THE 2020 Irish Grand National is due to be run much later in the year, bringing back memories of 2001 when, due to foot and mouth disease, the race was also moved from its Easter Monday slot to the May bank holiday.

Staged in glorious sunshine, that edition was won by Davids Lad, a high-class chaser from humble origins who was expertly trained by Tony Martin to win the race in good style off bottom weight.

Only a seven-year-old and a novice at the time, Davids Lad was owned by a four-man syndicate headed by Eddie Moran, a publican from Templemore, Co Tipperary. The Eddie Joe’s Syndicate had plenty of good days with the horse. He won 12 races (10 for the syndicate) and was among the favourites for the Grand National at Aintree on two occasions. It would have been three but for a controversial stewards’ inquiry which led to a High Court challenge, but we’ll get to that later!

Eddie Moran has since got out of the pub trade and is now better known as a racehorse owners liaison at a host of racecourses. We caught up with him this week and asked him to talk us through the Davids Lad story.

One foal

“I was involved in a few point-to-pointers with Tony when he was riding,” Eddie recalled. “In 1993 I had a four-year-old filly with him named Cool Nora, after my wife. She was Tony’s first winner as a trainer when she won a maiden hurdle in Downpatrick. We retired her after that’s season and she only produced one foal – that turned out to be Davids Lad.

“Tony came down to see him as a young horse and advised me to keep him as he thought he would be a racehorse. I named him after my son, David, who is now a professional flat jockey in Canada, where he has been for nine seasons.

“Davids Lad ran in two point-to-points as a four-year-old and had some educational runs in hurdle races before we went for a touch at my local track, Thurles.

“Gordon Elliott was riding him and they looked to have every chance of winning when they slipped up crossing a roadway before the final hurdle. The ground was heavy there and we found out later that he loved good ground. He went on to win hurdle races at Down Royal and Perth before I decied to syndicate him.”

Eddie’s brother Jimmy, the trainer’s brother-in-law Mattie Lynch and north Co Dublin businessman Nini Butterly took a leg each, and then the fun really began.

Well-handicapped

After some exploratory runs over fences in late 1999, Davids Lad reverted to hurdles for a couple of small wins in early 2000 at Fairyhouse and Musselburgh. Conor O’Dwyer was his regular rider at this stage though Ruby Walsh proved an able deputy when the horse won his first chase in October 2000 at Navan, a modest handicap off a mark of just 83, about 50lb below his hurdling mark. He would go on to be rated 148 at his peak.

That Navan victory proved a perfect preparation for a handicap at Cheltenham’s November meeting. Eddie recalls: “That was a great day, we had about 100 people in the parade ring! I remember Conor O’Dwyer saying on television that none of them would be going home that night, and we didn’t!”

Unfortunately Conor O’Dwyer was unable to commit to Davids Lad and Ruby Walsh was back on board for the horse’s next three starts, all of which were on soft or heavy ground, and he didn’t trouble the judge.

Foot-and-mouth

The last of those three Ruby runs was on February 18th, 2001. Within a week racing in Ireland and Britain had stopped due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in both countries. The stoppage lasted for approximately 50 days, and saw the Cheltenham Festival first postponed and then cancelled altogether.

Punchestown was also lost, though bizarrely for a totally different reason. The track was unfit for racing following complications arising from major drainage work which had been carried out the previous winter. The only big race left for Davids Lad was the Irish Grand National, which had been rescheduled for early May.

“We had been aiming Davids Lad at the Kim Muir and Davy Russell had been booked,” Eddie remembers. Now Fairyhouse was the plan but there was work to do just to get into the race.

When racing did restart the ground had dried out and Davids Lad was ready to rock. An Irish Grand National trial at Fairyhouse was targeted and, with Ruby now also unavailable, Timmy Murphy was brought over for the ride. The partnership gelled immediately and they bolted up by 20 lengths.

A 16lb penalty wasn’t even enough to get Davids Lad into the handicap proper for the Irish Grand National less than two weeks later. In the big race, he was 2lb ‘wrong’ at the foot of the handicap but still sent off at only 10/1 in a 19-runner field.

‘Great lepper’

Eddie takes up the tale: “Busloads of us went up from Templemore. Everyone in the town backed it. The horse was in great form and the ground came right. He was a great lepper and the only doubt was the trip. Timmy settled him at the back of the field on the first circuit. He only had two behind him passing the post first time around.”

Murphy went the inside route and crept steadily closer. Jumping four out, they still had 10 horses in front of them, including top hunter chaser Sheltering, the previous year’s winner Commanche Court and the favourite Foxchapel King.

Rounding the home turn with three to jump, the outsider Rathbawn Prince went up to challenge longtime leader Sheltering but, in behind, Davids Lad was closing them down in sixth spot under a motionless Murphy.

Kieran Kelly and Rathbawn Prince were clear over the second last and going well. Davids Lad jumped from fourth place into second spot but had about six lengths to make up. Now Murphy shook up his mount (no whip needed) and the lead was down to just over a length when they jumped the last.

At that point everyone except poor Kieran knew the result. Dessie Scahill takes it up: “Final fence coming up. Rathbawn Prince in front, Davids Lad charging after him. putting in a tremendous run. They’re inside the last hundred yards. It’s Rathbawn Prince grabbed close home by Davids Lad, an absolutely magnificent ride by Timmy Murphy to win the National for Tony Martin!”

The winning margin was a length and a half but that does not do justice to the winner’s superiority on the day.

“The place was packed – it was the best day of them all,” says Eddie. “We stayed up in Meath for the night to celebrate. Paul Carberry and Adrian Maguire joined us – it was a great night.”

Shrewd move

But the season wasn’t over yet. “Tony rang me two days later and said the horse was in good order. There was a nice pot in Navan [EBF Novice Final] and he reckoned the horse could win it. So we went for that and he won easily. Tony was so shrewd.”

The following autumn Davids Lad reappeared at Roscommon in October and won a two-mile conditions chase. He was still only rated 147 but people were starting to wonder how much more improvement there might be to come. “A few locals backed him to win the Gold Cup after Roscommon,” says Eddie but in fact the horse did not progress as anticipated afterwards.

However, he remained a very talented handicapper and, following the precedent set by Bobbyjo and Papillon a couple of years earlier, Aintree was the aim. “We took a box there and 45 of us went over in a bus from Templemore, stopping in Dublin to pick up passengers from Trim. Great times.”

Davids Lad went off joint second favourite at 10/1 and was in contention when he fell four out in the race won by Bindaree.

“I watched that race on Clare Balding’s monitor. When I told her what horse I was following, she said ‘if he stands up, he wins’.

“I think the sun was in the horse’s eyes when he fell. Timmy came in and said he would have won but he had brought down Paul Carberry on Ad Hoc and Paul said his horse definitely would have won!”

High Court

Aintree 2003 was the new plan but it wasn’t to be. Let’s just say the horse caught the attention of the stewards in his prep run at Naas and the resulting ban ruled him out of both Cheltenham and Liverpool. An attempt to have the ban lifted or deferred was dismissed by the High Court. The horse did recoup some of the losses by finishing a fine fourth under top weight in the Irish Grand National behind Timbera.

Davids Lad did make it back to Aintree for the 2004 National but he was never in contention behind Amberleigh House.

Amazingly Tony Martin had one more trick up his sleeve. He turned Davids Lad into a banks performer and, as an 11-year-old, he won the Kildare Hunt Cup on the opening day of the 2005 Punchestown Festival.

“He came out again for the La Touche two days later and he started favourite but he stepped on a stone after jumping the wall and went lame. Paul Carberry was riding him and he was in no doubt he would have won, but that was the end of his racing career.”

Davids Lad continues to spend his retirement in the care of Tony Martin’s mother in Trimblestown, and is said to love his mints and carrots.

Looking back, Eddie picks out the Irish National and Davids Lad’s first win in Down Royal as his two favourite days. Overall he says the horse’s career was testament to Tony Martin’s skill in placing horses. “Tony was the first trainer to start taking horses over to small tracks in England, and if you send him a good horse he can get the results.”