Russell has had a great few months, proving the saying that life is what occurs when you’re making other plans. It was inevitable that a conversation between an excellent talker and an even better listener would be fascinating.
The former jockey explained right away that he had been contemplating retirement for a while. He had to wait a few days for his retirement steed Liberty Dance.
At the end of a wide-ranging career retrospective that took in the many highs and lows of more than two decades spent in the saddle, Molloy wrapped up proceedings, joking that it would come as no surprise to see his interviewee back in action at another Cheltenham Festival at some point in the future.
“Oh no, that’s it!” Russell exclaimed, making it plain that he had made up his mind and wanted to “get out before he lost interest in the game.” At 43 years old and has already defied expectations by returning from a broken neck sustained in a heavy accident at Limerick three years prior, this weight room veteran gave the impression that he saw no reason to take a chance.
Russell has had a great few months, proving the saying that life is what occurs when you’re making other plans.
Following a retirement that was shorter than most people’s vacations, he proclaimed that he would return to work to assist trainer Gordon Elliott and his owners after learning that the trainer’s unlucky lead jockey Jack Kennedy had broken his leg.
After drawing two draws on his first day back at Fairyhouse, Russell returned to the winner’s circle the following day at Punchestown, followed by two much more prestigious victories during February’s Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown. Kennedy’s inability to recover before a self-imposed Cheltenham deadline afforded Russell several more opportunities at glory before he once more attempted to call an end to his illustrious career.
Russell, a three-time Irish champion jockey who won the Gold Cup aboard Lord Windermere in 2014. And he will forever be associated with back-to-back Grand National victor Tiger Roll, has already won 25 Festival races. After nine attempts over the past two days, he has not added to his total. But he enters Thursday’s match with a couple of viable opportunities.
Russell will ride Mighty Potter, who is likely to be the afternoon’s short-priced favorite in the Turners Novices’ Chase. While in a more enticing turn of events, he is scheduled to ride Fury Road in the Ryanair Chase.
Fury Road is owned by Michael O’Leary, with whom Russell has had a long and sometimes tumultuous relationship. If it were to carry him to victory in this unplanned career encore, it would feel like destiny beckoning.
O’Leary famously fired Russell over a cup of tea at the Punchestown races in 2013. On Tuesday, the Ryanair CEO criticized Russell’s decision to come out of retirement with venom and condescension. He expressed his desire that he had remained retired. “He has a young family with small children. And at some point, he should prioritize his family over his riding career. When you leave prison in your early forties, you don’t rebound and you don’t mend like you used to. He has had a lengthy career and has nothing to gain by returning. He should not have come out of retirement.
On Wednesday, it became all too clear why O’Leary did not want Russell to return to the racetrack. As Russell rode Galvin past the defending champion Delta Work in the closing phases of the Cross Country Chase. In the end, O’Leary’s horse was too powerful and retained the swansong crown that he so cruelly denied his former stablemate Tiger Roll last year, thereby denying Russell a comeback Festival victory. With only two days remaining, the victor could still emerge before the pipe and slippers are put back into service.
