07 April 2008 Aintree Fox Hunter Chase - Post-race Thoughts
Christy Beamish: returned home after the race to a stable which had been decorated with red ribbons
Christy Beamish, for whom Josh Guerriero, his fourth winning partner this season, was booked only a few days before the race, is reported by Sue Taylor, partner of trainer Paul Jones, to have come out of the race very well. "Surprisingly he had hardly any birch cuts on him," she said. "I rode him out this morning [Sunday] and he was fine. He always tries to squash whoever he goes out with - he won't let anything come past and does half-passes to push them out of the way!"
Christy Beamish returned home after the race to a stable which had been decorated with red ribbons by neighbour Judy Kemp, and has since had several visitors from the local population who have come to admire him. "He puts his head over the stable door and nods at them," laughed Sue. "He'd be a bit smug if he was a person."
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Apart from his bad blunder at Bechers, Christy Beamish enjoyed a smooth passage en route to his Fox Hunter victory, but his trainer was soon brought back down to earth, although maybe "earth" is not the operative word.
Paul's saddlery business took him to Ireland at the weekend, and while there he teamed up with a motor yacht-owning friend for a trip down the Shannon. Unfortunately the journey took longer than anticipated, as the pair were marooned for four hours when the boat ran aground on an unmarked rock!
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Prior to Christy Beamish, owner Michael Mann should have had a Fox Hunter runner with Back The Road in the late nineties. However, when the entries came out, Back The Road was not among them. It transpired that Michael had forgotten to alter his clocks when the time changed that weekend and had missed the deadline for declarations.
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The equine hero is named after his breeder, and two days after his victory another Christy Beamish was in the winner's enclosure when the breeder's son, also named Christy Beamish, won the Mares' Maiden at Dromahane on Bathwick Lucy. The coincidence did not stop there, as Bathwick Lucy is a full sister to Mike Parr's Glacial Trial, a mare who scored three times when trained by....Paul Jones!
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There were no excuses from Sam Waley-Cohen, rider of the gallant runner-up Katarino, who was making his seasonal debut in his bid to win the race for a third time. "It was one of the best preparations we've had with him," Sam admitted, "and if there was anything extraordinary about it, it was not damaging himself before the race! In fact, he was almost too fresh on the day - Aintree brings him alive. Somebody said to me that it must be a difficult course to ride, but it's easy when you're on a horse like him."
Sam was quick to deflect the credit for the performance to Kate Mawle, the Waley-Cohens' head girl, who has been riding Katarino twice a day.
Fears that the fragile 13-year-old may have gone wrong again as he was heavily eased on the run-in proved unfounded, Sam explaining that he was just "on very tired legs."
"He won't run again this year," he added. "He'll be a lead horse for the youngsters at home, and we'll see if he tells us he wants to go again next year."
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Sam's acceptance of defeat on the run-in nearly cost Jacqueline Coward her third place on Holy Joe as she eased her mount too early and was almost caught by Oliver Greenall on Sonevafushi. "There was a gap in the rail and I saw Sam easing down so I thought that was the finish," she confessed. "When I came in Venetia [Williams, Holy Joe's trainer] said ‘I think you need glasses.'"
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"I was shouting for both of them - first one, then the other," said Cherry Coward, trainer of Sonevafushi, and breeder of Holy Joe's jockey, daughter Jacqueline. "You just want them to come home safe," she added.
Cherry was delighted with Sonevafushi, who she thought may next have a run between the flags. "He jumped for fun, and Aintree didn't bother him much at all, but we don't want to disappoint him," she said. No decision has yet been made regarding another outing for her Cheltenham winner Amicelli, who is also reported to be very well following his Festival exertions.
Cherry's immediate problem was with regard to Sunday's Middleton Point-to-Point. "You've got to support your local meeting, haven't you?" she observed, and then, in answer to her own question, said "I'm taking so many, I've had to go and borrow another lorry."
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Holy Joe was originally to have been partnered by Oliver Greenall but he switched to Sonevafushi when that one's intended rider, his elder brother Thomas, was injured. "I thought Sonevafushi was a better horse and would have more chance," said Oliver, "but I'm not sure he tried his very hardest."
Due to Jacqueline's error of judgement, Sonevafushi failed by just half a length to snatch third, but Oliver, who had a foot in both camps - his father Lord Daresbury has a share in both horses - did not mince his words. "I gave Jacqueline a good rollocking and told her she wasn't ever to do that again," he said.
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The well-fancied Alvino started very slowly, but according to rider Richard Burton it made not a jot of difference. "If he'd started 30 lengths in front he wouldn't have won," he stressed. "He didn't enjoy the fences and wasn't happy at all. One thing's for sure, he won't be going back there." For Richard, it was a stark contrast to his ride 12 months before, when he landed the spoils on Scots Grey. "It makes you realise what a great spin it was last year," he commented.
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Rookie trainer Gillian Kerr professed herself "chuffed to bits" with sixth-placed Eskimo Jack, who was off the bridle landing over the first and was given a fine ride by Ran Morgan to get home. "It wasn't really far enough or soft enough for him," said Gillian, adding tongue-in-cheek "We should have had him in the National - now that would be a dream!"
Eskimo Jack certainly showed no ill effects by going out in the field for 30 minutes on arrival home and enjoying "a buck and a squeal." "Once we've all come back down to earth we'll think about where to go next with him," smiled Gillian.
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Viscount Bankes, who came to grief at Becher's, was none the worse for his experience. "We went there with no expectations," said owner Rosemary Gasson. "It was Hannah [Watson] who said she'd like to ride over the National fences, and I asked her why she didn't find one of her owners who would let her have a go. She looked at me and said she'd found one! So I packed my schooling fences with evergreen and we went from there."
Rosemary had nothing but plaudits for the Aintree organisation. "It was a wonderful day," she enthused. "There were so many staff and they were all endlessly helpful. Everything was adjacent, and you were able to watch the racing because the box park was so handy to the course. I can't praise them enough."
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Hannah does not have a Category ‘B' licence and so had to get special permission to take her place in the line-up. "I was given a day licence just to ride that particular horse," she explained, "on condition that I promised to go on the Cat ‘B' course, so I'm booked in to do it in May."
Although disappointed that Viscount Bankes was caught out by the drop at Becher's, Hannah admitted she was "absolutely buzzing" from the whole experience. "I thought if we get over the Chair I'll be happy because we should have got into a nice rhythm by then," she said, "so it was a shame we didn't get further. I'll live on that for the rest of the season, and I can't wait to have another go."
Watching the re-run, Hannah was quick to spot that her mount had got in plenty of extra practice by continuing to jump while loose, and had happily negotiated Valentine's, so she is already looking forward to next year!