The sibling rivalry driving the Andrews trio to success at Aintree

The sibling rivalry driving the Andrews trio in search of more success at Aintree… Gina tried to replace her brother Jack on a ride at Cheltenham, while sister Bridget landed her second Festival winner last month

• Trio will head to Aintree’s Grand National meeting in search of more success
• 6ft 4in Jack hit the headlines when he was hailed as the world’s tallest jockey
• Bridget is married to 2020-21 champion jump jockey Harry Skelton

Losing a ride to a rival can be a bitter pill to swallow but when the rider trying to jock you off is your sister then you have to question whether blood really is thicker than water.

That is what happened to Jack Andrews when sister Gina tried to replace him on Anightinlambourn at Cheltenham in November after her intended ride was withdrawn.

Fortunately for Jack, trainer Ben Pauling stuck with him and Anightinlambourn won.

The episode is an insight into the competitive spirit that flows through the remarkable Andrews family which also includes sister Bridget, who landed her second Cheltenham Festival winner last month when Faivoir won the County Hurdle.

All three have been national champion point-to-point riders with Gina, who was successful at the 2017 Cheltenham Festival on Domesday Book in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup, on course to win the title for a 10th time this season.

Bridget (left), Gina and Jack will head to Aintree next week in search of more success

All three will head to Aintree’s Grand National meeting next week in search of more success.

Bridget, who is married to 2020-21 champion jump jockey Harry Skelton, will be riding for brother-in-law Dan Skelton. Gina will be trying to win Thursday’s Randox Foxhunters’ Hunter Chase for the second successive year on Latenightpass, trained by husband Tom Ellis, but her opposition includes younger brother Jack on Not That Fuisse.

Jack says: ‘If you were not ultra-competitive you would not bother doing what we do.

‘We are all very different riders. Bridget is obviously very good at Cheltenham! But as much as you can tell we are siblings from looking at us, you couldn’t tell we are related from the way we ride.

‘Bridget is very quiet on a horse, very tidy and very neat. Gina is a lot stronger and can get different types of horses going that probably Bridget and I couldn’t. I am somewhere in the middle.’

Gina adds: ‘We’ve always joked that I would be hopeless as a stable jockey for Dan because he likes his horses dropped in and ridden quietly. I’d be a better stable jockey for a trainer who likes them aggressively ridden from the front!’

There was never much doubt they would build careers in racing given their parents Simon and Joanna have both been successful jockeys and trainers on the point-to-point circuit. Simon, who rode over 170 point-to-point winners, won the Aintree Foxhunters Chase in 1988 on Newnham before partnering the gelding to 10th in the Grand National the following year.

‘The pictures around the TV were all of Dad riding in the Foxhunters but we eventually got them changed,’ jokes Bridget. ‘We were lucky with the start we had. Everyone knew Mum and Dad and we got a chance because of them.

‘But, my God, Dad was very critical. Even if you won you hadn’t done it right, but I think that has made us as successful as we are. Mum bought a camcorder. When we rode in points she would go up with the commentator and video the races. We’d get home in the evening, plug it into the TV and watch it back. It made a huge difference.’

Gina admits the lack of female professional jump jockeys when she was emerging was a factor in her staying amateur and not turning professional like her sister. Concentrating on the point-to-point scene and the big amateur races at the major Festivals has paid off.

Jack briefly turned professional but is now back as an amateur working alongside Gina and her husband. During the Cheltenham Festival, 6ft 4in Jack hit the headlines when he was hailed as being the tallest jockey in the world.

But initially he wasn’t interested in horses — Bridget and Gina remember him paying more attention to his Game Boy — but watching his sisters competing changed that.

Jack says: ‘They would have to drag me out by my hair to get on my pony. They had to tack the pony up, wash it off, everything. It was either that or I wouldn’t go out.’

Bizarrely for someone who has to boil his frame down to make the racing weights, one of Jack’s ways of relaxing is baking. He does a mean millionaire’s shortbread.

Jack said: ‘There wouldn’t be an hour where I don’t think about my weight. It is hard but in the last couple of years mentally I have got a lot happier. When I stop riding I will be able to eat what I want but it is a sacrifice I have to make.’

Gina tried to replace Jack at Cheltenham, while Bridget (right) is married to Harry Skelton

Jack hit the headlines when he was hailed as the world’s tallest jockey at 6ft 4ins

Sharing the same dangerous job means the emotional ties can sometimes make life tricky, like the day Bridget rode in the same Cheltenham race in December 2020 when Gina took a crashing fall and got kicked in the face.

Bridget says: ‘I jumped by her when she was on the floor. That was the worst day ever. It really shook me up. I rode in a later race and I ended up giving (my mount) Mohaayed the worst possible ride because I didn’t want to be there.’

But the positive is that the siblings have their own support network. Gina says: ‘That’s useful especially if anything has gone wrong in a race. You can get everyone’s opinions to try to stop it going wrong again.’

But that doesn’t extend to going easy on each other. If Gina and Jack jump the last together at Aintree on Thursday, it will be every rider for themselves. It’s personal after all.

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