2008

IT was all about patience and staying power.

With Timmy Murphy on board, the former was never going to be a problem for Comply Or Die in Saturday’s John Smith’s Grand National. In addition, David Pipe had nursed him back to full health after a long period on the side-lines. Finally, his wide-margin win in the Eider Chase at Newcastle had indicated that four and a half miles would not inconvenience him unduly.

It all came together as he battled on to beat King Johns Castle by four lengths, with Snowy Morning third and the ever-reliable Slim Pickings fourth, giving Ireland three of the places. They were followed by Bewleys Berry, who jumped well and looked the likely winner before tiring two out, and long-time ante-post favourite Cloudy Lane, who started 7/1 joint-favourite with the gambled-on winner. There was money for the 2005 winner Hedgehunter, who faded into 13th, and the one sad note was struck by last year’s runner-up McKelvey, who paid the ultimate price after a bad mistake at the 20th.

Pipe, winning the great race in only his second year since taking over from his father, must have been happy enough with what he saw from quite early on. His 125/1 outsider Milan Deux Mille was up there for a long while before dropping out to finish last of the 15 which completed, while Murphy gradually edged Comply Or Die closer to the leaders. They included Mr Pointment and Chelsea Harbour, with the latter still in front from the Canal Turn to four out.

Hopes raised

Snowy Morning took over soon afterwards, and kept on better than Bewleys Berry, who raised his supporters’ hopes on the run to the third last. Comply Or Die was now moving easily into contention and Murphy, having picked his way through the field, let him stride on a fence later. King Johns Castle, giving Paul Carberry a tremendous ride, mastered Snowy Morning and briefly looked a danger as the trio pulled clear, but Comply Or Die responded well to a couple of smacks and drew clear.

He was adding to the fine record of nine-year olds in the race, a statistic further boosted by the second and fourth. In any National there will be hard-luck stories, and the two principal ones concerned D’Argent and, especially, Butler’s Cabin.

D’Argent was with the leaders and ran a fine race until coming to grief with four to jump, while Tony McCoy was still going ominously well when Butler’s Cabin came down at Becher’s second time. There was still a long way to go, but the Irish National winner was in the process of eclipsing his previous efforts this term and might well have been involved in the finish.

The champion jockey beat the ground in frustration and the racing world will feel cheated if his day does not arrive eventually. In the end, the story was about Murphy, his nerveless, sublime touch on the big occasion, and the effort of will that has seen him leave his inner, self-destructive demons for dead. Which is all that should be said about it, really, because he paid a hefty price for the actions of a different man in drink a few years ago, and those happy to recount chapter and verse might have shown more restraint.

‘‘Always in the National, you’re concentrating on getting over every one,’’ he said after the race. ‘‘We got over the last, and I just had a peek and saw Paul, and he is not the man you want to see. I thought, as we came to the Elbow, that it was time to finish it.’’

Pipe junior was winning the race 14 years after his father sent out Miinnehoma to triumph after many attempts with many horses. Miinnehoma was ridden by Richard Dunwoody, who said of Murphy: ‘‘He is the most lovely, flowing horseman. Of all jockeys, he is the calmest in a race.’’

Mention must also be made of Comply Or Die’s owner David Johnson, who was sufficiently impressed by Murphy’s fightback from the dark days to make him his retained jockey, even if the Pipes looked elsewhere sometimes. Johnson has lost Eudipe, Tamarindo and Gris D’Estruval over the National fences over the years, and had to conquer his own inner fears before letting Comply Or Die take his chance.

‘‘It sours you and lingers in the memory,’’ he admitted. ‘‘My daughter Lisa was trembling today, but all my horses have come back in one piece. I’ve got money back from what I paid Tom Costello for Comply Or Die - I’m only £2 million down now!’’

David Pipe has taken on Martin’s mantle with the minimum of fuss and left the retired champion trainer more relaxed (one might even say amiable and joshing) in the process. ‘‘Comply Or Die looked tailor-made for this race after winning the Eider, and there was every reason to think he would take to it,’’ he remarked. ‘‘I thought he was tiring four out but he came out of Timmy’s hands and galloped all the way to the line. A few horses were well in, but he was, too. It took him time to come back from injury and he’s been nurtured slowly.’’

Final say

The form book had the final say as many people joined in the late gamble which saw the winner backed from 10/1 to joint-favouritism. It was hardly an unfavourable omen that Comply Or Die had finished second in the Royal & SunAlliance Chase as a youngster - a race Miinnehoma won. The Pipes tread reliable, well-worn paths when it comes to winning big races. The only worry might have been the blinkers, because no horse had prevailed with the blinds on since Earth Summit 10 years ago, and Comply Or Die was only the second to do so since L’Escargot lowered Red Rum’s colours in 1975.

It is safe to assume that last week’s hero knew little of such things, while his softly-spoken, totally rehabilitated partner probably acknowledged them and then got on with the job in hand.

If Murphy sometimes thought the sunlit uplands way out of reach, he was proven gloriously wrong last week, and the huge, appreciative crowd let him know it.

Two very Grand Nationals for Tom

2008

THERE is surely no other yard that has put as many top-class National Hunt performers through it as that of Tom Costello.

He has been enjoying a purple patch of late, and both the Irish Grand National winner Hear The Echo and last weekend’s Aintree hero Comply Or Die had been given the Clare man’s seal of approval.

Tom purchased Comply Or Die as a two-year-old from his great pal Danny Doran, before selling him on to David Johnson. The son of Old Vic was bred in Mullingar by Martin Dibbs and purchased from him by Doran.

Hear The Echo was bred by the late Nuala Delaney and she was the only sister of Tom Costello. The Michael O’Leary-owned winner at Fairyhouse was sired by Luso, a resident at Garryrichard Stud.

Tom Costello and the late Michael Hickey were very close friends for many generations, and Tom has always been a supporter of Hickey-owned stallions.

Incidentally, Comply Or Die’s sire Old Vic stands with Michael Hickey the younger at his Sunnyhill Stud.

For good measure Tom Costello purchased the dam of King Johns Castle for the O’Neill family, who bred the son of Flemensfirth. What a Grand National record!

Oh no no no America

1958

ONE of the most spectacular, if somewhat ‘Oirish’, advertisements for our bloodstock breeding appeared in a recent issue of the American bloodstock magazine The Thoroughbred Record, published in Lexington, Kentucky.

With the heading, ‘Leave it to the Irish’, and printed on vivid green paper across two pages, with white lettering and bedecked with shamrocks and clay pipes and pictures of horses’ heads, the following is the wording of an advertisement for the two Irish-bred stallions, Sullivan and Stella Aurata.

‘‘Faith and begorra. Californians have seen many fine horses of great speed, but shure, now, they’re completely awed by the stretch-running Silky Sullivan, sired by Sullivan, the Irish ‘half-brither’ to Stella Aurata.

‘‘Silky shows his inheritance from the Ould Sod in his determined come-from-behind style of running. In last Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby, Silky, coming like a son of Ould Scratch hisself, made up 28½ lengths to win by three. Shure and this ‘half-brither’ to Stella Aurata has sired a ‘foine broth’ of a youngster in Silky Sullivan.’’