Ben Jones Cheltenham 2026 day one rides blog: 'Nobody works harder than him'

Leading jockey Ben Jones has five rides on day one of Cheltenham Festival 2026, and he previews them all in his latest Ladbrokes blog.

Ben Jones Cheltenham day one rides blog - March 10, 2026

Ben Jones Cheltenham day one rides schedule

• 13:20 race odds - Cheltenham - Sober Glory

• 2.40 race odds - Cheltenham - Paddockwood

• 3.20 race odds - Cheltenham - Handstands

• 4.40 race odds - Cheltenham - No Questions Asked

• 5.20 race odds - Cheltenham - Pic Roc

I thought I was going to win my first ever race at the festival, before I was swarmed by the entire field at the final hurdle!

I would have been around 19 or 20 for my first ride at a Cheltenham Festival. I was definitely a seven-pound claimer, and it was for Philip Hobbs. I remember I had two rides on the Friday, and my first was in the County Hurdle on a horse called Le Ligerien, and Governor said to me " just pop him out and be as handy as you can"; he was more there for a day out, type of thing. And I remember I was able to make the running, and jumped two out in front, thinking I had a chance. And then I think 17 horses came past me up the hill and we finished 23rd!

Johnson White just told me on that morning to take it all in on him [Le Ligerien], because we had a good chance on Pileon in the last race of the day, so they wanted me to pick up a load of experience with the first ride, so I could make that second ride as normal as possible. I just got beat by a head in that second race, so that was obviously annoying, but a great experience for me nonetheless.

It's just crazy to look back on those first few times to Cheltenham, compared to where we are now. You know, even last year, I think I had maybe six rides across the entire week, and this time I've got six on the first day. It's amazing how far I've come in a season, and I think it's the same for Ben [Pauling] too - his quality has gone up, and we're obviously targeting the big festivals and meetings now. With Ben having as many chances as he's got, that's obviously going to help me and push me along too, you know. I'm in a good place, but it's just crazy how quickly it's all come together, really.

To be honest, I'm a brilliant sleeper; I can sleep through anything anywhere. I could sleep in the car, on the couch, anywhere... so I don't think lack of sleep is going to be an issue for me this week. It helps a lot, really; I don't tend to overthink things or get too excited, so I won't be getting carried away at all... we're still just galloping horses around a field at the end of the day, aren't we?

More attention means we're doing something right...

I really like that we're getting a lot more attention now, and we're being spotted more by racing fans, and stopped for questions and what not... you know, you're only really being asked so much if you're performing to a high standard, so it obviously means we're doing a lot right. The biggest sort of pinch me moment I've had in the last few days is that I'm now being included in these Blind Ranking videos on social media; you know where they're asking different people within racing to rank 10 jockeys... the fact I'm even a part of that conversation and they're using my face in those videos, for me, is crazy, really. Even if I'm in 10th place, you've got people like Davy Russell and Matt Chapman talking about me... this time last year, they probably wouldn't have known who I was. So, to even be classed against the likes of Paul Townend, Harry Skelton, Sean Bowen, Harry Cobden, Mark Walsh... all of those boys, it's a bit mental, really. I'm loving every minute of it, though;

I love the big days, and I can't wait to just get going on Tuesday now.

There are obviously so many great jockeys at the top of their game right now, and of course more than anything I want to bag a couple of winners myself this week for the team. But if it wasn't me winning, and I had to lose to anyone this week, I'd want it to be Sean [Bowen]. You know, nobody works harder than him - he's going to be champion jockey but he's never had a festival winner... so if I was to get beat, I'd like it to be Sean beating me.

1.20 - Cheltenham - Sober Glory

Sober Glory is a horse I really, really like, and I think he's got a tremendous chance in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle. If you take out his Sandown run, where he just didn't turn up, he would be shorter than 12/1, or whatever price he is right now. In terms of ratings, he's very much in the mix. There's plenty of horses in there who are ahead of him in the betting but would be ten-pounds lower than him on ratings. He's a very, very straightforward horse, he's a good jumper and he travels well. He stays further than two miles, and I'd be quietly confident of him running a nice race here. 

2.40 - Cheltenham - Paddockwood

To be honest, we don't know a whole lot about Paddockwood, because he hasn't long been at the yard with us. But he's schooled every week since we've had him, and he's been jumping since day one. He goes through the motions nicely and he's a young horse who won't be overly big. But Ben [Pauling] tends to do well with his French horses; I think we're just going to find out more on the day, really. He's obviously being thrown in the deep end, but he was bought to run at Cheltenham, and we're getting him there in good order.

It's hard to judge the French form sometimes; his form has worked out quite well, so we'll see what happens on the day. The Fred Winters' are impossible to judge at times, because they're so young, you don't know what's going to turn up on the day because there's not that much consistency there yet. It's a massive field with loads of young horses... the main objective of that race is to just try and stay out of any trouble and try and get the smoothest run around the place. If you can do that, you're probably already going to be three or four places better off, you know. We're just going to ride him to run well, and whatever happens, happens. We'll learn a lot about him on Tuesday.

3.20 - Cheltenham - Handstands

Handstands has got a tough task ahead of him as there's going to be a big green and yellow wall in front of him here in the shape of Iroko and Jagwar, but I suppose that's just going to be the case in many races this week! They're coming with a hell of a strong team. 

But Handstands has done unbelievably well at home; he came out of Windsor in a really good place, like the Handstands of old. And if he runs like he did last year, then I genuinely think he can win this. To me, I think he's back. We're not going to know for sure until Tuesday afternoon, but I believe he's got a set of cheekpieces on which are only going to help him. His jumping was brilliant at Windsor; he was flat out and still managed to give Protektorat a good race... and two out, it even looked like he might have gone and beat him. But we were giving weight away to that tremendous animal, and he's gone on and won again since at Kelso. 

But our lad came out of that race bigger and better, and I genuinely think that if he's in the kind of form I feel he's in, he could go and win it. It's hard to talk about best chances at the festival; I'd say Sober Glory is probably my best chance on Tuesday because there's only 14 of us in there. But with Handstands, while I've probably got a better chance on him, there's 24 of us in there so a lot needs to go our way just because of the size of the field alone. He's the one I'm probably looking forward to the most, but I quietly fancy Pic Roc later on in the day too.

4.40 - Cheltenham - No Questions Asked

Between us, myself, Ben [Pauling] and Tom have a horse to follow each year, and for the last three years I've said No Questions Asked. For his bumper year, I called him out, then I did again for his novices' season, and I called him out at the start of this year as well. I love the horse to bits, and I think he's a proper national hunt horse; he jumps well and travels brilliantly. 

With this being such a good race, they're going to go off a gallop, I think two-and-a-half miles is going to be better suited to him. He stays two miles really well, but he was definitely outpaced the last day at Windsor, and ended up picking up the pieces and doing his best work in the last half-mile. I think if he settles, and gets into a rhythm, he could definitely pick away a few and run a nice race. He's going to have to settle, and jump brilliantly, if he's going to be competitive. But I think he'll have more chance in this race than he would in, say, the Arkle.

We had to swap things up trip-wise, and so to get the best out of him, I think this was the best race. And novices have a good record in this race - we won it a couple of years ago with Shakem Up'arry, and I think this one is a little bit better than him. I know he's rated higher than Harry was when he won it. Look, if he's in the same order that he's been in for the rest of this year, then we've got a really good chance on a really nice horse.

5.20 - Cheltenham - Pic Roc

I mentioned him earlier, and I really like Pic Roc here... the nature of this festival means that if you've got a horse priced around 20/1, it means you've got a very good chance of riding a winner. Whereas you could go anywhere else, say Warwick this weekend, with a 20/1 shot, thinking you've got no chance. Cheltenham is just that competitive... 

Pic Roc is a horse that has every chance, but you could also jump the first four with him and know you've got no chance. He either wakes up on the right side of the bed, or he doesn't. The last day, I kind of lost my head with him and just sent him on, and he won by as far as you like - he didn't come off the bridle. I think he'll stay this extra trip, and hopefully he can get into a bit of a rhythm. If he gets into a bit of a rhythm, I think he could well be my best chance of the day.

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All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.