Cheltenham

From “sticking a pen in a couple” while having a youthful flutter to owning a King George VI Chase winner and potential Cheltenham Gold Cup victor, Harry Redknapp has come a long way in horse racing.

The FA Cup-winning football manager’s love of the sport can be traced back to his grandmother Maggie Brown, who was a bookmaker’s runner in London’s East End, at a time when betting shops and off-course betting were illegal.

On Friday, his horse Jukebox Man will attempt to add the Cheltenham showpiece to his King George win in December.

The King George VI Chase is considered the biggest jumps race of the season before the Cheltenham Festival, while the Gold Cup is described by the Jockey Club as the most prestigious steeplechase in the world.

After claiming a photo-finish victory at Kempton Park on Boxing Day to topple 2024 King George winner Banbridge and 9-4 joint-favourite Gaelic Warrior, Redknapp said: “We’ve come into the Champions League today.”

But can he win jump racing’s equivalent of the Champions League?

“We have a chance, but it is a tough race,” Redknapp told BBC Radio 5 Live:

Among those standing in his way are Gaelic Warrior, Jango Baie, Haiti Couleur and last year’s winner Inothewayurthinkin.

Redknapp said: “Just to have a runner in the Gold Cup is a dream come true.

“We have had so much fun with Jukebox Man, which won the King George on Boxing Day, which is one of the most iconic races in the racing calendar.

“To go to the Gold Cup and to have a runner with a bit of a chance is great.”

Victory would be the crowning moment of a 70-year love affair with the sport that began during childhood.

“My nan would take the bets,” he said. “I’d come out for my school dinner when I’m eight or nine and she was getting put in the back of a police van and taken to Poplar police station.”

Redknapp’s nan would tell him to “stick a pen in a couple“ that would be her bets for the day.

Despite his love of the sport, he has never been tempted to ride – “not for all the money in the world”.

”They get injured, these jump jockeys, and then they come back about three weeks later, he said.

“They’re not like footballers, are they?”

Redknapp owns shares in 26 horses.

“You’re not always successful,” he said.

“For every Shakem Up’arry and Jukebox Man and Taurus Bay, there’s lots of others that never really did anything.”

GEMMA Collins has won £20k at the Cheltenham races and made £5k off of just one bet.

The reality star, 45, was left overjoyed today when she raked in the cash and took home the huge amount of money.

A source told The Sun: “Gemma was over the moon and kept showing her wads of cash to James Nesbitt in the Paddy Power box. She made £20k the whole day – and £5k off one £500 bet.”

In an exclusive video obtained by The Sun, Gemma was seen shouting: “I’m f***ing loaded!,” as she revelled in her glory, before adding: “I’m coming home with 20 large ones.”

She took to Instagram to give fans a peek into her winnings as she showcased just one of her successful betting slips.

On the slip, it revealed that the former TOWIE star had won £5k from a £500 bet.

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The television icon wrote over it: “I won @paddypowerofficial. Best day ever!,” alongside horse and four leaf clover emojis.

Gemma certainly looked the part at the Cheltenham Festival as she stunned while standing on a balcony with pals.

She kept warm in an eye-catching blue and purple checked coat with brown fur sleeves and a belt which perfectly synched in her waist.

She accessorised with a white and red headscarf and a pair of blacked out sunglasses.

Her winning moment was captured as she enjoyed a glass of bubbly and was hugged by friends surrounding her.

One of those people was Danny Dyer, who was seen throwing up a fist in celebration for the Celebrity Big Brother star.

In true Gemma fashion, she was spotted looking very animated as she celebrated her exciting victory.

Her big win comes after she was announced as part of the line-up for the second series of I’m A Celebrity… South Africa.

The show was filmed last year and will see familiar faces return for a second stint on the hit ITV series.

After it was announced earlier this week, Gemma revealed she nearly pulled out of it but was put in her place by her make-up artist.

Speaking at the press launch, Gemma said: “It didn’t work out for me the first time around in there and ever since it’s been like this black cloud hanging over my head.

“Obviously I’m older now and I just thought, I have to do this. It was one regret that I had that I left.

“I was absolutely bricking it. I was petrified. My makeup artist slapped me at Heathrow Airport because I actually said I don’t think I can actually go through with this.

“But do you know what? I took a deep breath. I went in strong. And to be honest, I think I shut it down.

“It’s not the GC in there. It’s Gemma Collins as you’ve never seen her before. You’ll see me vulnerable in there.

“I was so stripped bare going in there. And because I knew it was so disastrous the time before, I had no chance to back out of any of it.”

“The one thing that troubled me was the copious amounts of washing up,” said Gemma.

“I was on camp duty with Adam and obviously, it was a massive camp, and I’m not going to lie, I’ve got two dishwashers at home.”

ITV viewers will remember Gemma’s meltdown back in 2014 and refusal to get into a helicopter to get into camp on day one.

She was then forced to make her own way to camp, but things went from bad to worse.

After struggling with camp life and the food rations, she sensationally quit the series on day two.

After first accusing De Boinville of being “abusive”, Queally told The Racing Post, external on Wednesday he had received “repeated racist abuse” from his rival.

The Irishman, riding I’ll Sort That, and De Boinville on Act Of Innocence could be seen exchanging words at the start line, but the Englishman denies any wrongdoing.

De Boinville told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra on Thursday: “It is an ongoing investigation.

“The stewards are gathering all the evidence they can from all the video footage.

“From my point of view, I deny all the allegations against me.

“I can categorically say there weren’t any racial slurs or anything like that. Let’s let it play out.”

Queally, 37, appeared to topple off his horse before Wednesday’s race started and had to be checked over by a doctor. He was given the all-clear to race, along with Ballyfad, who was kicked pre-race and assessed by a vet in a chaotic few minutes.

A number of false starts to the planned rolling start meant the horses were moved to a standing start at the tape – leaving jockeys jostling for position.

After the race, Queally, who finished fifth, was interviewed by ITV Racing before entering the weight room.

He said: “Being abused by an English rider, Nico de Boinville, not very nice.

“I am an amateur, coming over here and riding in front of my kids. Horrific.”

When informed of Queally’s comments about a difficult start to the race, De Boinville responded: “Maybe he should look in the mirror.”

Legendary jockey AP McCoy said Queally has “as much right to be there as anyone”, while Ruby Walsh said the start system “hasn’t worked for 20 years”.

Walsh told ITV: “It’s 2026. How has nobody devised a tape that rolls in front of the horses?

“The tape should have been in front of them when they went on to the track and it should be moved in front of the horses.

“We can send missiles after fighter planes in the Gulf, but nobody can design a rolling flyaway tape. That’s the joke.”

Il Etait Temps powered over the line in the Queen Mother Champion Chase to earn trainer Willie Mullins his third win of day two at Cheltenham Festival.

Majborough was the odds-on favourite to claim victory in the big race of the day but a poor jumping display made it an impossible victory.

A mistake at the final fence almost cost Il Etait Temps the win, but jockey Paul Townend steered him over the line at the Festival’s first Ladies Day in five years.

“There was a lot of work put into this horse after Ascot so I have a lot of people to thank,” Townend told ITV Racing. “It shows how tough this lad is. He’s such a courageous horse again today. He was flat as a pan everywhere.

“I wasn’t going to force him but he just found his rhythm.”

Mullins told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra: “Out of the corner of my eye I could see Paul Townend thinking ‘now we have a horse race’.

“He started to get confident and he planned his move around the last bend.”

Libberty Hunter, priced at 50-1, and Sir Alex Ferguson’s horse, L’eau Du Sud, finished third.

The first winner of the day for Mullins came in the opening race with 11-1 shot King Rasko Grey powering over the finish line.

Act of Innocence, ridden by Nico de Boinville, followed up in second.

Mullins was “disappointed” with his horses in Tuesday’s Supreme Hurdle, but King Rasko Grey’s “form worked out”.

He told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra: “We were all disappointed with our horses in the Supreme, but his form worked out. The day we bought him from the sales, he looked like a really smooth mover.

“I am very happy. When I saw them here on Monday, my worry was they looked too well.

“I don’t think I have seen my team on the gallop look so well, but they are racing well.”

It was a Mullins one-two in the Novices’ Chase with a brilliant jumping display from 11-1 chance Kitzbuhel allowing him to hold off the challenge of 7-2 shot Final Demand.

Jockey Harry Cobden labelled Kitzbuhel a “phenomenal little horse”.

He told ITV: “He’s braver than I am, this little chap. He’s a phenomenal horse.

“He was brilliant today, looking right the whole way, so that’s why I kept him in the middle. Everywhere I asked him, he delivered. He’s very tough.”