Jamie Snowden has revealed a bit of divine intervention might have played its part in Johnny’s Jury’s remarkable victory in the Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival thanks to the Irish syndicate which owns half of him.

Johnny’s Jury is owned jointly by two syndicates, with the Blazing Blues and Twos, a partnership set up by fireman Andy Billam, joined by the Hurlers on the Ditch, from Ireland, who had found themselves horseless, owing to injury, at just the moment Snowden and Tom Malone had picked up a handsome grey gelding for £75,000 at Goffs January Sale in January 2025.

Having run just once before his purchase, and then picked up an injury after he came to Snowden, Johnny’s Jury arrived at Cheltenham after just three runs, albeit having won the last two of them, and he was also going up in trip quicker than his trainer had wanted after being balloted out of the Turners Novices’ Hurdle.

“He was in the deep end up to three miles in a Grade 1 on only his fourth start,” said Snowden, talking to the Racing Post for a major interview in Sunday’s newspaper. “We always knew he wanted three miles, but my doubt was going there in one fell swoop, rather than stepping up in increments like we planned.”

Perhaps it’s little wonder, then, that the Hurlers were keen to offer a little assistance from on high, just to be on the safe side.

“In the paddock beforehand, one of the Irish ladies came up to me and said she had a bottle of holy water that the priest had blessed and asked if we could put it on Johnny.

“I said of course not, so they poured it on Gavin [Sheehan] instead and he was wiping it off his goggles in the paddock, but it didn’t stop him.

“We missed the break and it looked like a fifth disaster to round off the week, but Gav rode a wonderful race, timed his challenge to perfection and stormed up the hill.”

Read more from Jamie Snowden in The Big Read, available in Sunday’s newspaper or online for Racing Post+ Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday.

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