Nowadays, Mick
Fitzgerald is best known as a television presenter on ITV Racing but,
in his younger days, was one of the most successful National Hunt
jockeys of his generation. Before being forced into retirement after
sustaining neck and knee damage in a fall from L’Ami in the 2008
Grand National, Fitzgerald rode 1,295 winners, including 14 at the
Cheltenham Festival.

Fitzgerald was
leading jockey at the Cheltenham Festival twice. On the first
occasion, in 1999, he achieved a notable double on Call Equiname and
See More Business, both trained by Paul Nicholls, in the Queen
Mother Champion Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup, respectively. That
year, he also won the Triumph Hurdle on Katarino and the now-defunct
Cathcart Challenge Cup on Stormyfairweather, both for Nicky
Henderson. On the second, in 2000, he won the Arkle Challenge Trophy
on Tiutchev, the Festival Trophy on Marlborough, the Stayers’ Hurdle
on Bacchanal and the Cathcart Challenge Cup on Stormyfairweather
again; all four winners were trained by Nicky Henderson.

Remarkably, despite a
15-year association with Nicky Henderson – who is, nowadays, the
leading trainer in the history of the Champion Hurdle, with eight
wins – Fiztgerald never won the two-mile hurdling championship. In
fact, in twelve attempts, two third places, on Blue Royal in 2000 and
Afsoun in 2007, were the best he could muster.