Lucy Wadham

Cheryl Burton and Julian Lefevre have made it all look so easy. Retire a filly, decide to become breeders, and head to the Cheltenham Festival for a Grade 1 with the mare's very first foal. Whatever happens with future generations, Jax Junior, the seven-year-old son of Jack Hobbs who runs in the Singer Arkle Challenge Trophy, has already given his owner-breeders the thrill of a lifetime. Fourteen runs, six wins, including the G2 Pendil Novices' Chase, and another four placed efforts speak to the level of consistency shown by the...

"You start to feel like you're waiting for Godot," says Lucy Wadham, referring to the fictional character who never actually appears in Samuel Beckett's play of the same name. It has been a long winter and the days can seem to pass agonisingly slowly when you have a horse aiming for a big-race target, but the sand in the Cheltenham Festival hourglass has now nearly all run through. Wadham has only to wait until Tuesday afternoon to unleash the bonny grey mare who has been at the forefront of the...