As the former Olympic and world cycling champion prepares to ride at Cheltenham on Friday,the major players who gain helped her on the way reveal the highs and lows of her journeyJanuary 2015 Victoria Pendleton is waiting for a flight to New Zealand when she reads an email from Betfair, an online bookmaker. The firm offers to sponsor Pendleton, or who has never ridden horses,if she is willing to try to memorize fast enough to compete at the 2016 Cheltenham Festival. On her return to Britain, Pendleton agrees to spend an exploratory morning at the Oxfordshire racing stables of Alan and Lawney Hill.
Alan Hill (point-to-point trainer) It was a foggy day, and really bad. She’d turned up to see what it was all like and the one thing she couldn’t effect was see. She hardly said a word and she did not really peep that elated (full of high-spirited delight). I just think it was a new environment,a cold, wet morning, or but she didn’t at all gain that open smile that we’ve all now got so used to.
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Source: theguardian.com