O’Neill targets National glory after Cheltenham double

Fresh from a memorable Cheltenham Festival double, Jonjo O’Neill jr now has his eye on adding his name to the Randox Grand National roll of honour, as he prepares to partner big-race fancy Iroko in the Aintree showpiece.

Hailing from prestigious racing heritage, success on the biggest stage is nothing unusual for the 27-year-old.

But even O’Neill jr could not predict the roller-coaster 24 hours he would enjoy at Prestbury Park when his first win at the meeting in six-years aboard Jagwar was swiftly followed up a day later with a remarkable Triumph Hurdle success aboard Willie Mullins’ 100-1 outsider Poniros.

The first of those victories came for the upwardly mobile training combination of Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero and in the colours of JP McManus, with O’Neill next set to don the famous green and gold silks for the Cheshire-training duo aboard their star performer at Aintree on April 5.

Last seen tuning up for his season-long assignment behind Grey Dawning in Kelso’s Premier Chase, the young jockey has high hopes for the second-favourite in a race he watched his father successfully saddle Don’t Push It for a historic triumph in 2010.

“The race has opened up a little bit, but I do think it’s an extremely competitive Grand National,” said O’Neill jr, assessing Iroko’s chances following the Gold Cup winner Inothewayurthinkin’s defection.

“He’s got a lovely weight and I was happy with his run at Kelso. It does seem that he wants the extended trip and I know you don’t know until you try whether he will stay or not, but he has given me every impression that he will stay really well – I just think a race like the National could really suit him.”

He went on: “I can always remember when Clan Royal was second (to Amberleigh House in 2004) and he was ridden by Liam Cooper who is actually married to my sister and I’ve a lot of memories of Aintree, I can remember Don’t Push It winning very vividly and it’s a great race which we’ve been lucky in before as a family.

“It would be nice to add to that aboard Iroko. I know it will be a very difficult task, but obviously it’s one of the big races I would like to win.”

As well as winning the Grand National with Don’t Push It, O’Neill’s father, Jonjo O’Neill snr, is also known as the man who partnered Paddy Mullins’ great mare Dawn Run to Cheltenham Gold Cup glory in 1986.

Almost 40 years on, two of racing’s great dynasties combined once again as the sons of Dawn Run’s trainer and jockey combined to land a real shock with hurdles debutant Poniros in the opening race on Gold Cup day.

“It was just bizarre and I got a real good kick out of Poniros,” continued O’Neill jr on success aboard the Tony Bloom-owned long shot.

“He was a complete shock and I was just hoping to get him round with it being his first time over hurdles and there was no expectation. It was a complete thrill really as I don’t think anyone in the place expected it.”

He went on: “It’s great to have a winner at the Festival for Willie, he’s a complete genius and what he has done over the past 20 years is phenomenal.

“This sport has a funny way of working itself round and I had ridden a couple for Willie in the past, but it probably has to be a race where he has so many in it where you are in with a shout of a ride as he has so many of his own jockeys.

“It just proved that any horse you are lucky enough to ride for Willie Mullins definitely has a chance.”

Amongst the monumental highs, there was also a low in O’Neill’s 2025 Festival experience with the fatal injury of his father and brother AJ’s stable star Springwell Bay in the Jack Richards Novices’ Chase.

It was a blow that proved hard to swallow for all of the Jackdaws Castle team, with the devastating loss somewhat dulling the gloss on an otherwise superb four days in the Cotswolds for the in-form jockey.

O’Neill jr added: “It was a magic few days with the winners, but it was very up and down before that as I had a faller on Tuesday on Hasthing (in the National Hunt Chase) and then was going very well down the hill on Springwell Bay on Thursday.

“It was annoying at first that he had fallen because he was going so well and I saw him gallop away and he looked fine. I was walking back and saw the screens up at the last and just thought there must have been a bad fall at the last and I couldn’t believe when I saw it was Springwell Bay.

“I could see it was my saddle and then I saw his face and I was just devastated after that. He was our best horse and we were really hopeful and he’d had a great prep. It was gutting to lose him.”