Al Boum Photo COULD make Gold Cup history on final day of Cheltenham Festival
His third successive win would see him surpass Best Mate's achievement in 2004
The 2021 Cheltenham Festival is taking the last hurdle today as it comes to the end of a show-stopping week.
Historically Gold Cup Day is the biggest jumps race of the season and is the finale everyone looks forward to.
The steeplechase takes place over a distance of three miles and 2 and a half furlongs with 22 fences to be jumped by contenders.
Al Boum Photo created history in last year’s renewal after he became just the second back-to-back winner this century and this year is looking to beat a maximum of 12 rivals to make it a hattrick.
His third successive win would see the Willie Mullins trained gelding emulate Best Mate’s achievement.
Ahead of the pinnacle event of the Cheltenham Festival we've been speaking with assistant trainer and previous winning jockey Joe Tizzard, who rode Native River to Gold Cup victory in 2018.
The Road to Cheltenham
"There are lots of opportunities throughout this season to win big races and big pots but these are all the sort of 'road to Cheltenham'
"We've had some great successes at Cheltenham and we've been very much put in our place at Cheltenham over the years as well.
"It's a fantastic place when it goes well but it can be a hard place at the same time".
Tizzard's Gold Cup Win
"It was an amazing feeling, it was incredible and just really surreal.
"The buzz was electric and the over the first five minutes of winning you can't really remember even going back into the paddock.
"And that feeling rolled into the next day. We didn't have any runners on the Saturday and we took him Native River u[p the pub pub and paraded him around where about 3,000 people had come to see him.
"That's probably when it sunk in the most and what we had achieved".
Native River
"In England and again at the moment he's top of the tree again and he's done very little wrong in the last few years.
"He's had 20 runs over fences and his worst performance was fourth in a Gold Cup so that's how consistently good he's been.
"He certainly goes this year with a great chance".
2021 Gold Cup Winner...with no fans
"Walking your horse back into that winner's enclosure and the roar it gets is something special.
"So whoever does win it this year it's going to be a slight shame but we'll make sure when we can, if it is us, that we have a proper party to celebrate it".