‘Growing up in our yard was a great contraceptive!’ – Sam Twiston-Davies on working with his family at Cheltenham hopes

2 days ago 52

AS concerning as it is to contemplate, jockey Sam Twiston-Davies is now an elder statesman in the weighing room.

It only feels like a few years ago he was the emerging teenage pin-up star who would be scooped up by Paul Nicholls and ride a hatful of big-race winners. Where has the time gone?

Sam Twiston-Davies in jockey silks after a horse race.

Sam Twiston-Davies is looking forward to a big week at Cheltenham[/caption]

Sam turned 32 in October and, while many past and present colleagues would be giving off grizzled veteran vibes at this stage, he still has all the same enthusiasm for the sport and for life he had 15 years ago.

Maybe dad Nigel’s rocky relationship history and the fact Sam (right) has decided against settling down and starting a family has something to do with it!

He grinned: “Growing up in our yard was probably the best contraceptive invented.

“Willy and I have seen Nige get married three times and it’s quite an expensive thing to do — so we will only go down that path when it’s absolutely 100 per cent the right time!”

The Twiston-Davies family are very much a part of jump racing’s fabric and they have always been popular with punters.

‘Nige’, who started training in 1981, is a man of few words, in the nicest possible way you can’t shut Sam up once he gets going, and younger brother Willy is somewhere in the middle.

They are all very different personalities, but that’s what makes it work so well.

Sam continued: “It’s very entertaining and never boring. We aren’t afraid to have strong conversations and speak our mind.

“Everyone’s family bickers and ours is no different. Some days Willy and I would say to Nige, ‘What the hell are you doing?’

“Others he’d be right about something and he’d let us know it. I think we have helped keep the fire in his belly with the training side of things — but he also has a young family and he has to be out working and staying healthy. I can’t imagine him ever wanting to stop.”

Asking Nige to change at this point in his life would be like asking a lion to consider becoming a vegan. It ain’t happening.

And it was perfectly illustrated when he unexpectedly decided to run their Grade 1 winning novice Potters Charm at Cheltenham on Trials Day . . . against the advice of Willy and Sam.

Nige has never been one to leave a horse standing in their box if there is a race to be won, but when he was turned over by Sixmilebridge the simmering tension became a full-blown row.

Sam said: “I was probably the one that set it all off. Willy got the brunt of my frustration, and then he went back and gave it to dad in the paddock and it kicked off a bit, apparently it carried on all the way back to the car park!

“Willy and I threw our toys out of the pram which was probably a bit childish as we are a team. But we always make up in the end.”

It would be hard not to make up with Sam, in fairness, as he has always come across as one of the game’s good guys.

But he is now one of the sport’s senior jockeys so, given the way the weighing room historically governs itself, has he had to change his approach with his colleagues?

He said: “It’s scary where the time goes but the weighing room is a very different place to when I started.

“Back then you had the likes of AP McCoy and Dickie Johnson, and then there were the scary ones like Warren Marston and Jimmy McCarthy.

“There were a lot of senior jockeys and every one had a different demeanour, so you’d have to think about who you’d approach and what you’d say.

“Nowadays it’s more chilled out. Anyone can speak to anyone.

“Everyone knows I’m an open book, I can take the piss and have the piss taken out of me. But I know I’m one of the established jockeys and I can speak both languages if a serious conversation needs to be had, but we deal with things in a much more relaxed way.

“The old unwritten rules are much more spoken about now. Our communication in the weighing room and on the track is much better than it was.”

That communication will be put to the test at Cheltenham, with not just prize-money but points for the David Power Jockeys Cup, for which Sam is currently third in the table, on offer.

The winning jockey takes home a huge £500,000, while the second and third scoop six figures.

Sam smiled: “It is a scary amount of money – knowing me I’d probably blow it all up the wall. We like to have a good time around here.”

No doubt they’ll be partying at Twiston-Davies towers if one of their Festival team is on target.

He added: “The pressure is off a bit with Potters Charm now, but he is in seriously good form and I think he is a big player.

“And I know dad fancies Broadway Boy in the Ultima. He wasn’t at it last time, but he seems to have turned a corner.”

There is also the small matter of James Owen’s East India Dock, the current favourite in Friday’s Triumph Hurdle.

Sam continued: “He will be the shortest-priced horse I’ve ridden at the Festival in a while.

“He has looked brilliant this year and there is more to come. I respect the opposition but it will take a good one to beat us.”

Sam is part of the David Power Jockeys’ Cup, a new Jump jockeys competition, worth over £1m in prize money. Visit jockeyscup.com or follow @jockeyscup for more info