Ruby Walsh: Jack Kennedy’s resilience will see him through again
Navan 7-11-21
As I left Navan last Sunday after racing, Jack Kennedy was stretchered into an ambulance at the back of the weighroom. He had taken another crunching fall, this time from the ill-fated Wide Receiver, and dislocated his right shoulder.
Before they departed for whatever A&E they were going to, I jumped into the back of that ambulance and wished him luck on his recovery, but more so to talk to him. I know there is nothing anybody can say to a sportsperson in his position because nobody can give them what they want - which is not to be injured - but I wanted to check on him.
I know he is a young man who has achieved a considerable amount in a relatively short career, but he has also had more than his share of knocks. His list of injuries is substantial.
In that ambulance, I expected to find an utterly dejected jockey lying on a stretcher staring into space, trying to figure out how to cope with another spell watching the winter racing instead of riding in it.
He has already shown substantial mental strength to return to the top of his game on several occasions, which belies his young age, and the man I found in the ambulance amazed me.
Yes, he was upset but not devastated. He knew what he was facing, but it was like he was ready to battle with his body and make himself ready again.
He wanted to discuss timelines and recovery even though all I could see was pain written all over him, and his words only made me admire him even more. He is old-fashioned, hardcore. He is a very talented young man that I love to watch plying his trade. Minella Indo’s Gold Cup victory was his biggest day last March, but his rides on Mount Ida and Galvin that week were artistic.
Racing, like every sport, needs its stars competing to keep its place in the spotlight. In horse racing, those stars are equine and human, and the return of some of our human stars can’t come fast enough.
Paul Townend is on the way, and Jack will follow him, but lads please hurry up, the sport is good this weekend and would be even better with your involvement.
One of last year’s stars, Bob Olinger, kicks the weekend off at midday today in Punchestown. Heading to post on him, Rachael Blackmore will be pretty happy that she made it back in time to ride him. Every individual who witnessed her amazing sit on Gin On Lime yesterday at Cheltenham will also be pleased she is back in action because that was a moment to remember.
All day today, your eyes will go between the headquarters of National Hunt racing on both sides of the Irish Sea. Cape Gentleman is up next at 12.38 in Punchestown, where Denis O’Reagan takes over on Riviere D’etel. The hefty weight allowance which this four-year-old filly receives will test Emmet Mullins’ impressive novice chaser, before Third Time Lucki tries to reply for the English in the 1.40 at Cheltenham.
The 1.48 in Punchestown is a tidy rated novice hurdle in which Top Bandit would look the obvious one, before the Paddy Power Gold Cup takes place at 2.15 in Cheltenham. The Paul Nicholls-trained Lalor and the Dan Skelton-trained Protektorat head the betting, but I like a bigger-priced horse from the yard of Philip Hobbs.
Dostal Phil’s form over two miles last spring makes him my type of horse for this contest because you need more speed than stamina over 2m4f on Cheltenham’s old course. Slower horses struggle to hold a decent position and end up using too much energy just keeping up before the quicker ones, who have been finding it easy, quicken away from them.
I rode the slow type far too often in this contest and often wished I had remembered my own advice before deciding what to ride in years gone by!
Sunday’s cards on both sides of the sea are equally entertaining. The Shloer Chase in Cheltenham has Put The Kettle On, Nube Negra and Politologue while, at Punchestown, the Morgiana Hurdle has Abacadabras, Zanahiyr, Sharjah and the newbie to open company, Echoes in Rain.
She is the pick of last year’s novices who are sticking to the smaller obstacles, but she has a bit to find to beat these geldings tomorrow afternoon, let alone what she has to improve to challenge Honeysuckle.
The hurdling scene needs a fresh challenger, so hopefully she can step up and become a theoretical challenger to one of Henry De Bromhead’s great mares.
His other champion mare, Put The Kettle On, lines up at her beloved Cheltenham, and she is better here than anywhere. She is a mare I have never given enough credit and have always overlooked, but at least she is consistent and has continually proven me wrong.
I can only speak for myself, but she is an Arkle and Champion Chase winner and I need to start seeing her like that. Form is form, and she has it in the book to go along with a great attitude to win and the braveness required by any top two-mile chaser.
She must surely be a joy to own and, looking at the price that some top National Hunt mares achieved this week at the broodmare sales, she is almost certainly one of the most valuable National Hunt horses in training.
The Greatwood Handicap Hurdle is Cheltenham’s other feature and Charles Byrnes looks to have plotted a nice route here for Advanced Virgo. He is only three pounds higher in the UK than at home and, with my own personal view on the British ratings, he could be very well treated. He handles good ground and I hope it is the last time I mention that going description for a while. I know when it starts, it won’t stop, but the Closutton express is ready for the rain, so please let it rain.
