Bertram Allen’s great ambition is to ride in Grand National
Calm, calculated thinking and the ability to treat triumph and tragedy as equal imposters are pretty essential attributes when you have anything up to a ton of unpredictable horse flesh underneath you. But he does have one crazy, out there ambition.
He’d love to ride the Grand National. Allen admitted as much a few years ago, long before his 19-year old buddy Danny Mullins claimed victory last month in horse racing’s most illustrious race on board Rule The World.
“It was absolutely fantastic and I take my hat off to him,” said the 20-year old from Enniscorthy. “It isn’t easy to get those chances at a young age and when you do get a sniff you have to nail them down and that’s what he did.”
Allen’s father Bert is well-known for his portfolio of business interests that fan out into the meat, hotel and property industries and his keen interest in the equine game ran to a bunch of point to point horses. His son wasn’t long being bitten by the bug.
He started riding at eight. Notable wins followed in the junior grades and the impossibly boyish-looking performer still looked more child than teenager when he began transferring that success to the senior circuit. Young Allen was 16 when he moved to the Hünxe area of Germany, close to the Dutch border. It was a singularly mature decision by the youngster, one based on the premise it afforded superb facilities and easier access to the European circuit.
Now ranked ninth in the world, it was Allen who secured Ireland’s one and only showjumping berth in Rio at this year’s Olympic Games, although the vagaries of the selection process mean he is not guaranteed the ride in Brazil.
That will be decided on June 5 and there is no little competition given the quality of fellow contenders Cian O’Connor, Denis Lynch and Greg Broderick. Robert Splaine, showjumping team manager, is the man left with the unenviable decision.
“I won the spot and Molly (Malone) has been the best horse at the last two senior championships so obviously it is at the back of my head,” said Allen.
“I will make a plan for Rio now and I will stick to that. If it is good enough it will be good enough. I won’t burn her out trying to win the spot and then not compete in Rio.”
The real shame is Ireland won’t be represented in the showjumping team event as well. Though recognised as one of the top countries in the world, Irish hopes were thwarted in controversial fashion last August at the FEI European Championships.
Spain squeezed through in the last qualifying spot in Aachen after O’Connor‘s round had been interrupted by a member of the arena staff appearing in front of him. O’Connor kept going, but he knocked the next fence.
That was his only fault and subsequent appeals were dismissed on the basis the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist had continued his round..
It was just days before Christmas last year when he delivered a flawless performance that stunned the rest of the world-class field and everyone else at London’s Olympia Grand Prix, but his win was annulled when some blood was found on Quiet Easy’s right flank.
The amount was minute and a host of his fellow riders cried foul at a decision correct under the rules but which many deemed to be draconian. That included Michael Whitaker who was ushered up the podium before handing over the winner’s rosette to the Irishman.
Allen described himself as “devastated” at the time, but that was then. “It was easy enough to move on from it,” he explained. “You can’t worry too much about these things.”
