Nina Carberry: First day key to Blackmore success at Cheltenham
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Nina Carberry backs Rachael Blackmore for Cheltenham success and discusses injury woes and intense competition on Dancing with the Stars.
I keep going to my physio and she helps me out. It’s just a case of trying to keep on top of it. It hasn’t got any worse at the minute, but I know I’ve two dances this weekend so hopefully it won’t put too much more pressure on it with a bit of luck. It’s just a niggly problem that I have because my body is under pressure a bit.
I’m dancing with Erica and Matthew. We’re called Turkish Delight, that’s our team name. We have to dance very well because with our team dance, we’ll get points as well from the judges. So, we get our team dance and then we’ll be judged on our own dance, so they’re combined. We need to do well for the team and for everyone to do well in their own dance. It would be a shame to do badly in the team dance and bring down your own score.
This week on DWTS – its Around the World Week! 🌍
Our couples will dance to songs inspired by different places on the planet!
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Any guesses as to what they might be? #DWTSIrl
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To be honest, they’re all really good at the minute. Those who are left are definitely going to put their best foot forward, and it’s going to be a really competitive weekend. Everyone is mad to do well. It’s going to be a hard weekend to score high because everyone else will want to do the same.
Every dance is different and other dances suit you as I said before, but listen the jive wasn’t really clicking with me, my legs were getting really tired and to be honest I was absolutely thrilled to get two nines and an eight. To be honest I couldn’t see that happening at all during the week, so when that happened, I was delighted.
You know, you kind of set your goal during the week with how you’re getting on, so you kind of know on a Saturday if the dance is fitting with you or not. It takes time to learn it and to get the technique right, so I was actually delighted because the jive is a very hard dance.
Blackmore can thrive at Cheltenham
I just hope the first day goes well for her because there is a lot of pressure going into a champion hurdle on a previous winner. That’s the main thing, that the first day goes well for her. After that you can settle into the week. You do hope the ones that people expect to win, can win, but it doesn’t always happen like that.
But, I think Rachael is strong enough minded and she can block things like that out. She doesn’t get carried away with herself. As you know, she is very modest in any of her interviews and I think she is very level-headed so I don’t think it will affect her.
Everyone wants to be a part of Cheltenham, whether you own or train. So yeah, it’s definitely something you would love to be a part of. Obviously, being an ex-jockey, it was the one time you would always look forward to. The feeling you get heading over, the excitement and being a part of the whole festival was an incredible feeling so, yeah, I do miss that but I really enjoy watching it now. But I can get my adrenaline elsewhere now on Dancing with the Stars.
