National Hunt racing’s answer to the football World Cup is just around the corner.

Okay, so it’s not quite the same – thankfully the four-day Cheltenham Festival takes place every year! – but it’s an analogy readily accepted by Robert Thornton, a top jockey of the recent past.

Thornton, a keen Cheltenham Town football fan, rode more than 1,100 winners in a standout career, 16 of which came at the showpiece Cheltenham meeting in March.

Rather like the German footballer Miroslav Klose, who scored 16 goals across four World Cups, he often produced his very best on the biggest occasions.

“I’ll take that comparison,” laughed Thornton, who was up against the likes of Ruby Walsh, AP McCoy and Richard Johnson in their pomp for much of his career, a career that stretched over 20 years from 1995.

So what was the secret of his success at the Cheltenham Festival?

“It was always something we targeted,” said 44-year-old Thornton, who was number one jockey for many years for trainer Alan King, who is based just over the county border in Wiltshire.

“It was where we wanted to perform, we waited and waited for the meeting all season. 

“It was always our priority, rightly or wrongly.”

Supporters of Thornton – he rode 30 Grade 1 winners so there were plenty – will say he was spot on, of course, with the King/Thornton partnership realising 10 winners at the four-day extravaganza, including victories in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Champion Hurdle with Voy Por Ustedes and Katchit, respectively.

“It was a good time, very good time,” said Thornton, who these days is Stud/Racing Manager for Apple Tree Stud just outside Stow-on-the-Wold. “It was obviously very enjoyable.”

Originally from Darlington, Thornton moved to the Cotswolds as a teenager, landing his first job with celebrated trainer David Nicholson.

And his move to Gloucestershire was quite deliberate.

“The Cotswolds had that extra appeal because it was so close to Cheltenham Racecourse,” he said.

“Obviously working for David Nicholson was a big attraction but I was just a stone’s throw from Cheltenham.

“Cheltenham was the Mecca, all roads lead to Cheltenham.”

So what is it like to ride at the Cheltenham Festival, which this year runs from 14th-17th March?

“It’s incredible from the moment you get on the horse for the first race,” Thornton said.

“Walking out onto the racecourse, you can hear people shouting your name.

“Everyone wants to see the horses. Cantering down to the start, everyone is excited and if you’re on one of the fancied horses there’s a wave of noise that follows you.

“When you start, there’s a huge roar and there’s another roar when you jump the first.”

And what about actually winning a race at the Festival?

“That’s indescribable,” said Thornton. “There’s no feeling like it. Winning any race at the Cheltenham Festival is so special.”

Thornton was just 18 when he won his first race at the meeting.

In fact, he won two in two because after steering King Lucifer to success in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup, he won the Pertemps Final on Pharanear.

Both those horses were trained by David Nicholson and Thornton said: “The first win is always very special but I was very young, I didn’t really appreciate it.

“It took me another seven years to win at the Festival again and I made sure I appreciated it.”

That third win came in 2004 in the Festival Trophy Handicap Chase on the Alan King-trained Fork Lightning, a win that sparked a remarkable run that saw Thornton clock up 12 victories from 2004 to 2008.

His final Festival win came in 2011 and Thornton said: “All the wins hold special memories.

“Obviously, people remember the big-race wins but that first win for Kingy was right up there, and we followed that up with our first Grade 1 success with Penzance in the Triumph Hurdle.”

And although King was his main source of wins, he also rode winners for Francois Doumen, Paul Nicholls and Edward Harty as well as Nicholson.

Like so many former jockeys, he can remember his Festival wins like they were yesterday.

“My Way de Solzen gave me an armchair ride in the Arkle but I was very good when I won the World Hurdle,” he said.

“I saw off Johnny Murtagh on Golden Cross. I still see Johnny and I still remind him about that race!”

And while his performance that day pleased Thornton, there are a couple of other wins that he looks back on with great pride.

“Winning the Grand Annual with Andreas for Paul Nicholls,” said Thornton. “I dropped him in and waited and waited.

“We hit the front and then AP caught us but I managed to get past him to win. Mind you, I had a very willing partner!”

And Thornton had to work just as hard when the Alan King-trained Nenuphar Collonges won the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.

“He didn’t pick up the bridle,” explained Thornton. “I had to push and slap him, I managed to get him home.”

That was one of three winners at the meeting in 2008, one fewer than the previous year when, not surprisingly, he was the leading jockey at the Festival.

“That was my Champions League-winning moment,” laughed Thornton who will always be remembered for his Queen Mother Champion Chase win in 2007 and his Champion Hurdle win the following year, both for Alan King.

“The only one missing is the Gold Cup,” he said. “But you can’t have everything, I don’t feel hard done by.”

Thornton will be at Cheltenham for Gold Cup day this year, the final day of the meeting when trainers and jockeys will be looking to build on the successes of the first three days or, for the majority, still looking for that elusive first win.

“If you can win the first race of the meeting, the Supreme Novices, that takes all the pressure off,” said Thornton.

“You can relax, you’ve got your win. I won it once on Captain Cee Bee. I also came second a couple of times, that was disappointing!”

So what is Thornton hoping to see at this year’s Festival?

“I’m very much a home team supporter,” he said. “I want to see home-based trainers and jockeys make a good fist of it and be 50/50 with Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins.

“And I’m always rooting for Kingy, I’d love to see Edwardstone win the Queen Mother after winning the Arkle last year.”

Thornton is a big fan of jockey Harry Cobden – “He’s probably the best we’ve got,” he said – and he doesn’t rule out success for Gloucestershire trainers at what is, after all, their home meeting.

“It’s never a surprise if Nigel Twiston-Davies has a winner,” said Thornton, “and I’d love to see Fergal O’Brien and Ben Pauling have a winner.”

So does Thornton miss the buzz of being a jockey?

“No I don’t,” he said. “I was lucky enough to have what I consider was the best job in racing when I rode for Alan King, now I think I’ve got the best job in stud management and bloodstock.

“lm lucky because I’ve got quite a lot going on on in my life.

“I go and watch Cheltenham Town play when I can and I also help coach Bourton Rovers under-6s where my youngest son Wolfie plays.

“I also enjoying skiing – I’m a snowboarder – and I play golf.”

So what’s his golf handicap?

“I play off 28,” he said. “I’m not very good.”

That may or may not be true, although there are quite a few golfers who would be happy with that rating!

But what is indisputable is that Robert Thornton was one of the top jockeys of his generation, someone who had the very happy knack of peaking on the biggest stage of all.