BRIAN ACHESON opens up on his beloved ‘third child’ Bob Olinger: How the comeback horse changed his life and charmed racing fans across the nation – as gelding targets a FOURTH Cheltenham Festival triumph

It’s a couple of hours before racing but Cheltenham’s Guinness Village is already jumping and the song the band are playing is wholly appropriate.

‘It Must Be Love’ doesn’t sound the same as when Madness made it famous but Brian Acheson, the owner of Bob Olinger, is talking about love; nothing more, nothing less. He also recognises, in a story that leaves him chuckling, he must have a little madness of his own.

‘When we bring the horses home for the summer, he’s the one I’ll go out and sit in a field with,’ says Acheson. ‘He’ll ignore me. I swear to God. I’ll get in, he’ll see me, turn his back and he’ll walk off and do his own thing – but I couldn’t care less!

‘Audrey and Greg Turley are friends of mine. They’ve had the horse of a lifetime with Galopin Des Champs. But I’m very fortunate to have my own horse of a lifetime. That’s Bob. It’s everything about him, his whole personality and everything he’s been through. He’s just wants to give you his best.’

Owners are notoriously effusive about their animals but the way Acheson talks about Bob Olinger, who is unbeaten at Cheltenham and is bidding to win at the Festival for the fourth time, chimes differently; he has a son, Rob and, daughter, Courtney, but everyone knows his third child is ‘Bob’.

Here is the kind of horse with whom the Cheltenham crowd builds up a rapport and one vivid memory Acheson has is of New Year’s Day 2024, when he cut through the murk of late afternoon to win a race called The Relkeel Hurdle on the bridle.

It’s an important event in Cheltenham’s season but the noise as he coasted up the hill under Rachael Blackmore from a crowd of 30,000 made it feel like the Festival; Acheson, who had actually sponsored the race, was dumbfounded by the reception.

For all the crowd’s affinity, however, nothing can begin to explain the bond Acheson has with the now 11-year-old, who is named after the last man killed by Billy The Kid.

Let’s put this is another way: Acheson, who is the Chief Executive of Dornan Group, a well-established mechanical, electrical and construction company, will have another runner in the Paddy Power Stayers Hurdle – the 2024 winner Teahupoo – but he barely figures in the conversation.

Bob Olinger, trained by Henry de Bromhead, handed Acheson his breakthrough success at Cheltenham five years ago. They were different times back then, the Festival being run behind closed doors as the Pandemic lingered, but he did something only the special ones can do.

Blackmore, the jockey who played a huge part in his story, admitted on these pages on Monday to getting goosebumps when recalling that thunderous performance in the 2021 Ballymore Novices Hurdle and Acheson’s emotions are level up.

‘We were still in lockdown, weren’t we, and couldn’t travel over,’ Acheson recalls. ‘But I was able to go to a friend’s house and watch it. I wandered off to be on my own and when the race started. I have to be on my own when the horses are running but Rob came up beside me.

‘To have my right-hand man, my best friend there as Bob won… God, I’m emotional now! It’s all about building memories, isn’t it? Why else are we doing all this for in life? It’s the memories. Me and Rob fight like cat and dogs over horses but Bob doing that meant we were on the right track.’

But success isn’t linear. What takes Bob Olinger to a different level is the fact his is a comeback story. He had a spell in the doldrums, having his hurt his back while trying to jump fences, but those around him, including Grand National winning jockey Robbie Power, persisted with him.

They knew – everyone knew – that Bob Olinger is like a Formula One car; apart from having the looks, he has the engine to go with it and it purrs when he heads to the Cotswolds, his thrilling display in the Stayers Hurdle – Blackmore’s final Festival success – was arguably his finest hour.

‘The ultimate aim was to win a Gold Cup but he couldn’t jump a fence,’ says Acheson. ‘I know he ‘won’ a race over fences at the Festival (2022) but it was only because Galopin Des Champs fell. It was that simple. Then he hurt himself and it took us 12 months to get him right.

‘He’s returned and shown he’s just the dude, the boss. He’s taken us to places I didn’t think possible.’

Who knows where he might take everyone today; Acheson, a dyed-in-the-wool Liverpool supporter, has had a couple of runners so far this week, none of which have come close to troubling the scorers, but this is the day when hopes are high.

‘The whole year revolves around here,’ he explains. ‘The pressure of winning here is unbelievable – if we don’t have a winner here, the year is almost written off. The general public will have it as a disaster for you. I went back to Clonmel last year and it felt like the whole place was proud.

‘I walked into the chemists a week later; Christina, who owns it – the first thing she says to me is: “Ah, jeez, you had a great Cheltenham!” If you don’t have a winner, people think you’re an eejit! But this takes me back to Bob, who was our first winner here and started it all.

‘Last year was supposed to be the start of his retirement. He was going to come to Cheltenham, try his best, go to Punchestown and then head onto the American Grand National to hopefully win his last Group One. Didn’t he show what I know?

‘Then he does what he does. And the way the ground is out there now? You know what. He might do the same thing again.’