 20 of Unbridled to talk through his Festival heroics and provided some insight into his Grand National aspirations.
O’Neill Jr returned to the winners’ enclosure at the Cheltenham Festival for the first time since landing the Martin Pipe aboard Early Doors in 2019, with an impressive display aboard the ultra-progressive Jagwar for Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero in the TrustATrader Plate on Thursday.
O’Neill Jr has become something of a regular in JP McManus’ green and gold silks on the big occasions, regularly partnering the likes of Champ towards the latter stages of his career and more recently has developed a partnership with Grand National hopeful Iroko.
Speaking with Matt and Paddy, O’Neill Jr discussed Jagwar’s rapid improvement and how he wasn’t sure if the son of Karaktar would cope with the steep rise as well as his position in the market had suggested.
“From when he won the first day at Wetherby, I really wasn’t sure to what extent he was going to progress, but he has with each run. [First at] Bangor-On-Dee and then he ran well when he was wrong at Uttoxeter and obviously he was good at Cheltenham, but I still felt he needed to improve a stone to win on Thursday, and thankfully he did.”
Brennan was keen to heap the praise onto O’Neill Jr saying the education he gave the horse helped him learn enough to cope with the nature of a race at the Cheltenham Festival.
He said: “If you want to watch where that race, for me, was won was at Wetherby and Bangor. What he learned on those days made him [ready] for Cheltenham.”
O’Neill Jr responded: “He was a slow-burner, he was not a good jumper of a hurdle, I wouldn’t say he was a natural over a fence either but he was very keen over hurdles and he did just take a little bit of minding.
“Josh and Ollie have done a really good job because I can’t imagine he’s a straightforward ride at home for Ben Smith who rides him every day. He was just like a big raw teenager and thankfully he’s mentally copped on with each run, but I am surprised by how much he has progressed.”
Jagwar was sent off the 3/1 favourite for the contest and for all he wasn’t the most fluent at the last, it didn’t stop the pair from running out ready winners with nearly three lengths back to the Gavin Cromwell-trained Thecompanysergeant at the line.
With just five rides at this year’s Festival, you wouldn’t find many jockeys with a much better strike-rate than O’Neill Jr, as he doubled his tally for the week aboard Poniros – the shock 100/1 winner of the Triumph Hurdle on Gold Cup day.
With everything going a little bit better than was expected, Chapman asked what was going through his head throughout the contest.
O’Neill Jr said: “We trapped along to the first and I thought, ‘I just hope this thing can operate’ and he jumped the first literally like an old handicapper and I said, ‘oh, we’re going to be okay’.
“He was a little bit novicey over the next few but very safe.
“I wasn’t really paying attention to the ones in front, I could see all the leading fancies were up ahead and just as we started going down the hill, I was looking at a couple of others for Willie and they were squeezing along, trying to keep their position and I was still cantering.
“I thought, if we jump the second last, they’ll probably quicken away from us, but I was delighted that he’d run a really nice race first time.
“They just didn’t quicken away from us as much as I thought they would, and I just felt like I was rolling. I thought that going to the last I had a sniff, and I think his flat experience made a big difference. When he got over the last, he knew how to race which I think counted for a lot.”
Chapman alluded to the fact that any ride for Willie Mullins must be a privilege but to get the call up for a ride in the Triumph felt much more special to the rider.
“I was very fortunate really with the way it worked out, obviously Willie had 11 in the race, and he was going to use up all of his Irish jockeys and then there were two spares for [Harry] Cobden and myself.
“I’ve ridden a couple of times for Willie in the past but nothing in a race like the Triumph and it’s just an offer you can’t turn down.”
Poniros became the joint-highest priced winner of a race at the Cheltenham Festival, matching the Gold Cup success of Norton’s Coin in 1990 and Hipparchus’ victory in the 1954 Grand Annual.
With the 2025 Cheltenham Festival becoming a distant memory, attentions now turn to Aintree where O’Neill Jr is set to partner Iroko in the Grand National for Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero.
“He’s progressed nicely with each run, I thought his run at Kelso was really good as the ground was a bit lively for him and Grey Dawning, on his day, is a proper Grade One horse, as a prep for the National, we’re very happy and he’s got a nice weight.
“It’s a really competitive renewal; I know a couple came out but it’s still a very strong race. Saying that, I still wouldn’t want to swap him.”
Watch Unbridled in full on the At The Races YouTube channel
