Happy faces
Robin Oakley
‘Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will,’ said the philosopher. ‘But, remember, it didn’t work for the rabbit.’ On the whole, I ignore superstition. I walk cheerfully under ladders, unless occupied by a decorator holding a pot of paint, and I contentedly observe a new moon through glass. I have, however, tended to stick with the old racing superstition of backing the first jockey you see on the course. Arriving early at Cheltenham on Saturday and seeing Philip Hobbs’s Lacdoudal being led down the steps of his box, I wondered idly if the tradition applied to horses, too. I then rapidly dismissed the notion and lumped on the favourite, Cornish Rebel, in the Timeform Chase, only to see Cornish Rebel blunder away his chance at the second last and fade into third while Lacdoudal, who seems to get better with every race, raced home five lengths clear of Joe’s Edge at 4–1. Sometimes rationalism comes expensive.
Star performer on a magnificent day’s racing was Well Chief in the Victor Chandler Chase. David Johnson’s little chestnut had everything against him. He had taken a crashing fall at Wetherby last time out, the ground was sticky and he was carrying a hefty 11st 10lb, giving 15 lbs and upwards to a talented field. He had drifted on the betting exchanges from 9–4 to 5–1. ‘There were so many negatives against him in the papers,’ said trainer Martin Pipe. ‘Luckily, he can’t read.’ Well Chief was, too, given a terrific ride by Timmy Murphy, who settled him early on, picked off his rivals one by one and took up the lead after the second last. As he motored up the finishing hill, experienced race-readers all around me were oohing and ahing like lady electors enjoying a Bill Clinton special (no, I meant one of his speeches) and we all had no doubt we had seen something special. I have not seen a better handicap performance in years. There are now three star two-milers around to contest the Queen Mother Chase at the Festival, and I would not care to separate Well Chief (in this column’s Ten to Follow last season — timing wrong again), Azertyuiop (retained in our Ten for a second year) and Moscow Flyer.
If Pipe has sometimes sounded cautious in applauding Murphy, who possibly lost an earlier race on Well Chief — he might have won with a better-timed finish, there was no denying the warmth of his praise on this occasion, while beaming owner David Johnson hugged the jockey he had chosen exclaiming, ‘What a boy!’ Well Chief’s success was another example of painstaking Pipery, which extends well beyond getting his horses super-fit. After the Wetherby fall, former jockey Jonathon Lower, Martin’s resident jumping coach, rebuilt Well Chief’s confidence from scratch over small poles before building him up again to the big fences.
Another fine training performance came from Paul Webber, whose Buckby Lane, well handled by Tom Doyle, led all the way to win the Ladbrokes Trophy Chase after a 413-day layoff with a leg injury. Buckby Lane, who had twice before won at Cheltenham as a classy novice, is a natural jumper, who benefited from being allowed to do his own thing. ‘We thought the world of him and we were devastated when he got a leg,’ said Paul. ‘It was a bit of a blow to be left with a handicapper who had had just two races over fences, but he has a great eye. He’s always loved jumping.’ Paul reckons his swimming-pool has been key in getting Buckby Lane back to fitness: ‘You don’t have to do so much that challenges their tendons. And when they’ve had a problem, you don’t always know how many bullets you have left in the chamber.’ The other happy face in the unsaddling enclosure was that of Howard Johnson after the popular Grey Abbey galloped his rivals into submission in the Pillar Property Chase. The chunky Grey Abbey is no oil painting, but he is the sort you could have imagined leading a cavalry charge with a hefty officer on board. Crowds love him for his ‘match me or catch me if you can’ honesty and courage. After his 16-length thrashing of Therealbandit, it will be sad if Grey Abbey doesn’t run in the Gold Cup. But his trainer insists he will do so only if it is soft, accepting that flat tracks like Aintree suit him better.
At home, his trainer tells me, Grey Abbey has a mind of his own. ‘He’s buzzy. He goes down the road sideways. If the string leaves the yard to turn left and he wants to turn right, he goes right and has to be brought back round. It’s no use checking him on the gallops, you’ve just got to let him lob along.’ In short, a natural Boy Racer. Certainly, most of us in the media will want Howard Johnson, who won the juvenile hurdle too with 50–1 debutant Akilak, there on Gold Cup Day. Blessed by a big-spending patron in Graham Wylie, Johnson is an instinctive trainer rather than a scientific one. He still keeps both feet planted firmly on terra firma, declaring, ‘I’ve stopped gambling. I don’t have to gamble now.’ He’s keeping his new two-year-olds in Ireland, to avoid them passing on kids’ snuffles to his jumpers: ‘They tell me there’s a special one among them, but they haven’t told me which yet.’ As for aids such as blood tests, he remains sceptical: ‘They’ll charge you £100. And that takes finding.’
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