Tiger Roll: He's been a gift to horse racing
2022 Cheltenham Festival Previews, Prestbury Park, Cheltenham, England 14/3/2022 Trainer Gordon Elliott at the gallops with Tiger Roll ridden by jockey Jamie Codd Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
And so, the end is near. Tiger Roll is on the brink of making his curtain call.
He should have had one more day in the sun, bidding to make history at Aintree, trying to win a third Grand National in three attempts. But hey, two out of two is pretty special.
Elite.
He signs off Wednesday at Cheltenham, where he has won six times, five at the festival – three times on his birthday, March 14 which means he will have just turned 12.
There are different interpretations of what makes a great. In terms of Grade 1 achievement, Tiger Roll will never be in that conversation but when it comes to longevity, regularly surprising his audience and even those closest to him, setting new records and establishing a connection with the public, both within and outside racing, this undoubted character with a remarkable narrative, bred to be a Derby winner has been a bit of a freak.
A legend of the turf.
Horses don’t emerge from the Triumph Hurdle to win staying chases over four miles and change. Not many juvenile hurdlers are still racing four or five years later. That Tiger Roll is can be attributed to his own endurance and heart and the devilment that seems to have kept him forever young – a natural playfulness that his dual Grand National-winning pilot, Davy Russell, maintains may have masked other malaises, mental or physical in the past.
It most certainly is a testament to the extra special care he got along the way, initially from his breeder Jerry O’Brien, and then, after a clearly unhappy experience at Godolphin, when Nigel Hawke and his team, including jockey Mark Quinlan discovered and unleashed a joie de vivre. Later on, Louise Magee, Karen Morgan, Lisa O’Neill, Keith Donoghue and Russell played key roles at Gordon Elliott’s.
When Elliott was in that self-created mire last year, it was his handling of Tiger Roll that I often used as evidence that welfare was not an issue at Cullentra House. This was a horse that there would have been numerous excuses for letting fall by the wayside. The trainer went to considerable lengths to unlock his charge’s potential on two occasions, to find the key to Tiger rediscovering his love of racing, and confidence.
Being treated like a king was vital. It was what he had been accustomed to on the banks of Lough Derg, when there was only him, his mother and O’Brien, sharing an idyllic setting. When humoured, and kidded, he delivered in spades and became a superstar.
And as the crowds called his name, he stuck his chest out, believed in his brilliance even more. He happily toured the country after his second National in 2019, parading and posing for photos in Youghal, Summerhill, Punchestown, Kilbeggan, Downpatrick and apparently smashing his record for selfies at the National Ploughing Championships in Fenagh. He was and is a gift to racing. Hence the hundreds of visitors he still gets at Cullentra House and you just watch how quickly the head pokes over the door when he senses a camera phone emerging from a pocket. It is just one other trait he shares with Red Rum, who he emulated when winning a second National.
This is a remarkable horse with an amazing story.
O’Brien was renowned as having a magic touch with mares when he worked as a vet for Coolmore for 27 years, having a preference for the laws of nature over science. He bred racehorses on a small scale, so nothing was ever rushed. Swiss Roll, who he named in honour of his mother's culinary speciality, was trained by Tommy Stack – who rode Red Rum to his third Grand National victory – and proved an honest filly, winning at the notoriously testing Galway track. After her retirement, she returned home to the Tipp side of the Limerick/Clare border.
Jerry O’Brien: “When Swiss Roll retired, I mated her with Oratorio and Aussie Rules. After that we went to Dubawi and that gave us Ahzeemah, who won a Lonsdale Cup and was second in an Irish Leger. After that then, we went with Authorized and a star, quite literally, was born.
“Swiss Roll is the perfect bay. The pure black points begin at the knee and go right down to the hoof. The Tiger is like that too. She has more of a white blaze, he has just the star and it’s whiter. It’s Persil white.
“When he was a foal, he was well balanced and very light on his feet. He’d a great presence about him, was a good-looking horse but he had an invincible air about him. Not in an arrogant way. He was a very kind horse. You could put a poultice on him right out here in the field. He was like them all, very amenable, very easy to handle. The one thing about him though was that if you tried to bully him into anything, you’d lose that fight.”
He liked to put on a show from pretty much the start, bucking and running as soon as he saw O'Brien approaching. With O'Brien now retired, he had begun selling his stock rather than racing them though and Godolphin bought the foal he had called Harry for 70,000 guineas.
He did not flourish, however, and was sold as an unraced-but-now-named three-year-old for just £10,000 by Hawke. The development wasn’t immediate. He did not take to galloping, clearly didn’t enjoy it. Quinlan told Hawke they would have to try something different, to get inside his head. Once he was introduced to poles and barrels, it was like he had found his calling. It is notable that Tiger Roll has never fallen, though at times, he has tested the stickability of his partners.
What Quinlan and Hawke did was stop trying to bully him into doing something he didn’t want to do... that trait O'Brien had noted in him very early on. When the breeder saw that Tiger had been moved on so cheaply though, he wondered if he had lost a limb.
Jerry: “I couldn’t believe it. I thought he was such a good-looking horse he’d make 40 or 50 thousand. I was really disappointed and thought that was it for him. Then a friend of mine called me and said ‘Your horse is running Market Rasen.’ I was thrilled and went into the bookies to watch it. He won easily. I didn’t know Nigel at all but I rang him, just to congratulate him. He said to me, ‘This could be anything.’”
O'Toole forked out £80,000 of Michael O’Leary's pile for him as a result of this triumph and he flourished initially at Cullentra, winning the Triumph Hurdle. Russell was called in as a last-minute substitute for the injured Bryan Cooper, having lost his job as Gigginstown’s number just two and a half months earlier. Tiger Roll would begin the healing process with Gigginstown on a day Russell would go on to complete a treble, winning the Gold Cup on the Jim Culloty-trained Lord Windermere.
There was a lull in Tiger’s fortunes thereafter, though he did provide Donagh Meyler with a thrill when winning the Munster National at Limerick in October 2016, having graduated to the larger obstacles. Most observers questioned Elliott’s sanity – and that of O’Neill, who was on Tiger’s back when the National Hunt Chase over four miles was placed on the agenda. Despite shuddering into a number of fences, he tanked into the straight and provided O’Neill with her first festival victory. It was a second for Tiger Roll.
A number of poor performances followed and at times, they wondered if he was injured. Yet they couldn’t find anything. It may have been his mind, he might have been hurting. But it was really only manifesting itself on race day, because of his usually sunny temperament. They persisted.
Donoghue was a key element of that process. Weight had long been a problem for the tall Meath man and when Labaik provided Jack Kennedy with his first Cheltenham victory as a 17-year-old in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2017, Donoghue watched through tears. Kennedy was only on board because Donoghue, who had done so much of the work on the quirky gelding, could not do the weight. He had decided to give up, but Elliott gradually persuaded him back – and then he was given the task of taking Tiger Roll hunting, and to get him used to the different obstacles. They were going to try the banks races.
“I rode Tiger Roll in the Clonmel Oil Chase," explains Keith Donoghue, "because Jack and Davy were on something else, and he pulled up after a lap and a half. I came in after and Gordon said, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘I dunno, he didn’t want to go’ and Gordon said, ‘Ah sure we’ll train him for the banks races’ and I walked into the weigh room thinking, ‘My God, he’s not gonna be nice.’
“Then he went to run in December in the banks race in Cheltenham. I wanted to ride Bless The Wings but Gordon said to ride Tiger Roll as he’d be the one I’d be on in March. What could I say? Bless The Wings went and won with Davy up. But Gordon kept saying ‘You’ll be on the right one in March’ and he was right. The man is some genius. I didn’t think Tiger Roll would take to them as well as he has but Gordon knew.
“Coming back the year after missing Labaik and to get the win on Tiger Roll in Cheltenham was probably the best day of my life really. The year before I was probably watching the race crying. Now I was on top of the world.”
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Louise Magee played ladies’ football for Meath and began working at Cullentra House just after giving birth to her first pair of twins. She and Karen Morgan spent more time than anyone with Tiger Roll through the various trials and tribulations. They petted and soothed him, fed him polo mints, and made him feel like a star, even when he wasn’t sure. Yet.
“We always stand in the same spot every year at Aintree. We are all very superstitious in Gordon’s. We like to do things the same because Gordon is like that as well. He doesn’t like change. So we always stand in the middle in front of the big screen and just up from the winning post.
“The first year he won, I did think we had it. I went up to Davy (Russell) and said, ‘You have won, you have won!’ He said ‘We haven’t!’ I said ‘You have it, I am telling you, you have it!’ And he couldn’t believe it. I knew he had held on.
“He is bold enough in the stable. If you are going to try and pull his mane you are going to need about three people to help you. He is very liable to drop you as well... It’s pure messing.”
Says Keith O'Donoghue: “When he is in good form he would be kicking and bucking. He wouldn’t get you off but he would try. He would be messing. He would let you know when he is in good form anyway. But obviously he has got cheekier the more attention he has gotten, cockier and more confident in himself.”
Adds Louise: “He is a completely different horse on race day. When you bring him into the stable at the races first and brush him and plait him, he is chilled out and grand. The minute you come in with a bridle he will start shaking and then he will start getting warm. He knows it’s time to go. He is a bit buzzy and on his toes and sweats a little bit. But he is really focused. He is mentally preparing himself for the race. Then he goes out and does his job.”
This is not imagined. Donoghue has spoken of how Tiger takes a hold two out in the Cross-Country, each he has won three times now. After a lengthy period in the outfield, and despite, having run over three miles already, he locks on like the race has just begun as he hears the cacophony from his stands. And, he wants to put on a show. For this is his stage.
During the Documentary On One podcast, O'Toole noted how often he stopped during the parade to look at the crowd, as if to give them his best profile.
Russell confirms the self-awareness.
“The people adore him… at home, people walk past his stable and say hello to him as if he’s a human being. It’s just unreal.
“I know it’s silly but I believe he knows his name. Going to the start (in 2019), when we were parading, the commentator said his name and he stood up and put his chest out. Louise noticed it too. He’s so intelligent.”
Louise: “He is such a show-off. He just loves the attention, the cameras. It is all a part of it. It is part of his party piece. ‘Here I am. I’m here ‘cos I’m great.’ He just loves it. He loves every part of it.”
Davy: “I think the Cross-Country has crowned him. It taught him how to use his feet better. He used to be a bit of a bulldozer but he is dancing more now and has learned that it’s easier that way. And the blinkers Gordon put on him had a hugely positive effect.
“I don’t want to go on about Black Beauty, and talking to horses. There’s none of that goes on but he’s just different. I’ve ridden some very good horses but I’ve never ridden a horse like him.
“He’s shocking fast from take-off to landing over his fences but he’ll rub every fence. He flicks out over the top of them. So, you can never trust him. He could have you on your arse very quick.
“But there is just something different about him. He is just intelligent and clever. He is watching left and right. The horse falls in front and he is around him before you know it. He is just a clever, clever horse. He is a special horse.”
Jerry: “I received a kind invite from Aintree to travel (for the second National). Before the race, there was a lady standing beside me with a child in a pushchair going, ‘Mummy, mummy, when is Tiger coming?’ That is the impact The Tiger has had.”
And so, the horse who for so long was deemed never to have fulfilled expectation, has exceeded them.
Now to strut, one last time.
