But Harry Mead has been the big pick, hasn't he?

That's where loads of it's gone.

So 59% of players now.

At closing, it's 59% Harry.

It's 43% Tom Jackson.

So those are the big two.

They're both 2.2 million.

Sam, this afternoon, what does it look like for you?

Any, anybody else really fancy New Zealand for a medal here?

Well, like the, the lie of the land in terms of ratings, and we're t- we're taking the five combinations from each team when we're doing this 'cause we, we don't know who's, who's in the four and who's in the five or who's the fifth at this point.

But the Brits come in with an average ELO over 800, you know, 8.28 across their five horses, which is huge, and that's quality and consistency if we were to wrap it up into one number, which the ELO does.

Uh, Germany around 750, 7.54, so it's a, it's a bit of a drop.

No other team is over 700.

So now Chipmunk really pulls up that German rating, but on paper it looks like, you know, Brits strong team for gold, and they will be.

How- whatever, whatever four they pick, they, they will be.

Who am I missing?

I know you're a travel writer, and we'll get to the unbeaten track in a moment, but just want to remind folks.

Yeah, sure.

I have been back in the U.K. for the last three years.

caring for aging parents.

And before that, I was living based in Dubai.

No, not in Dubai, an hour out of Dubai in a rural part of the Emirates for seven years.

Before that, I was in Cairo for two chunks of five years.

Oh, yes, you were in an embassy vehicle.

But that, for me, makes it harder to pick who you're gonna take because you can't just say, "Well, London 52 beat JL Dublin three times this season," because it isn't a straight comparison, and I guess that's where Equiratings numbers, nudge nudge, wink wink, are very valuable.

Yeah, trying to compare the form.

So I...

Look, I think from an engagement point of view, it is f- it is fascinating.

You think of jump racing and things like that, and when all the titans clash at Cheltenham.

It does just make where they clash, it puts more emphasis on that.

You know, all reath- roads lead to here.

Do you think that's played its part as well?

What have you got for us?

Been, been a good show so far.

Let's start with the Pies.

We should now have our doubts about a West Coast-like drop-off for Collingwood.

What if he just, what if he just turns into just a complete maniac? [laughs]

Um, we'll move on.

The uncertainty of Tim English's future at the Dogs will reduce their chances of landing Zach Butters.

It seems to be more physically demanding than riding just a s- a solo road bike.

Yeah, yeah.

It's a, it's a pretty unique machine, mate.

Um, three...

These ones are...

These sidecars we race, they're completely different to off-road or motocross sidecars.

Mine are lo- low to the ground, built out of aircraft aluminum.

When you come over in here, Australia, what are... w- what are kind of the racing conditions over here like?

[laughs]

... um, outside, obviously, back in the real world of digital.

Uh, yeah, look, it's, it's a, it's a company that does fuel, like we...

When we're doing our, whether we're previewing Miamis and Mexicos or Shanghais in terms of like they, they are fueling the very best horses in the sport, and, and they do s- so it's great.

It's great for Ireland to have this Under 25 World Championships.

It's a, it's a, it's a great innovation in the sport.

It's really important to help that gap.

Yeah, tell me

I mean, what would be some of your main things you're looking for when you're walking a course thinking, "I really wanna get the time here"? What, what are the main time-saving things you're looking for?

I always think what, what's the course designer thinking with this fence? So if they've built an upright fence that, you know, or something like that, they're asking you to balance or, or something with a drop behind, like are they asking me to do a bit of a transition here? Or have they put a horse, have they put a fence with a lovely profile nicely positioned in a field where I, I can...

For me, you never jump a fence in fifth gear.

It depends how many gears cars have these days, but, but in your top gear, it's not about that.

You, you're always just one under top gear, but that, that horse has range then, you know? Because actually one of our responsibilities isn't the stride, because we can't influence it.

We can influence speed, straightness, softness, and staying on.

We can influence the stride because we can't control what we see.

Before that or, or since that, on a day that you wanna get the time, do you feel the pressure? Do you feel suddenly, "Oh God, I have to do this"? Um, and do you ever have to go through that thought process? How does it feel? How do you work through it? Because I know that's a lot of the problem that a lot of brilliant amateur riders have, is they suddenly really wanna get the time on that day, 'cause they've had the good dressage, they've had the good show jumping, and suddenly they have to deal with this new feeling inside them.

Speedy Sam.

I got a message from my dad, having finished, saying, "Well, typical with the draw," because Roz was two before me.

Mm.

I missed a young rider medal by a sec.

I was two seconds over there as well, .8 is kind of my thing.

Look, it, it's the, um, ah, it's a thing, but, but you do, you gotta ride, you gotta ride your horse first.

It's may- it probably is becoming a bad habit of mine now to be just a second over or two seconds over, but at the same time, I think it keeps you, stops you chasing, stops you getting desperate.

Like, I, I initially, I did think quite quickly it could've been my third inside the time, but...

When do the nerves kick in?

The more you understand your job and what you can do and what you can't do, I think that, that clarity around roles and responsibilities and, and that kind of stuff, like, you know, I, all our homework is done.

It's been done over the last six years, to be honest.

Um, and look, there's no point in, there's no point in worrying about things you can't control.

Like, I think that's where nerves come from, is when people are hoping for outcomes.

You know, it would be great to go clearance at the time.

There's 101 things that could get in the way of that.

... a group of brands who are as passionate about sports as we are

Plenty of new mothers would still be in their pajamas at this stage.

Yeah.

And it's, it's not about...

She's really good communicating this as well, because I think it's important to not put [laughs] load expectations on everyone and say this word.

You know, I, I, she gives such an honest...

She's been really honest about it.

Like at Burghley when she was pregnant, she did say that, you know, it was on her mind.

He'll be one of the first down the south.

Who knows?

But, but those are what you're looking...

And I think it, it's, it's very often the 1.9 million.

So, you know, you got five, five selections to make, and you got a 10 million budget.

So, so two million is the average.

So being able to get a Harry Mead for two million, we know this man is above average at five-star.

He feels good value, and I think he probably is good value because of how he campaigns his horses.

There we go

And actually, for your part of Ireland, it's an enormous, enormous operation.

Yeah.

When you look at businesses and you think why they exist, they all exist to solve problems.

And then some of them will...

I love the companies that came in and created the first telephone or whatever it was, and you're solving that problem.

Then other companies come in to make money and undercut.

They've seen where someone else's success and they just care about efficiency and making the product as cheap as they can and making profit as much as they can.

And you really get a feeling for how much they love the connelly's red mills brand and how important that they feel it is but also when you talk to the connelly family as well that they are safeguarding it for the next generation hopefully of connelly's and it's kind of their job to gatekeep it for the next generation and it will hopefully grow and build in the future as well sam you are a thinker about the sport i think that everybody listening to this will know and appreciate and love that about you As you have thought more about your horse's feed over the last sort of five, 10 years in particular, what has surprised you the most?