Barry Geraghty after yesterday's big race win

Geraghty leads the way at Festival

Published: Wed 11 Mar 2020, 6:54 PM

Last updated: Wed 11 Mar 2020, 6:55 PM

Today's double at the Cheltenham Festival for Barry Geraghty brought the Drumree man's overall tally to 41.

Also, after the second day, Geraghty is clear in the Holland Cooper Leading Jockey Award for the Ruby Walsh Trophy.

His second winner today was on the JP McManus-owned Dame De Compagnie in the Coral Cup and it gave Geraghty a second consecutive success and a third in total for the week.

"I have a great job, I ride for a great man in JP (McManus) and there is no-one better than Nicky (Henderson) - he is just top-class," stated Geraghty.

"He trains them for the day, they are fresh and well, and there is no-one better," he added.

Trainer Gordon Elliott also had a double today to take his overall Festival tally to 28.

The crowd for the second day was 56,943, slightly down on 2019 when a record number of 59,209 attended.

Cheltenham Clerk of the Course Simon Claisse confirmed after racing that fresh gound will be used tomorrow and Friday.

"We are changing tracks from the Old Course to the New Course for the final two days of The Festival, so the teams will be out there working on that for some hours now, moving a couple of miles of rail," he stated.