Tom Bellamy is looking forward to the first day of this year’s Cheltenham Festival with his many supporters willing him on to claim his first winner at the greatest show in jump racing.

Chief among his supporters is his dad Robert, a former jockey who will be at Prestbury Park for all four days.

It’s been another good season for 28-year-old Tom who has claimed 38 winners, following on from the previous campaign when he notched a career-best 51 victories.

He’s in the top 20 jockeys in the country and will be hoping to get the chance to show what he can do on the biggest stage this week.

It goes without saying that the one-time Cotswold School pupil would love to add a Festival winner to his CV, with his dad saying: “That’s my dream for him, hopefully it will happen.

“He’s a local lad and like the Twiston-Davies boys has a huge following.

“There’s nothing better than riding a winner at Cheltenham, the Festival is the biggest jumps meeting in the country and he’s on home soil; he’ll have a lot of people cheering him on.”

Bellamy, who is stable jockey for Emma Lavelle and number two jockey for Alan King, has at least experienced the thrill of winning at the home of National Hunt racing.

And a top drawer race it was too because he steered the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Splash Of Ginge to victory in the BetVictor Gold Cup Handicap Chase in November 2017.

“That was probably his biggest win,” said his dad. “Two years later he rode Alan King’s Harambe to victory in the Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at the same meeting.”

Robert Bellamy, now 55, freely admits that Tom is a “much better jockey” than he was. Bellamy senior retired in 2001 having ridden around 120 winners, a figure that Tom, who has enjoyed more than 250 winners, has long since passed.

“Tom was always going to be a jockey from the age of six,” continued Bellamy senior, “although you do need a bit of luck along the way.”

Robert Bellamy, who lives in Lower Dowdeswell, near Andoversford, began his racing career with Martin Pipe in Somerset before joining up with David Nicholson, who was at that time still based at Condicote.

“I was number one conditional jockey under Richard Dunwoody, who was the stable jockey,” said Bellamy. “I’m originally from Ross-on-Wye but once I came to the Cotswolds I never left.”

He’s never left the racing industry either. Since hanging up his saddle for the final time the farmer’s son has turned his hand to a number of jobs.

“When I stopped racing I became clerk of the course at Warwick and Nottingham,” he said.

These days he’s self-employed as a race-day presenter at Bangor, Ludlow, Stratford, Wincanton and Exeter racecourses. He’s also a qualified jockey coach and a part-time teacher at Racing to School, a charity that introduces schoolchildren to the sport of racing.

He enjoys the variety of his work and feels that racing is in a good place these days.

“We have the most wonderful jockeys and I think they’re better cared for than in my day,” he said. “They are generally fitter, there are jockey coaches and nutritionists; racing is catching up with other sports like football. There are big back-up teams.”

And Bellamy is also a big fan of the female jockeys who are such a key part of the sport.

“There are so many more girls,” he said. “Racing is one of the few sports where males and females can compete on equal terms. What Rachael Blackmore has done for the sport is incredible.”

Blackmore was the leading jockey at the Festival two years ago with six wins, which Bellamy readily admits is six more than he managed.

“I had placed finishes at the Festival,” he said. “And I rode three winners at Cheltenham – in a Chase, Hurdle and Bumper.”

Those are special memories for Bellamy who, although no longer directly involved, is counting down the hours to this year’s Festival.

“It’s the best race meeting and the best week of the year,” he enthused. “It’s a huge atmosphere. The cheer that goes up at the start of the first race makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

“There’s nothing better, you don’t get it at Royal Ascot or Aintree.”

And there will be a mighty cheer if Tom Bellamy, who lives in Upper Rissington, can claim that first Festival winner, of course.

His dad is always there to offer advice when needed but Tom, whose brother Archie was a conditional jockey and rode DJ Jeffries’ Lively Citizen to victory in the Catesby Handicap Hurdle at the December Meeting at Cheltenham in 2021, has a number of people who he can turn to for support if required.

“He’s got some good mentors,” said his dad. “Warren Marston, who rode more than 700 winners, is his godfather, and Robert Thornton, who rode so many winners at the Festival, is also a big supporter.

“He was instrumental in Tom getting the job at Alan King’s. Choc was renowned for always wearing red gloves when he competed, he was very stylish, and Tom always wears red gloves too.”

Robert Thornton rode 16 winners at the Cheltenham Festival, the first of which came as an 18-year-old way back in 1997. Tom Bellamy would settle for just one winner over the next four days.