A Champion show from the Comeback Kid
Yesterday, one was a tale of redemption and it came in the Big One – the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle Trophy – where Binocular went from non-runner to winner in less than a calendar month.
Beaten by half a length when starting as favourite 12 months ago, the six-year old had endured a disappointing season and trainer Nicky Henderson revealed later that he was “nine-tenths taking him out” of the line-up. Any chance of making amends for 2009 looked to be over.
Not so. Henderson schooled him well in his Lambourn yard last week and who better than Tony McCoy to take him home? In the end, he had over three lengths to spare on Khyber Kim.
As comebacks go, it is already being compared favourably to Lazarus and, for JP McManus, the owner who was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year, this latest win was particularly sweet.
“I’d given up all hope so I’ve only really been sweating since last week,” McManus said. “I’d torn up my tickets. They are all tough to win but I did think he looked great before the race and Nicky really had him in peak condition.
“Nicky worked the oracle and brought him back and I wondered if it was for real. I’m so pleased because he believed so much in this horse. I knew the horse was in safe hands.”
McCoy, who is retained by McManus, had been confident when he rode both Binocular and Zaynar in the lead-up to the festival and he was ecstatic afterwards – for his owner and his wife Noreen, in particular.
“Racing is so lucky to have a family with so much enthusiasm for jump racing,” said the unusually excitable 14-time champion jockey. “I don’t know why they let me ride them but they do. I am not as miserable as you think, am I?
Let’s just pause for a bit more context, shall we?
Binocular’s start to the season could have hardly promised less. As McCoy said himself, he didn’t “jump, travel or finish” at Newcastle and he then repeated the trick for good measure at Sandown.
“Today I jumped two hurdles and it was the first time that I felt that I was riding the horse I rode at Ascot last season,” said AP. “For some reason, the Binocular that I thought was always there showed up.”
IF THAT all seemed a bit too Disney then it wasn’t alone. Just over an hour earlier, Sizing Europe overcame similar ghosts of Cheltenhams Past when he made up for his disappointment in the 2008 Champion Hurdle by claiming the Arkle spoils.
Two years ago, the gelding was favourite for that Champion Hurdle but tailed off badly and his chance to make amends disappeared last year through illness. Many doubted his chances to make things right yesterday but Henry de Bromhead wasn’t one of them and the Waterford trainer will never forget the day the eight-year-old finally handed him his first festival winner.
“I don’t know if (2008) haunted me but we learned from it. He is stronger and better. We just learned how to manage him properly.
“He is like one of our children. He has been phenomenal. He has put us on the map and is an unbelievable horse with over a 50% strike rate. He has just been savage.”
Sizing Europe’s was a fairytale that struck all bases. As with Binocular, the owner Alan Potts has had his own health issues to deal with recently and, though they kept him from being there in the winners’ enclosure, his joy matched McManus.
“This is one day we will never forget,” said his daughter Julie. “He is just so emotional. Today is their wedding anniversary and it’s Ann’s birthday as well.”
Completing the unlikely storyline was Andrew Lynch, the 25-year old jockey from Donaghmore, Co Meath, a short gallop from Arkle’s home. Lynch’s father, Sean, was a jockey before him and this was the younger man’s first winner at Cheltenham.
Lest we forget, this race had been painted as a duel between Sizing Europe and Captain Cee Bee.
In the end, Captain Cee Bee limped home eighth with a suspected burst blood vessel but there was no-one seeking to qualify the winner’s achievement this time.
“At Leopardstown he never jumped as fence,” said Lynch. “Today, he was standing off his fences. Everyone knocked him. Fair enough Captain Cee Bee might have beat him on the day, but we knew he had improvement on him.” So he did.
