Lift off for...
Cheltenham 2012
INSIDE: Ruby Walsh p3 ■ Paul Carberry p4 ■ Dougie Costello p6 ■ Robert Mulhern p8
2 | March 10, 2012
The Irish Post
FLYING THE FLAG: Derek O’Connor celebrates victory on Chicago Grey in the Amateur Riders’ Novices’ Chase last year.
Saddle up for four days of magic BY CLEM DELANEY EVERY year at this time my wife says the same thing: “Calm down.” How can I do this? Cheltenham Festival fever is spreading fast and there is no cure. These four days of magic consume all who have even a glimmer of interest in horse racing. The thing about Cheltenham is you can’t get it out of your mind for four to five weeks before opening day, even if you wanted to. It is everywhere: TV, newspapers and internet with trainers and jockeys confusing us with multiple tips for most races. There is simply no racing festival like it. Every owner, trainer and jockey wants desperately to win here. The punters want to back the winner of every race and won’t mind if it is trained in Ireland, England, China or Mongolia. There is nothing worse than meeting someone on an evening that Ireland have had five winners and they are expecting money to be bulging out of your pockets. There may have been five Irish winners but probably 55 Irish horses running that day. You can always say that you had three of them. Sure it’s only a little lie. I have been backing horses since I was about 12, started work at 16 and took holidays for Cheltenham week every year since then. That’s well over 40 festival holidays now, but the adrenaline rush I get only wears off after the final race when I check my pockets to see what damage has been done. Every bookies in Ireland is packed for the four days with the fever having finally taken over even the minds of the normally sensible. Special offers from the likes of Paddy Power that he will refund your losing docket if Sprinter Sacre wins the Racing Post Chase playing with your mind; bookies everywhere bending over backwards to facilitate in relieving you of your hard-earned money. Your other half (could be anything these days) might even ring you up to put a tenner on this or that, which can drive you mad because you are already struggling to get to the counter to back your own. The stress of it all. And some people
think you are out enjoying yourself ! So to this year — with the ground changing rapidly — it is important to find out if your chosen horse likes the going as a lot of horses improve/get drastically worse with the change from soft/heavy to good. Every horse will be trained to its limits for Cheltenham, so you are likely to hear many tips that originated in various yards. Ignore them, I am going to set you straight. Also the controversial whip rules will test out many Irish jockeys. It is different for the likes of Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty who ride regularly in England. But for the jockeys that rarely race in Britain, new whip rules implemented on Tuesday, March 6, a week before the beginning of the festival, are hardly ideal. Imagine coming over the last fence with the famous Cheltenham roar driving you up the hill, horses to the left and right of you. Will you be counting the number of times you encourage the horse? Will you incur the wrath of owners, trainers and punters by exercising restraint — knowing full well that one or two more smacks would have won the race, something that might never happen to you or them again. I know what I’d do! Bombproof winners, it seems, are Big Bucks (World Hurdle), Quevega (Mares Hurdle), Sizing Europe (Champion Chase) and Hurricane Fly (Champion Hurdle). Put these four Irish horses in a win accumulator and watch them roll in! Boston Bob (Neptune Novice Hurdle/Arbert Barlett), Scotsirish in the cross country, and Sivola De Sivola in the Pertemps Final will give you a run for your money. Back the following each way: Steps to Freedom (William Hill Supreme Novices Hurdle), Thousand Stars (Champion Hurdle or World Hurdle). Also Cheltenham-loving Midnight Chase in the Gold Cup at 14/1 with regular jockey Dougie Costello back this year. Dermot Weld’s Hisaabaat will have you smiling after the Triumph Hurdle. Finally, if some year I am on my death bed at the beginning of March, I hope God spares me for Cheltenham; spares me for four more days of magic. Now, let’s clean out the bookies!
The Festival 2012 Tuesday, March 13 – Friday, March 16 TUESDAY, MARCH 13 Supreme Novices Hurdle (1.30pm) Arkle Chase (2.05pm) JLT Specialty Handicap Chase (2.40pm) Champion Hurdle (3.20pm) Cross Country Chase (4.00pm) OLBG David Nicholson Mares Hurdle (4.40pm) PLI Novices Handicap Chase (5.15pm) WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14 National Hunt Chase (1.30pm) Neptune Investment Novices Hurdle (2.05pm) RSA Chase (2.40pm) Queen Mother Champion Chase (3.20pm) Coral Cup (4.00pm) Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle (4.40pm) Cheltenham Champion Bumper (5.15pm)
THURSDAY, MARCH 15 Jewson Novices Chase (1.30pm) Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle (2.05pm) Ryanair Chase (2.40pm) World Hurdle (3.20pm) Festival Plate (4.00pm) Kim Muir Handiap Chase (4.40pm) FRIDAY, MARCH 16 Triumph Hurdle (1.30pm) County Hurdle (2.05pm) Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle (2.40pm) Cheltenham Gold Cup (3.20pm) Foxhunters Chase (4.00pm) Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle (4.40pm) Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase (5.15pm)
The Irish Post
March 10, 2012 | 3
‘There are a few creaks and strains in the morning but I’m self-employed with a family to provide for. I get up. I go to work’ After setting the pace for 14 years, serial winner Ruby Walsh says he is in no mood to pull up EXCLUSIVE, BY ROBERT MULHERN
H
E STOPS rolling the paddock to take the call. It’s early March and Ruby Walsh is enjoying a day off at his home in Co. Carlow. It’s a simple joy. One that couldn’t be further removed from the maddening crowds of the Cheltenham Festival next week, so this work is an easy pleasure. “You want to see these lines I’m rolling,” he laughs. “The groundsmen in Old Trafford would be proud of these lines. I reckon I’ll stay at it until two o’clock and then that’s me, done.” If Carlow represents a retreat from race-riding then his rural home is a jewel-like sanctuary. Ruby has a family now, a growing one. That spells lots of things to enjoy outside of his day-job where his billing as a superstar has long been established. “I just like getting home in the evening and closing the front gate,” he says. “Spend time with the family. Work on the few acres I have here. Roll the paddock, you know.” It almost sounds like Ruby Walsh is thinking about retirement. He isn’t. It doesn’t need to be considered yet. But in the world of the weigh-room, his progress towards the door is steady and closing.
When he rode his first Cheltenham winner on Alexander Banquet in the 1998 Champion Bumper for Willie Mullins, he was seated just inside the entrance. This year represents Cheltenham number 13 and his lap of the room is a lot closer to the end than the beginning. “I thought about it more when I started,” he says. “I was new. I was looking along the line at some of my heroes like Richard Dunwoody and Charlie Swan. It’s seniority. I know the last place on this line is out the door. It’s like any sport, the young guys come through, but right now I feel good. Okay, there are a few creaks and strains in the morning but I’m self-employed with a family to provide for. I get up. I go to work.” Ruby works in two different countries for two different masters. He’s been with Willie Mullins in Carlow since he was 17. Willie is almost his second auld fella, while his relationship with Paul Nicholls has been soldered tight through storied success on horses like Kauto Star and Big Bucks. He doesn’t feel the strain of working in two countries. He only sees perspective. “You know, flying from Ireland, I can be at racetracks in Britain quicker than a lot of jockeys living in Britain. You
find a routine. Riding great horses makes that routine very easy and I guess when you get older, you get wiser in how you do things. I don’t fly at 6.30am anymore. If I have to I’ll want to fall asleep at lunch-time. These days I go the night before. I ring AP [McCoy] and just tell him I’m staying.” Ruby’s relationship, with perhaps his only true peer in the sport is a friendship long forged. With friendship you find your level. Both are winners, incomparable in styles — Ruby is credited with being the
“
When I started I was looking along the line at some of my heroes like Richard Dunwoody and Charlie Swan. It’s seniority. I know the last place on this line is out the door. It’s like any sport, the young guys come through, but right now I feel good
DEBUT TRIUMPH: Ruby Walsh rode his first winner at Cheltenham in the Champion Bumper on Alexander Banquet in 1998. greater horse man — but with the same desire for success. And Ruby’s appetite for the big days remains insatiable. What else could drive a weekly beat that bridges the Irish Sea? Yet his enthusiasm is dampened by candour. Ruby talks short sentences in a low voice with a style that says ‘you know yourself ’. “I love riding the big winners in Britain. Coming back to Ireland and riding the big races on a Sunday. I love that too.” Ruby was working over in Paul Nicholls’ last week. He was schooling Kauto Star, the horse he loves more than any other. Kauto and Ruby took a fall that was described by Nicholls as “awful”. Ruby describes the worry of whether the two-time Gold Cup winner will race or not as a cloud. But he says: “There’s a chance” the horse will race. Not a good one or a great one “just a chance”. Kauto’s powers of recovery are not to be discounted. How could he after a comeback that
makes Lazarus look tame. Beaten to his fifth King George VI Chase by Long Run, pulled up weeks later at Punchestown, Kauto Star corrected his decline with a sixth King George in December. Despite Ruby’s vast knowledge of the world where he’s a totem, he struggles to explain Kauto’s return. “Even Paul Nicholls would struggle to explain it I think.” But the magic with Ruby is he seldom struggles at Cheltenham. He holds the record for the number of winning rides — 32. And he holds each of those victories dear. He remembers when Irish wins in the Cotswolds in March were the exception. So when they came they were special. He remembers Attitude Adjuster, which was ridden by his dad Ted, winning in 86 and watching from his sitting room in Kill, County Kildare. He remembers all the Gold Cups from then until now and the two he’s won are cherished. It’s the pinnacle, the greatest
test and the greatest feeling for a jockey. But lesser races at the festival can make you feel that way too. He’ll never forget his first — Alexander Banquet, the acclaim of the winner’s enclosure and while his personal fortunes have changed since then, the festival remains the same. Far beyond the gate in Carlow, Cheltenham is a place of magic for Ruby Walsh. When he started out there he was lucky to get four rides over the week. Last year he rode three winners on the first day and his victory on Hurricane Fly in the Champion Hurdle lifted the lid on Prestbury Park. He plays it humble now. The realism of his profession means he can’t play it any other way. In Cheltenham, you don’t take anything for granted. The week before you just think about making winners happen. Then you think about coming home again, seeing the family and closing the front gate. Because the paddock has to be rolled in April too.
4 | March 10, 2012
The Irish Post
The Irish Post
March 10, 2012 | 5
Carberry’s star still shines bright Described by Davy Russell as ‘the ultimate jockey of his era’, Paul Carberry had to overcome a battle with drink to stay at the top of his game as Garry Doyle found out
I
INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS: Pat Taaffe on Arkle, right, jumps ahead of G W Robinson on Mill House in the 1965 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Arkle went on to win and ensured his place in racing folklore.
Battle for the ages The Irish love affair with Cheltenham has its roots in 1964, when Arkle carried the hopes of a nation against England’s champion Mill House. BY ROBERT MULHERN
S
ELDOM does the meeting of two great racehorses lead to the collision of two great institutions, but so it was in 1964, when the BBC and Cheltenham moved the showpiece National Hunt event to coincide with Saturday sport and Grandstand. Public interest decreed that this great spectacle was to be witnessed, if not necessarily enjoyed. Because to enjoy it, you first had to secure victory and only one nation would be left smiling after Arkle and Mill House were done trading blows. By the finish, the spoils belonged to Ireland as jockey Pat Taaffe steered Arkle to victory, with daylight only separating two great horses beyond the final fence of a 3m 2.5 furlong battle. The scene in the winning enclosure was one of unbridled joy. The euphoria sparked by Arkle is often credited with capturing interest at home and helping to make the festival the occasion it is today — an Irish cultural event staged in Britain. But first, the lighting of that fuse needed two great horses.
Today, history, nostalgia and public opinion is the preserve of Arkle for reasons of success, but prior to 1964, Mill House was labelled unbeatable. A huge gelding, he won the Gold Cup in 1963 by 12 lengths and with no more promotion needed than the clash of two great heavyweights, the race divided opinion and captured public imagination like no other. Mill House went off the 13-8 favourite with Arkle priced at 7-4. Speaking to The Irish Post about the iconic race, Andy Clifton from Cheltenham racecourse said: “It was like Ali versus Frazier in boxing and it was amazing that the race was moved to a Saturday, so that BBC Grandstand could televise it. “But in Arkle and Mill House, you had two horses which were both considered by their own supporters to be unbeatable. Mill House won the Gold Cup easily the previous year and English supporters thought he wouldn’t be stopped. “But then Arkle was coming with his own form and it was a real battle. “I suppose Vincent O’Brien got things going for the Irish in
the 1950s with Cottage Rake, but the 1964 Gold Cup was the big turning point for the Irish and Cheltenham. “Many people say that race broke Mill House’s heart and he was never the same again after seeing Arkle finish in front of him.” The assertions are ones that Ireland’s best known racing journalist Tony Sweeney agrees. “Arkle is often credited with sparking the growth of interest
“
You had two horses which were both considered by their own supporters to be unbeatable. Mill House won the Gold Cup easily the previous year. But then Arkle was coming with his own form and it was a real battle
in National Hunt racing in Ireland. At that time, it would be hard to find someone outside the Punchestown area of Kildare [where Mill House was once trained] who wasn’t supporting Arkle — it was very much a onesided Ireland versus England affair.” “He [Arkle] effectively broke Mill House’s heart — maybe not on that day, but he beat him again the next time they met. “Arkle probably was the best. He stands against modern champions because time and again he carried huge weights and handicaps.” Tom Taaffe, the son of winning jockey Pat, trained Kicking King to Gold Cup success in 2005. It was a famous day in which he completed an historic father/son Gold Cup double. He told The Irish Post: “Some say the race broke Mill House’s heart, but the other thing was that Arkle was such a great champion. “He was the pretender to the throne and he came along and took Mill House’s mantle. They’ve named a race after him (the Arkle Trophy) and when people talk of the greats he’s always mentioned. When a
horse comes along with potential people always say I wonder will it be another Arkle, but I don’t think we will see another Arkle ever again.” What will almost certainly be seen again though are more great Irish victories to match, though maybe not better than that 1964 Irish success. Andy Clifton said: “The 1964 Gold Cup would be up there with the top Cheltenham moments. You could talk about the achievements of Dawn Run and Desert Orchid from an Irish viewpoint — along with the success of Michael Dickenson who trained Bregawn and the first five home in 1983 — that was an astonishing achievement which everyone thought was impossible, but Arkle and Mill House was special.” Taaffe concluded: “There was great hype about the race — they were two fantastic horses. There was no transparency like there is now, no massive TV coverage and no internet, but at the same time everyone knew it was the Irish champion coming over to take on the English champion. “Willie Robinson [Mill House’s jockey] was a very good friend of dad’s and they had this side bet that the loser would buy the winner a suit. “Willie said he never felt as much pressure in his life, it was a huge occasion, but daddy was always calm and he never got hot under the collar.”
F September is synonymous with All-Ireland final day then March belongs to racing and to Cheltenham, one of the few times of the year — Grand National and Derby days being the others — when the sport reaches out beyond its core audience and embraces a wider constituency, a time when the game's problems are sugarcoated, when dreams come true and heroes made. Paul Carberry is a subscriber to the romance. Recovering from a wrist injury suffered in December, be pencilled his comeback date into his diary in bold, red ink ahead of next week’s festival. “If there’s one thing you can’t miss, it’s it,” he says — it being so well known, it doesn’t need a title. Nor does Carberry. Liked as well as respected by his peers in the weigh-in room, his legacy has been secured by both the quantity (over 1,600) and quality (11 at Cheltenham, 44 Grade One) of his winners. “He’s one of the most natural sportsmen I have ever met,” said Tony McCoy of his friend and rival. “He’s like a George Best type of character, totally fearless.” “You couldn’t teach anyone to ride like Paul Carberry,” says Ruby Walsh, who knows a thing or two about the practice. “He is the ultimate jockey of his era,” says Davy Russell, leaving the only one with doubts about Paul Carberry being Paul Carberry. “We go [to the Cheltenham Festival] each year to prove ourselves,” says Carberry. “For me, it's about showing that we can still do it.” The Meath man has been doing it all his life, and proving himself in a professional capacity for nearly 20 years. Because of his presence in the public eye, we thought we knew him. Then came his book, One Hell Of a Ride and we realised we knew nothing. Firstly, we knew nothing of his passion, of how true happiness really only came from being on horseback, of how his father's legacy as a successful jockey in his own right, burnt deep into his son’s soul and how victory on
Bobbyjo in the 1999 Grand National felt like a completion in the relationship between father and son. More than anything, though, we didn’t know of the hardest hurdles he had to jump, with drink and addiction, of how difficult he found it to overcome the embarrassment of two failed breath tests and an arrest following a fire on board a flight from Spain to Dublin. By 2008, it all came to a head. Noel Meade, his long-time trainer and friend, told him he was prepared to cut him loose. And that was when Carberry won the biggest race of his life. He says: “Life is there to be enjoyed and if the truth be known, I bloody enjoyed drinking. You enjoy the buzz, you enjoy the craic. “Whether I was meeting my friends from back home, or going out with other jockeys after training, drink was always a big part of it. I also liked the effect it had on me there and then. I was never much of a talker and I wouldn't be great socially among people I don’t know, but drink helped that. “I had reduced the drinking in the two years prior to [giving up]. During the winter months I was
“
It is not the big sessions I miss but I suppose it's going for a pint or two with the lads after racing that I miss most. I suppose I have only come around to not letting the absence of drink bother me anymore and some of that is down to Red Bull. At least it gives you a bit of a buzz. I’d be shagged without it
hardly drinking at all. The racing was too important. But during the summer there were very few big meetings and there always seemed to be some big festival or dance to go to, meaning I tended to lapse back into the drinking habit.” For the last four years, though, he has kicked the habit. “It is not the big sessions I miss but I suppose it’s going for a pint or two with the lads after racing that I miss most. I suppose I have only come around to not letting the absence of drink bother me anymore and some of that is down to Red Bull. At least it gives you a bit of a buzz. I’d be shagged without it.” The therapeutic effect of telling the world his innermost secrets has helped in the healing process. When contemporaries finished reading his autobiography, they shook his hand and offered a look which suggested they knew what he was going through. After all, jump jockeys share a bond which none of the rest of us can ever understand. “It’s because we know when we go out there that we may not come back the same way,” he says. That fate has happened a few of his friends yet still he considers the risks of the trade worthwhile. “Nothing beats being up on a horse in full flow.” Nothing, of course, except the feeling of guiding that horse to glory at Cheltenham. It’s a few years since he last did that and in the meantime Ruby, AP and Barry Geraghty have stolen the limelight. Even Nina, his sister, grabbed a share of it as Peter soldiered up Cheltenham’s hill wondering when the next big winner would come. He could still be wondering in 10 days’ time. “Ruby has a better shot than me,” he says of his chances of glory. “He’ll do well and Ireland will do well.” By contrast, Carberry is there in hope rather than expectation. Yet he will also be there in health and sobriety. Even Cheltenham can't produce winners like those. ■ One Hell of a Ride — Paul Carberry with Des Gibson Published by Paperweight.
THE ULTIMATE JOCKEY: Paul Carberry is still going strong almost 22 years after riding his first winner on Petronelly as an apprentice for Jim Bolger in August 1990.
4 | March 10, 2012
The Irish Post
The Irish Post
March 10, 2012 | 5
Carberry’s star still shines bright Described by Davy Russell as ‘the ultimate jockey of his era’, Paul Carberry had to overcome a battle with drink to stay at the top of his game as Garry Doyle found out
I
INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS: Pat Taaffe on Arkle, right, jumps ahead of G W Robinson on Mill House in the 1965 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Arkle went on to win and ensured his place in racing folklore.
Battle for the ages The Irish love affair with Cheltenham has its roots in 1964, when Arkle carried the hopes of a nation against England’s champion Mill House. BY ROBERT MULHERN
S
ELDOM does the meeting of two great racehorses lead to the collision of two great institutions, but so it was in 1964, when the BBC and Cheltenham moved the showpiece National Hunt event to coincide with Saturday sport and Grandstand. Public interest decreed that this great spectacle was to be witnessed, if not necessarily enjoyed. Because to enjoy it, you first had to secure victory and only one nation would be left smiling after Arkle and Mill House were done trading blows. By the finish, the spoils belonged to Ireland as jockey Pat Taaffe steered Arkle to victory, with daylight only separating two great horses beyond the final fence of a 3m 2.5 furlong battle. The scene in the winning enclosure was one of unbridled joy. The euphoria sparked by Arkle is often credited with capturing interest at home and helping to make the festival the occasion it is today — an Irish cultural event staged in Britain. But first, the lighting of that fuse needed two great horses.
Today, history, nostalgia and public opinion is the preserve of Arkle for reasons of success, but prior to 1964, Mill House was labelled unbeatable. A huge gelding, he won the Gold Cup in 1963 by 12 lengths and with no more promotion needed than the clash of two great heavyweights, the race divided opinion and captured public imagination like no other. Mill House went off the 13-8 favourite with Arkle priced at 7-4. Speaking to The Irish Post about the iconic race, Andy Clifton from Cheltenham racecourse said: “It was like Ali versus Frazier in boxing and it was amazing that the race was moved to a Saturday, so that BBC Grandstand could televise it. “But in Arkle and Mill House, you had two horses which were both considered by their own supporters to be unbeatable. Mill House won the Gold Cup easily the previous year and English supporters thought he wouldn’t be stopped. “But then Arkle was coming with his own form and it was a real battle. “I suppose Vincent O’Brien got things going for the Irish in
the 1950s with Cottage Rake, but the 1964 Gold Cup was the big turning point for the Irish and Cheltenham. “Many people say that race broke Mill House’s heart and he was never the same again after seeing Arkle finish in front of him.” The assertions are ones that Ireland’s best known racing journalist Tony Sweeney agrees. “Arkle is often credited with sparking the growth of interest
“
You had two horses which were both considered by their own supporters to be unbeatable. Mill House won the Gold Cup easily the previous year. But then Arkle was coming with his own form and it was a real battle
in National Hunt racing in Ireland. At that time, it would be hard to find someone outside the Punchestown area of Kildare [where Mill House was once trained] who wasn’t supporting Arkle — it was very much a onesided Ireland versus England affair.” “He [Arkle] effectively broke Mill House’s heart — maybe not on that day, but he beat him again the next time they met. “Arkle probably was the best. He stands against modern champions because time and again he carried huge weights and handicaps.” Tom Taaffe, the son of winning jockey Pat, trained Kicking King to Gold Cup success in 2005. It was a famous day in which he completed an historic father/son Gold Cup double. He told The Irish Post: “Some say the race broke Mill House’s heart, but the other thing was that Arkle was such a great champion. “He was the pretender to the throne and he came along and took Mill House’s mantle. They’ve named a race after him (the Arkle Trophy) and when people talk of the greats he’s always mentioned. When a
horse comes along with potential people always say I wonder will it be another Arkle, but I don’t think we will see another Arkle ever again.” What will almost certainly be seen again though are more great Irish victories to match, though maybe not better than that 1964 Irish success. Andy Clifton said: “The 1964 Gold Cup would be up there with the top Cheltenham moments. You could talk about the achievements of Dawn Run and Desert Orchid from an Irish viewpoint — along with the success of Michael Dickenson who trained Bregawn and the first five home in 1983 — that was an astonishing achievement which everyone thought was impossible, but Arkle and Mill House was special.” Taaffe concluded: “There was great hype about the race — they were two fantastic horses. There was no transparency like there is now, no massive TV coverage and no internet, but at the same time everyone knew it was the Irish champion coming over to take on the English champion. “Willie Robinson [Mill House’s jockey] was a very good friend of dad’s and they had this side bet that the loser would buy the winner a suit. “Willie said he never felt as much pressure in his life, it was a huge occasion, but daddy was always calm and he never got hot under the collar.”
F September is synonymous with All-Ireland final day then March belongs to racing and to Cheltenham, one of the few times of the year — Grand National and Derby days being the others — when the sport reaches out beyond its core audience and embraces a wider constituency, a time when the game's problems are sugarcoated, when dreams come true and heroes made. Paul Carberry is a subscriber to the romance. Recovering from a wrist injury suffered in December, be pencilled his comeback date into his diary in bold, red ink ahead of next week’s festival. “If there’s one thing you can’t miss, it’s it,” he says — it being so well known, it doesn’t need a title. Nor does Carberry. Liked as well as respected by his peers in the weigh-in room, his legacy has been secured by both the quantity (over 1,600) and quality (11 at Cheltenham, 44 Grade One) of his winners. “He’s one of the most natural sportsmen I have ever met,” said Tony McCoy of his friend and rival. “He’s like a George Best type of character, totally fearless.” “You couldn’t teach anyone to ride like Paul Carberry,” says Ruby Walsh, who knows a thing or two about the practice. “He is the ultimate jockey of his era,” says Davy Russell, leaving the only one with doubts about Paul Carberry being Paul Carberry. “We go [to the Cheltenham Festival] each year to prove ourselves,” says Carberry. “For me, it's about showing that we can still do it.” The Meath man has been doing it all his life, and proving himself in a professional capacity for nearly 20 years. Because of his presence in the public eye, we thought we knew him. Then came his book, One Hell Of a Ride and we realised we knew nothing. Firstly, we knew nothing of his passion, of how true happiness really only came from being on horseback, of how his father's legacy as a successful jockey in his own right, burnt deep into his son’s soul and how victory on
Bobbyjo in the 1999 Grand National felt like a completion in the relationship between father and son. More than anything, though, we didn’t know of the hardest hurdles he had to jump, with drink and addiction, of how difficult he found it to overcome the embarrassment of two failed breath tests and an arrest following a fire on board a flight from Spain to Dublin. By 2008, it all came to a head. Noel Meade, his long-time trainer and friend, told him he was prepared to cut him loose. And that was when Carberry won the biggest race of his life. He says: “Life is there to be enjoyed and if the truth be known, I bloody enjoyed drinking. You enjoy the buzz, you enjoy the craic. “Whether I was meeting my friends from back home, or going out with other jockeys after training, drink was always a big part of it. I also liked the effect it had on me there and then. I was never much of a talker and I wouldn't be great socially among people I don’t know, but drink helped that. “I had reduced the drinking in the two years prior to [giving up]. During the winter months I was
“
It is not the big sessions I miss but I suppose it's going for a pint or two with the lads after racing that I miss most. I suppose I have only come around to not letting the absence of drink bother me anymore and some of that is down to Red Bull. At least it gives you a bit of a buzz. I’d be shagged without it
hardly drinking at all. The racing was too important. But during the summer there were very few big meetings and there always seemed to be some big festival or dance to go to, meaning I tended to lapse back into the drinking habit.” For the last four years, though, he has kicked the habit. “It is not the big sessions I miss but I suppose it’s going for a pint or two with the lads after racing that I miss most. I suppose I have only come around to not letting the absence of drink bother me anymore and some of that is down to Red Bull. At least it gives you a bit of a buzz. I’d be shagged without it.” The therapeutic effect of telling the world his innermost secrets has helped in the healing process. When contemporaries finished reading his autobiography, they shook his hand and offered a look which suggested they knew what he was going through. After all, jump jockeys share a bond which none of the rest of us can ever understand. “It’s because we know when we go out there that we may not come back the same way,” he says. That fate has happened a few of his friends yet still he considers the risks of the trade worthwhile. “Nothing beats being up on a horse in full flow.” Nothing, of course, except the feeling of guiding that horse to glory at Cheltenham. It’s a few years since he last did that and in the meantime Ruby, AP and Barry Geraghty have stolen the limelight. Even Nina, his sister, grabbed a share of it as Peter soldiered up Cheltenham’s hill wondering when the next big winner would come. He could still be wondering in 10 days’ time. “Ruby has a better shot than me,” he says of his chances of glory. “He’ll do well and Ireland will do well.” By contrast, Carberry is there in hope rather than expectation. Yet he will also be there in health and sobriety. Even Cheltenham can't produce winners like those. ■ One Hell of a Ride — Paul Carberry with Des Gibson Published by Paperweight.
THE ULTIMATE JOCKEY: Paul Carberry is still going strong almost 22 years after riding his first winner on Petronelly as an apprentice for Jim Bolger in August 1990.
6 | March 10, 2012
The Irish Post
The Jockey’s Journal
My Golden opportunity Dougie Costello believes a top-three finish on Midnight Chase will take him to the next level as a jockey
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ROVIDED there are no last-minute mishaps over the next few days, I’ll be in the thick of the action at Cheltenham next week instead of watching it from a hospital bed. That was the position I was in 12 months ago after breaking my ankle in a fall at Stratford the day before the Cheltenham festival began. I subsequently missed out on some really good rides, including Midnight Chase, who went on to finish fifth in the Gold Cup, and Recession Proof, who was fifth in the Supreme Novices Hurdle. I knew immediately after the fall that I was in trouble. Once I’d had a bit of a tantrum in the back of the ambulance, I realised fairly quickly that there was nothing I could do so I had to get over it. But when it really got to me was on the Wednesday as I watched the RSA Chase. I had been due to ride Wayward Prince, who I fancied very strongly. AP McCoy went with him instead and he started to make up a lot of ground four out. I was convinced he was going to win and I was physically shaking in the bed as the race drew to a climax. He eventually finished third but I was physically drained after watching it, so luckily there were another two days to go until the Gold Cup because I couldn’t have handled it any sooner. I think the morphine dosage needed to be increased that Wednesday. Being ruled out of Cheltenham because of an injury is every jockey’s worst nightmare, but it’s also part and parcel of the sport so you have to deal with it when it happens. At this moment in time I’m feeling good and fresh so my fingers will be kept firmly crossed until Tuesday. The four days of racing ahead of us next week at Cheltenham represent the pinnacle of our sport. It’s what every owner, trainer and jockey wants to be involved in, so to be going there with a decent book of rides is a privilege.
Next week’s Cheltenham festival will be my third, having been involved — but with no significant success — in 2009 and 2010. In my previous experiences, I found that the pace never slackened. Your horse needs to be fresh and 110 per cent fit. There are no hiding places at Cheltenham. For a jockey, the bar is raised
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Looking beyond my own ride in the Gold Cup, Kauto Star is definitely the one to beat and it would be remarkable to see him win it again.
significantly when you go to the Cheltenham festival. It’s similar to a GAA team going from league matches into the championship; the level of competition and intensity goes up a few notches. You can ride in some big handicaps wherever you are throughout the season and they’ll be at a serious pace, but at some stage during the race you’ll find that it will slow down. When you go to Cheltenham, however, the pace never drops. It’s absolutely relentless. Everything goes up another gear. Sometimes in a big handicap you’ll try to sneak down the inside and ride a race, but there’s no such thing as doing that at Cheltenham, which is the one thing I’ve taken from the two years I rode there. You’ll get room wherever you can — and the majority of time it’ll be middle to outer — but a horse will seldom get a clean run down the inside bar going down to the third-last hurdle.
You’ll normally see the winners coming from middle to outer down the back over fences. Following a pre-determined plan won’t work. You run, you jump and you find room wherever you can. It’s very difficult for a jockey to really enjoy Cheltenham. There’s just too much at stake. If the first day goes well, it can make it slightly easier and you can probably be a bit more relaxed, but if that first day is a disaster, you could be in for a long, unpleasant week. I think the pressure is the same for every jockey in the weigh-in room, no matter who you are or who you’re riding for. It’s the biggest occasion for everyone involved in the sport, whether you’re at the top or bottom of the pecking order. Every jockey is in the same boat. To be heading into a Cheltenham Gold Cup on a horse as good as Midnight Chase is definitely something that excites me. The main thing for me when it comes to Midnight Chase is that I know he likes Cheltenham and he’ll jump well there. He’s won there five times so he knows the place well. I don’t have to worry about whether he’ll handle an undulating track. I know the track isn’t a big issue for him, so there’s no pressure involved from that perspective. It’ll be a big occasion but I’m relaxed. Midnight Chase knows how to handle Cheltenham. At best he’ll be in the top three, but my heart and soul says he’ll be third. Having won the Argento on Midnight Chase in January — which was our main goal — finishing third in a Gold Cup would be the icing on the cake. I can honestly see him running a massive race. Producing the goods at the Cheltenham festival can change a jockey’s career. If you can ride a winner there, I think owners and trainers will start to look at you differently. The only difference success at Cheltenham would make to me
CONFIDENT JUMPER: Midnight Chase under Dougie Costelllo takes a fence. personally is financial, but for those on the outside looking in, it would probably make a big difference. It would certainly promote me more to some of the higher calibre yards. As a jockey, if you were to retire in six months, it would be nice to be able to look back and say you rode a Cheltenham festival winner. Looking beyond my own ride in the Gold Cup, Kauto Star, if he runs, is definitely the one to beat and it would be remarkable to see him win it again. For him to come back the way he has done is unbelievable. He’s an incredible horse. Because of the tightness at Cheltenham and the gallop we’ll be going at, I think Long Run’s jumping will be found out. This
year won’t be his year, in my opinion. I fancy Burton Port to travel well and finish second. I’ve included my tips for each of the features races (right) but the one I really fancy for this Cheltenham festival is Soll in the National Hunt Chase on Wednesday. I won on him at Newcastle over hurdles last year when he was only a frame of a horse. Now he’s a year older and a year stronger. He won his last race by 20 lengths with Ruby Walsh on board at Down Royal six weeks ago. He stays incredibly well and he jumps brilliantly. If he handles Cheltenham — and I don’t see why he won’t — I think he’s a banker to win and I’d also fancy him for next year’s Grand National.
Dougie’s tips for the four feature races at Cheltenham Champion Hurdle – Tuesday at 3.20: Binocular to win at 5/1 (£20), Rock On Ruby each-way at 14/1 Queen Mother Champion Chase — Wednesday at 3.20: Sizing Europe to win at evens (£20), Somersby each-way at 12/1 World Hurdle — Thursday at 3.20: Big Bucks to win at 4/7 (£20), Oscar Whisky each-way at 4/1 Gold Cup – Friday at 3.20: Kauto Star to win at 7/2 (£20), Midnight Chase each-way at 14/1
All odds from Paddy Power
The Irish Post
March 10, 2012 | 7
The Power of fun From towering Hollywood-style sign to fake pope mobiles, Ireland’s biggest bookie knows how to grab punters’ attention
BY ENDA BRADY
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HE annual Irish invasion of Cheltenham is about to begin and one man who has become a fixture at the fourday event is the bookmaker Paddy Power. You see his name pretty much everywhere these days and it often amazes people when they find out that there actually is a person of the same name working for what is now a hugely successful Irish firm. But he doesn’t always get it right… and certainly not when it comes to Cheltenham. In fact, after his run-in with the racecourse’s management in 2010 it’s a wonder that they let him back in each year. I’ll let him take up the story… “Have you ever seen the huge big Hollywood sign that they have in America? Well our idea that year was to have an even bigger one on Cleve Hill overlooking the racecourse. It took a team of 60 men a total of 60 hours to put all the letters up, it was a huge job. It went up overnight on the Monday and I thought it looked fantastic. It was up there for the week. “Most people thought it was great and they were all shaking their heads wondering how we had managed it. It was a talking point. But some people got the hump and said it was guerilla
marketing, so the next thing we knew there was an injunction taken out against us. So that was that really.” And if offending the racing powers at Britain’s jump-racing HQ wasn’t bad enough there was the time Pope Benedict came to visit Scotland and England. “Well, the idea was that we would get an exact replica of the Popemobile and drive around Glasgow and London with a lookalike inside waving at the people,” Paddy says. “It certainly created a bit of a stir but we kept getting moved on everywhere we went and the media were more interested in filming the real Pope, which was fair enough. The funny thing was that the man who was our papal lookalike turned out to be a proud Orangeman from Ulster. I can safely say it wasn’t our most successful idea, all in all.” But away from the stunts and the publicity Paddy Power as a company has gone from strength-to-strength over the past few years. In a period when the Irish economy has struggled, infamously so, the bookmaking firm has reported substantial profits and now holds the title of Ireland’s biggest e-commerce company. “We employ 3,500 people between Ireland and Britain and our international wing has
forged solid partnerships in whatever at racetracks. It was a countries like France, Australia great upbringing.” and Canada,” says Paddy. “I And a great way of learning think we are lucky but the what can be a brutal trade, results are down to a fantastic especially if you get things team of people we have with us, wrong. they are all young and they have So just what is it about a real feel for what they are Cheltenham that always attracts doing. the Irish in such huge numbers “The company has become a and how big a deal is it massive Irish success story, financially for the bookies? which started out with pretty “I think it’s the anticipation humble beginnings. There were more than anything else for us three bookies at the start, Irish,” says Paddy. including my father, and “Cheltenham is a bigger between them they had 40 deal in Ireland than it shops. We’re now the is in the UK. The biggest in Ireland and preview nights start Australia and one of the way in advance in biggest in Britain. Ireland. I guess from “Like I say, what has November onwards happened is a testament to people start talking the people here. The about management team is young and if you walk around head office you will see lots of people there getting stuck in. I guess gambling was always in the family’s blood, my great-grandfather was a bookie too. It was all I ever knew too. I’d spend summer holidays helping my dad, just getting him a coffee or POWER OF PUBLICITY: Paddy Power.
Cheltenham horses. It’s our Olympics really and the whole season is built around it. “It’s very important to all bookies. To the company here it is not as important as it used to be. It’s the equivalent of two weeks trade crammed into four days’ racing, so it’s two-and-ahalf times the normal turnover. It’s not much of a moneymaker for us though, we treat it as a way of getting new customers.”
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The man who was our papal lookalike turned out to be a proud Orangeman. It wasn’t our most successful idea, all in all.
And no doubt there may well be a few more publicity stunts along the way this week too, though a handful of recent TV adverts made by the company have been banned. “This is one of the busiest times of the year so we put a lot of focus into advertising, but we were banned from showing again the advert we made
featuring transgender people. Then the latest one got into a bit of trouble as well, it’s a vet going around racecourses with a ‘chav tranquiliser’ dart that he fires at people. Let’s face it, we have all been at race meetings where we have wanted a certain person or group of people near us to just move on. The idea came from a comment someone posted on a social networking site saying something like ‘Let’s hope the chavs don’t ruin Cheltenham like they ruined Royal Ascot’ and we took it from there!” Funnily enough Paddy didn’t have any tips for me to share with Irish Post readers this week, though he did leave me with a story about his best ever day’s racing. His mother owns a horse called Sole Power and as it turns out, it is quite some horse… “That was an incredible day at York, my mother’s horse was entered in the Nunthorpe Stakes and it was a 100/1 shot. We were pinching ourselves when Sole Power won. Amazing really when you think about it. “Days like that don’t come around very often, but it was a great buzz. I’m easily pleased, I just love a winner.” And if every race at Cheltenham next week is won by a 100/1 shot, the bookies will walk away very pleased indeed.
8 | March 10, 2012
The Irish Post
ROBERTMULHERN
Diary of an Irishman in Britain
The Dawning of the fray
EUPHORIA: Dawn Run and John Joe O’Neill’s magical Gold Cup triumph of 1986 was Cheltenham regular Robert Mulhern’s earliest Festival memory. Our columnist has attended the festival every year since he moved to Britain in 2008.
Anticipation is building for the resumption of turf war, where Ireland takes on England in good-natured battle SINCE moving to Britain four years ago I’ve gone to the Cheltenham Festival four times. It feels like the natural thing to do. My memories of the Festival go back a lot further, to 1986 when Dawn Run galloped and gutted his way into Gold Cup folklore. We couldn’t beat England in much at that time. But we could match ‘em fetlock for fetlock over jumps. I remember watching at home, belly on the carpet, neck craned, eyes open wide as Dawn Run played his no-hecan’t-yes-he-can-duel with Wayward Lad up the Cheltenham hill to victory, just. I wasn’t really a racing fan. Like most eight-year-olds I was simply a fan of television. But this was TV worth watching, with a celebration that looked like it was worth more - the crowd spilled over into the winner’s enclosure like water from a simmering pot. Winning jockey John Joe O’Neill was in the middle of it all, armed raised with triumphant delight, dressed in red. You knew Irish punters were going to paint the town the same colour. There was a racing journalist who lived around the corner, Damien McElroy. He was there that day. His
report billed the win as epic. It had to be, because this was the greatest win in the greatest race at the greatest festival. The same people from our town, steeped in racing, went back year after year. I remember secondary school used to shut down unofficially for Cheltenham week. Students and teachers entered into this kind of unspoken work-to-rule pact. If we spotted them in the bookies we wouldn’t say anything as long as they didn’t, because they were bunking off too. One year the principal relented and wheeled the telly into the library. A board went up in the corner listing the runners and riders and then the betting started. You could say that was the moment the strike went official. Moments’ later things turned a bit special when a horse called Cyborgo won the Stayers Hurdle. The year was 1996. We had a tip. The bets were down. After school study got cancelled. Ruby Walsh wasn’t in our school but he played scrum-half with us for the rugby club in Naas. That made him a local. By 1998 we had finished school for good and were legally allowed into the bookies. Joy spilled onto Market Square
when he won the Champion Bumper on Alexander Banquet in 1998. Ruby’s first. Twelve years later Ruby was trying to beat Pat Taaffe’s record for the number of winning rides at the festival. I felt like a novice hurdler when I spoke to a journalist from The Irish Field in the press tent. I asked how long had he been coming to Cheltenham. For 30 years, he said. I said nothing. Before the Champion Hurdle, Charlie McCreevy wandered by. The former minister for finance was then European commissioner and he was ambling
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One British punter put it best when he said: “If someone is going to get one over on you in sport, you want it to be the Irish. Somehow, it feels strangely agreeable.
around Cheltenham with no security, chewing the fat, checking the odds, doing his thing. It could have been Punchestown. We were in Britain but it was Ireland really. The degrees of separation had the same limits and Charley Mac looked right at home. It always feels warming when the Fourth Estate calls it an invasion because never has an invasion been made to feel so welcome. One British punter put it best when he said: “If someone is going to get one over on you in sport, you want it to be the Irish. Somehow, it feels strangely agreeable.” For agreeable read magical because Cheltenham is Ireland versus England with a peacetime embrace. It’s days when you can get burned by the sun as well as the bookies, but to hell with it, we’ll all burn together. That’s the kinship. It’s boom-time for a sport that spends large portions of the year at the back of the field. It’s Ruby Walsh jumping on Quevega in 2010 and by the time he jumps off, Pat Taaffe has been matched. The next day it will be bested.
It’s 2011 and Ruby again, losing his whip, winning The Champion Hurdle on Hurricane Fly and everyone losing their heads with joy. It’s the charge to the Winner’s Enclosure and the cheer of victory enjoyed by everyone because victory doesn’t discriminate on the grounds of nationality. It’s about coming over, making a mark and getting one over in the nicest way possible. It’s a sense of ownership because it stings when your horse takes a fall. It’s a parish transfer, another day tomorrow, faces from home, talking about horses and nothing else. It’s ours against theirs. Last year. This year. Next Year. Forever. It’s nightlife and day-life and the adrenalin of another life. It’s the train back to Paddington and carriage participation in a who-has-thebest-socks competition. It’s are you Irish? Did you back Ruby? Because we did too. It’s Danoli, Moscow Flyer, Hardy Eustace and Istabraq. It’s Dawn Run a new Dawn every March, and every day for four glorious days, the prospect of an even brighter one.