Carl Llewellyn knows all about the thrill of being involved with big-race winners.

The two-times Grand National-winning jockey enjoyed a great riding career and is now proving just as successful as assistant to top National Hunt trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies.

It’s a position the 53-year-old has held for the past nine years – he was a trainer in his own right for three years in Lambourn before that – and though it is now well over 30 years since he rode his first winner under Rules, he admits he still gets a huge buzz from that winning feeling.

And that winning feeling is just a little more special around this time of year with The November Meeting at Cheltenham Racecourse very much in everyone’s thoughts.

It’s a meeting that holds many fond memories for Llewellyn who steered Tipping Tim to victory in the showpiece race way back in 1992 when it was known as the Mackeson Gold Cup.

He was trained by Twiston-Davies, of course, and while there were great celebrations that day, they were no greater than those last year when the Tom Bellamy-ridden Splash of Ginge held off the challenge of Starchitect to win the BetVictor Gold Cup for the Twiston-Davies/Llewellyn team.

And while Llewellyn was obviously a big part of those celebrations, he was just as pleased for the horse’s owner John Neild.

“He was a first-time owner,” said Llewellyn, “he loves his racing and loves everything about the yard. He’s a great guy.”

Neild and everyone connected with the Guiting Power stable will be hoping for more success at this year’s meeting of course.

Cheltenham remains THE place in National Hunt racing even though there are plenty of other big races around the country.

Llewellyn has won his share of those races over the years, including the Scottish and Welsh nationals. Closer to home he was part of the Twiston-Davies training team when Imperial Commander won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2010.

Llewellyn and Twiston-Davies have enjoyed a close working relationship for many, many years now with one of Llewellyn’s two Grand National winning rides – Earth Summit in 1998 – being trained by Twiston-Davies, as were 15 of his 17 Grade 1 winners.

A good number of those Grade 1 winners were at Cheltenham and like everyone else involved in the sport, a meeting at Cheltenham remains special for Llewellyn who is certainly looking forward to 16th-18th November.

“We’ve traditionally done very well at the November meeting,” he said. “It’s a big occasion and a great atmosphere, the crowd make a big difference.”