Jonjo O’Neill has no doubts who he will be shouting for if two particular horses are galloping clear to the final fence in Friday’s Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup. One, Irish-trained Carlingford Lough, owned by JP McManus, ridden by soon-to-retire 19-time champion jockey AP McCoy, will be carrying a hill of punters’ money and a mountain of sentimental support. The other, Holywell, a winner at the last two Festivals and who showed his old sparkle when winning his warm-up race at Kelso last month under McCoy, is O’Neill’s main hope for a big win this week. Trainer and ex-jockey Jonjo O'Neill pictured at Cheltenham Racecourse ahead of next week's Festival . AP McCoy (left) and trainer Jonjo O'Neill pictured with Synchronised and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2012 . With McManus being O’Neill’s landlord and staunchest supporter, and McCoy his long-time ally, who helped deliver both the 2012 Gold Cup on Synchronised and 2010 Grand National on Don’t Push It, it might seem at best a difficult dilemma and at worst a nightmare scenario. But O’Neill is clear where his support will lie. ‘I will be shouting for Holywell. The rent may go up but we will talk about that later,’ he says, as he looks out over the famous strip of Cheltenham turf that has defined his career. The arduous climb to the finishing post was the scene of the two-time champion jockey’s 1980 Champion Hurdle win on Sea Pigeon and, even more memorably, the heart-stopping surge to the line on 1986 Gold Cup-winning mare Dawn Run. Don’t be fooled by the sparkling smile and twinkling eyes. O’Neill might come over like a cross between Father Christmas and your favourite uncle but he has not risen to the top of the racing ladder by being soft-hearted. ‘I knew if JP had a runner AP would ride it. He pays the retainer,’ he says. ‘Richie McLernon will ride Holywell and they get on really well. They have clicked and Richie has twice won on him at Cheltenham. He has won at two Festivals so hopefully he can make it three in a row.’ Holywell is one of O'Neill's main hope for a big win in the Cheltenham Gold Cup . McCoy (right) and O'Neil (left) pictured with John McManus after winning the Grand National . While O’Neill is determined to deny McCoy the big final Festival send-off the jockey is hoping for, that doesn’t mean he is not desperate to provide him with a winner despite the blow of one of their big hopes, last year’s World Hurdle winner More Of That, missing the meeting. They have become more than just employer and employee and no one is better placed to assess McCoy than O’Neill, a man who rode against a generation of former weighing room giants including Ron Barry, Dessie Hughes, John Francome, Peter Scudamore and Tommy Carberry. ‘There is a piece of everybody in him,’ says the man who has trained 25 Festival winners. ‘Some fellas are a great judge of pace but wouldn’t be able to produce a horse at a fence. He is the complete all-rounder. ‘He knows the pace, the tracks and the ground. He has ridden north, south, east and west and knows what every other horse in the race and their jockeys will be doing. He knows who to follow and who not to follow. ‘Basically, he is a freak and he loves winning, which is great.’ Regular Festival observers have learned to set their watch by O’Neill, who has only twice driven away from the last day without a winner since the turn of the century. The signs are again positive with 22 winners since the start of February an indicator that his string is back in form. O'Neill is determined to deny McCoy the big final Festival send-off the jockey is hoping for . O'Neill, who has trained 25 Cheltenham Festival winners, described McCoy as a freak that loves winning . That is in stark contrast to dark days when the whole of November, a blank December and January yielded only 11 victories. ‘It was very bleak,’ said O’Neill. The barren patch scuppered hopes of launching an outside challenge for the trainers’ title that had been made possible by a bright start to the season. That remains the O’Neill ambition but one hampered, he feels, by the wrong perception he is McManus’s private trainer. He says: ‘One day, hopefully, I will be champion trainer. We are an open house and there is nobody who enjoys us having winners for other people more than JP. ‘I knew we didn’t have the firepower [this year] but were expecting to have a better season with the better horses. Hopefully, they will finish off the season better.’ No one will be surprised if he does. Course specialist Johns Spirit in the Ryanair Chase and Taquin Du Seuil, winner of the JLT Novices’ Chase last season and possibly heading down the handicap route, both have claims and a Festival gamble on an O’Neill handicapper is almost obligatory. But it is Holywell, winner of the 2013 Pertemps Hurdle and what is now the Ultima Business Solutions Handicap Chase last year, who leads the O’Neill charge. The trainer describes the eight-year-old, who is transformed by blinkers, as a ‘little con man’. If he dashes the McCoy’s Gold run, party pooper might be more appropriate.
The 2015 Cheltenham festival starts begins on Tuesday next week . Jonjo O'Neill's main hope for a big win is Holywell in the Gold Cup . AP McCoy will be riding Carlingford Lough in the same race . McCoy and O'neill are long-time allies but the trainer will be cheering for Holywell rather than his old friend .