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.”
