Gold Tweet and Clement Lefebvre: bid for a Gold Cup shock
Clement Lefebvre will be fulfilling “a childhood dream” when getting the leg-up on French challenger Gold Tweet in this afternoon’s Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Less than a month shy of his 30th birthday, Lefebvre has already scaled the greatest heights available to a jump jockey at home, having won the last two editions of the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, as well as the Cravache d’Or as champion jockey in 2024. Speaking as he prepared to walk the track, Lefebvre said: “I was here yesterday and the crowd’s fervour and passion is impressive. To ride in the Gold Cup is a privilege and I feel very fortunate.
“It’s a childhood dream. I’ve watched the race on television since I was very young and even to be here to see a Gold Cup was an ambition. To be riding in the race is just mad.”
Were Gold Tweet to spring a surprise in the Gold Cup, Lefebvre would be joining Davy Russell and the late Adam Kondrat as modern-day jockeys to have won the biggest chasing prize on offer at both Cheltenham and Auteuil, although back in 1962 Fred Winter achieved the double in the same season with Mandarin.
Now nine years old, Gold Tweet won the Cleeve Hurdle on Cheltenham Trials day in 2023, while trainer Gabriel Leenders has saddled two winners from three starters at the track. And Lefebvre conjured an excellent performance out of Gold Tweet on their first start together in a Grade 1 at Auteuil in November.
“The Gold Cup is far too important to come here just for fun,” said Lefebvre. “He’s here to run a huge race. He loves a test of stamina, and he got the 6,000 metres [three miles six furlongs] of the Prix La Haye Jousselin with no trouble. The rain that has got into the ground won’t bother him at all, so everything is in his favour.”
Lefebvre’s only previous ride at Cheltenham was when finishing third aboard Iceo Madrik around the cross-country course in December, but he expects Gold Tweet to outrun his three-figure odds come four o’clock this afternoon.
“I don’t have a lot of experience of Cheltenham but I have watched back a huge number of races here, and a lot of past Gold Cups. “I’ve tried to immerse myself in the race and we’re here to give it our best.”