CHELTENHAM: O’Brien set for Festival first

Joseph O’Brien cannot wait to make his first visit to the Cheltenham Festival when he rides Shield in today’s Weatherbys Champion Bumper.

Crowned champion jockey on the Flat in Ireland at the end of last year, the 19-year-old successfully applied to the Irish Turf Club for a jumps licence to allow him to ride at the Festival.

O’Brien, who won the 2000 Guineas and the English and Irish Derbies on Camelot last year, takes the mount on Shield, trained by his father Aidan.