WHEN Wayne Hutchinson walked into his career advice meeting at Dorcan Technology College he was laughed at when he suggested that he wanted to make a living out of being a jockey.

Despite it being known as the sport of kings it has never been seen as a vocation that many would opt for as a child.

However several years on Hutchinson is preparing himself for one of the biggest horse racing meets in the world, Cheltenham.

The eyes of the racing world will be transfixed on the Gloucestershire race course from Tuesday as the best horses and jockeys pit their wits against one and other.

The famous Cheltenham roar along with the hill finish puts Prestbury Park on a different level to any other race-course in the world.

Hutchinson will be riding in the pinnacle of the Festival, The Gold Cup, on board Smad Place for the first time in his career and will be going for a third success at the meeting with the likes of Balder Success.

“I am very excited,” he said as he got ready to get on the road to Exeter on Tuesday morning.

“I have got some lovely rides to look forward to.

“It is a tense occasion because you build your season around one week with these horses but all preparation has gone well and I am looking forward to it.

“I think the Irish make it very special. It is their week’s holiday.

“It is just a fantastic atmosphere and I think you get all walks of life come go to Cheltenham and it is just a great place to be.

“To ride there is just a totally different occasion and feeling of atmosphere than you experience another time of the year riding.”

Wiltshire Times:

Wayne Hutchinson after winning on Oh Crick

Having got his first winner at the Festival back in 2009 on Oh Crick, Hutchinson had got the proverbial monkey off his back when it came to National Hunt’s showcase event.

In 2013 his moment came again, this time on 33-1 outsider Medina, and he was able to savour every minute of it.

“He had a chance and we fancied him but at the same time he was a 33-1 chance and maybe as a result you don’t put as much pressure on yourself and you are a little bit more relaxed coming out to ride,” he said looking back at the day.

“We sat mid-division through the race and it went very hard, which most races at Cheltenham generally do.

“It was a furious gallop and he has travelled well and jumped extremely well and we turned coming down the hill and I was in top gear really.

“I thought I had every chance of being in the first four and once we swung into the straight and met the rise of the hill he found another gear and quickened again.

“Going to the last you start to think winning (the race) was in touching distance and he jumped it in front and powered up the hill.

“It is tiring because you go so hard around Cheltenham at such a strong gallop and stamina does start to kick in and the hill can grab hold of horses.

“The difference for me then, riding a second winner, I actually took in the crowd and the cheering and you are more aware of those things where you are more experienced, wiser and probably calmer in those situations.

“If I was fortunate enough to have one winner there this year I would be a very happy man.”

Wiltshire Times:

Hutchinson on board the 2013 Scottish Grand National winner Godsmejudge

As a boy Hutchinson had grown up surrounded by horses often going to ride ponies with his mother while his dad, a keen racing enthusiast, would often have the biggest meeting of the day on the TV.

When he was 14 he would often get on his bike and cycle to Foxhill where he would help trainer Mark Usher around the yard.

He would have to muck out and do the dirty jobs but as a reward he was allowed to ride the ‘quiet ones’.

“I just got hooked on it and the bug kind of grips you straight away,” said Hutchinson reflecting back on how he first got drawn into the sport.

“It was a way of life that I enjoyed doing and it was a passion.

“Even to this day now it doesn’t feel like a job.

“I feel honoured and in a privileged position to be doing something that when I was younger I sort of dreamed doing.”

It was at the age of 17 that Hutchinson got his first taste for racing on a warm night in June at the iconic Goodwood Racecourse.

He was on board 33-1 shot Aragrove over a six furlong sprint but despite remembering the occasion well the race itself is a little less clear.

“It was all over in a flash,” he said laughing.

“I finished down the field and I remember there were only six furlongs but I was absolutely shattered and I looked up and there was still a furlong to go. It was a big culture shock.”

“It was absolutely fantastic and it takes a couple of rides for you to start to get things thinking and to take everything in and notice different things that are happening around you.”

Hutchinson spent 18 months riding on the flat before his weight started to creep up and at the age of 18 he turned his hand to National Hunt racing.

He moved to Stan Mellor’s yard just outside Wanbrough, which is now occupied by the eventing legend Sir Mark Todd, where he spent a season picking up vast experience from the former Champion Jockey.

Having trained more than 700 winners Mellor retired from the sport in 2001 and Hutchinson was on the move again, this time to just outside Wroughton with Jeff King.

“I spent just over a year with him,” said Hutchinson. “Again a fantastic jockey and he was a different angle to Stan.

“He was a harder man to work for, very to the point, but he was the making of me in terms of my personality.

“Racing is a hard game and it can be very truthful at times and it is one that you need thick skin at times and Geoff put you in good stead for that in terms of the mental side.”

When Jeff King retired ,Alan King had been down at Barbury Castle for a season, having moved from Gloucestershire’e Jackdaws Castle in 2000, and Hutchinson was taken on.

When Hutchinson joined Alan King had around 50 horses in training and in the last 15 years that has grown to around 120 and the Swindon jockey has grown with them.

“He has made my career.

“I have seen a lot change but Alan has been very good and very supportive and stuck by me through thick and thin and has been very loyal and shown a huge amount of faith in me.

“I am very thankful for the opportunities I have been given and have been very lucky to win some big races and sit on some special horses along the way.”

Hutchinson’s career, which had always been a slow burner, ignited into life in 2006 when he rode Halcon Genelardais to Welsh Grand National victory.

Two years ago the former Dorcan pupil made the most of stable-mate Robert Thornton being out injured as he rode to his first Grade 1 victory on L’Unique at Aintree before winning the Scottish National on Godsmejudge.

However his successes at Cheltenham on Oh Crick, in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Steeple Chase, and Medinas, in the Coral Cup still stand out as some of his greatest successes.

“The Welsh National, that was special because that was my first big win and that was nearly 10 years ago now,” he added.

“I was 25 and it was a turning point in my career on the big stage.

“The Scottish National has to be right up there as one of my career highlights it was a great day.

“There are also the Cheltenham Festival winners.

“I am lucky enough to have had two and it is on the big stage at the big theatre for racing. They are special days and you certainly savour them.”

Those days are made even sweeter when Hutchinson thinks about how he got there and the pain of injuries he has had himself.

“I have had three operations on my left knee and I had an anterior cruciate reconstruction a couple of years ago.

“Last summer I was out for three months. I had quite a complicated hip injury and ended up having stem cells put in the hip.

“It is part and parcel of the way of life and what you expect. You know you are going to have falls and knocks but that comes with the job.”

Hutchinson admitted he still had to pinch himself as he prepared to get in the car to Exeter, where he rode Chosen Well to victory.

Perfect preparation for Cheltenham some may say.

“I am very privileged,” he said.

“This is what I used to watch on telly at a very young age and to be getting paid to be doing something that in a sense is a hobby.

“I wake up each morning and look forward to going to work each day.”