James Nesbitt relishing Riverside Theatres big day at the Cheltenham Festival

By Marcus Armytage Published: 6:24PM GMT 06 March 2010

What"s my motivation? actress James Nesbitt will be branch his courtesy to the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham Photo: MARTIN POPE

Jump racing"s majority distinguished patrons, JP McManus, Clive Smith and Harry Findlay competence be well well well known inside of the racing village but no owners at this year"s Cheltenham Festival will be improved well well known over the sport"s bishopric range than James Nesbitt, the unapproachable owners of one of Riverside Theatre"s 4 legs.

The renouned Northern Irish actress came to inflection in Cold Feet in 1998 and has remained there by a consistent period of radio hits such as Bloody Sunday, Murphy"s Law, Jekyll and Occupation.

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He shares the 6 year-old, dominant in dual starts over fences and approaching to fool around a lead purpose in the Arkle Trophy, with Brian Stewart-Brown, Jonathan Palmer-Brown and Ian Axe.

For Nesbitt, 45, this year"s Festival falls in the centre in in between dual projects. On Wednesday he finished a 12-week army in Dumbarton as lead in The Deep, a � la mode submarine thriller for the BBC with Minnie Driver and Goran Visnjic.

Next month he is abroad filming a complicated take on Shakespeare"s Coriolanus with Ralph Fiennes. "If Tuesday week had clashed with anything," he said, "I"d have had it created in to the stipulate that I was receiving it off!"

For Nesbitt there is sure compensation that his initial equine should be backing up for the competition declared after the biggest steeplechaser of all time. His initial unwavering couple to the competition was by Arkle.

"Growing up in Coleraine there was a man who had this mystique about him since he was continuous in a small approach with Arkle. Possibly he was the headlad? I"m not sure," he explained. "I had a thought of the equine and my father, a initial propagandize head teacher, had a small statuette of him in the house. And here we are perplexing to win the competition declared after him at Cheltenham it"s sort of come full round for me."

Horses were not second inlet to Nesbitt as they are to majority Irishmen. One of the couple of times he has been compulsory to float one on camera was as Pontius Pilate in The Passion. Filming in Morocco, he outlayed a day removing to know his mount.

"That was excellent but they hadn"t told me he wasn"t good around alternative horses and the subsequent day when we were filming he bit a cube off his fast companion," he removed with sufficient abhorrence that Barry Geraghty need never be concerned about being jocked off Riverside Theatre by an owner-rider. "It never occurred to me that horses competence be up for a throw it was similar to examination dual Irishmen who"d quarrel any one for a pound."

Though his mantelpiece is weighed down by behaving awards his unique sporting success, notwithstanding being a extreme competitor, was the County Derry U14 tough justice tennis championship in which, he says modestly, he kick "two nuns and a dog".

"My father never gambled but he desired all sports," he said. "My mom and I were good fans of the Horse of the Year Show and I still recollect horses similar to Boomerang and Penwood Forge Mill."

Initially the Cheltenham Festival drew him in as a amicable arise with a couple of friends from Belfast. "Twenty years after we"re all still staying there together," he said. "We will again this year. I"ve been to grand prix, I"ve followed Manchester United but Cheltenham is the majority noble entertainment of people."

A deeper connection was shaped was when manoeuvre Mark Dwyer recognized him from Cold Feet and invited him in to the jockeys" becoming different room for the post Gold Cup party. "It was my initial thought that, in between the jockeys, there"s a society they contest together and nonetheless they are together. The intercourse was really impressive."

It was, however, at a gift day at Newbury that his seductiveness ratcheted up an additional notch. "I paid for dual legal holiday lots at the auction both of that had been put up by Brian Stewart-Brown, we talked thereafter and he hoped I"d suffer them.

"Not that prolonged thereafter I was in Mauritius and listened a small peaceful chaff on a patio in in between a Portuguese woman [Louisa Stewart-Brown] and an English lady [Brian] and thought I know those dual voices. We fake a friendship, began to speak about racing and the thought shaped of carrying a horse.

"Nicky [Henderson] found one by King"s Theatre. It all began to tumble in to place to call him Riverside Theatre, the place in Coleraine where I done my behaving debut. My god-daughter written the colours the red and white of United, of march and he right away has some-more costly summer holidays than me and the family combined!"

He added: "We"ve right away got to the theatre that we"re seeking at an additional horse. I"ve had so most fun. My father-in-law wanted until he was 80 and regularly talked about the smashing village of sport and racing. Through Brian I"ve detected something classless and ageless. There"s a pretentious suggestion inside of racing and I feel piece of it. Don"t get me wrong, I love acting, but the hum you get from carrying a curtain I"ve never got from acting.

"And it"s something else when you go down to see him, this beautiful, clever savage perched on tip of long, fragile, spindly legs. A equine is an oxymoron where else do you see such strength and infirmity combined?"

Despite his considerable list of movie credits when Nesbitt gets in a cab or goes in to a emporium at the impulse it is Riverside Theatre people wish to speak about. "He seems to have a peculiarity that endears him to the public," he combined finally. "I think he"s got what it takes."