Alan Shearer, Newcastle United legend and all-time Premier League top goalscorer, has made perhaps the most obvious pick of the Cheltenham Festival 2025 as to the 'special' horse that he will back on Gold Cup Day this Friday.
The annual Festival returns on Tuesday, March 11, running through to Friday, March 14. Over that period there will be 28 races for punters to pick their predicted winners, whether that be down to the statistics involved or more sentimental reasons.
Shearer has gone for the latter when looking towards the final day's 4:40pm St James' Place Festival Hunter Chase, picking the runner named in honour of himself - 'Shearer'!
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The nine-year-old, rated 10/1 for its event, is trained by 14-time champion trainer Paul Nicholls and is to be ridden by his daughter, Olive Nicholls. It will enter into the Festival for the first-ever time in this event worth £50,000 to the victor.
"Cheltenham is an amazing place and I can’t wait to watch all the action this week," the former Magpies and England favourite told Betfair, adding: "There’s a special horse running on Friday, trained by Paul Nicholls, called Shearer, fantastic. I mean, Shearer, running in the St James', come on!
"I want to wish everyone the best of luck for Friday. I really hope it goes well, good luck Paul, Olive and all the connections. It’s won two from two this season and hopefully it will be three from three."
Those two wins came last month at Ffos Las and Taunton with Olive on board for both. This followed a 601-day absence from competition, before which the horse Shearer had won two previous races over fences, therefore overall has a perfect four for four record approaching the Festival.
The former footballer also spoke of his previous connection to the world of horse racing.
He explained: "I do really enjoy it – I used to have a share in a horse with a few of my pals. We’ve had some great days out and some bad days out, which is all part of the sport, isn’t it? I’ve been to Cheltenham and had a runner, with Augusta Kate, at the Festival."
Trained by Willie Mullins, she ran in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at the 2017 Festival and then the Stayers’ Hurdle one year later, finishing sixth and ninth respectively with both races won by stablemate Penhill.
"It was amazing to go into the parade ring, with the other owners and trainers it was brilliant. It’s a side you don’t usually see as a punter – it was brilliant to experience."
Recalling a different time, Shearer explained: "I once had a winner at Cheltenham, not at the Festival, but Trials day, which was a 50-1 shot. Unfortunately, I was actually playing that day at St James’s Park.
"We had a horse called Akilak and the other owners, my mates, had gone down to watch the horse and half of my other mates were in my box during the game. I got into the dressing room, the manager did his team talk, and then I snuck my phone into the toilet to see if I could check on the result!
"We won the match as well so it was one of the better days. We went out to celebrate both wins afterwards – it was a great day!"