2007

THERE has hardly been a more eagerly anticipated race run in Ireland in recent seasons, and pre-race excitement was more than matched by the spectacle that unfolded on the track, as Hardy Eustace landed an epic AIG Europe Champion Hurdle.

It was a race that brought together eight horses with some 26 Grade 1 victories between them, and an all-star cast stood in the way of Hardy Eustace and a first victory in this race. It was a truly daunting challenge, and one that brought out the very best in the dual Champion Hurdler who stormed back to the pinnacle of his division with a front-running masterpiece.

This was the seventh time Hardy Eustace has squared off against Brave Inca and Macs Joy. The trio have served up some titanic battles over the last two years, and this was another to live long in the memory as Hardy Eustace returned to the very peak of his powers and defeated his two old rivals for the first time since the 2005 Champion Hurdle.

Not since Comedy Of Errors in 1975 has a horse lost and then regained his Champion Hurdle crown at Cheltenham, and here Hardy Eustace served notice that he is well equipped to join that most select group.

From flag fall Conor O’Dwyer sent the Archway gelding to the head of a top-quality field, and the pair dictated a good pace from Brave Inca. Nearing the second last all bar Asian Maze were within striking distance, but the front pair started to pull clear after that flight, ahead of Macs Joy who surged from seventh into a menacing third.

Courage

An enthralling battle ensued as Brave Inca eventually drew upsides Hardy Eustace nearing the last. The stage seemed set for the former’s trademark battling qualities to carry him to victory. However, Hardy Eustace has always possessed courage, determination and the will to win to match that of his old foe, and he was not to be outdone.

The Lar Byrne-owned gelding started to edge away on the run in and he defeated Brave Inca by three lengths. There was the same distance back to Macs Joy, and the juvenile Lounaos produced a stellar effort to finish two lengths back in fourth on only her third start over hurdles.

A tremendous reception awaited the first two on their return to the enclosure, and afterwards Dessie Hughes could reflect on a performance that saw his stable star return to his very best, and prompted across the board contractions in his Champion Hurdle odds, with Cashmans offering a best price of 6/1 at present.

Dessie Hughes said: “He’s back to where he was when he won at Cheltenham two years ago. He showed that at Ascot and when he was second at Cheltenham. He was virtually pulled up here last year and, only seven weeks later, he ran third in the Champion Hurdle when he probably blew up. He jumped great today and he is a serious horse on better ground.

Unlucky

“He was possibly a bit unlucky when he got beaten at Cheltenham the last day and we’ll be meeting Detroit City on 4lb better terms in March. On better ground our horse will have a serious chance of beating him.”

Hardy Eustace’s two Champion Hurdle victories have been preceded by an outing in the Red Mills Trial Hurdle at Gowran, and Hughes intends to follow that route once again. He said: “The Champion Hurdle is seven weeks away and he will run at Gowran. It means that we won’t have to work him.”

Conor O’Dwyer also paid tribute to a performance of the highest quality from his partner. “’Hardy’ was brilliant. I thought that Brave Inca might get to me, but my horse is back to his best. His greatest attribute is that he never knows when he is beaten,” he said.

Neither Colm Murphy nor Tony McCoy were at all disappointed with Brave Inca’s effort, and both are looking forward to renewing rivalry with the winner in March.

[Hardy Eustace did not run at Gowran after all, going straight to Cheltenham. There he was beaten two necks by Brave Inca and Afsoun, but the trio were three lengths behind the winner of the 2007 Champion Hurdle, Sublimity. Twelve month later Hardy Eustace was runner-up as he tried to retain his Leopardstown crown, beaten by an unforgettable performance from Sizing Europe.

When his racing career ended Hardy Eustace, a €21,000 purchase by Dessie Hughes at the Goffs Land Rover Sale in 2001, won 14 races, all but two of them over hurdles, and earned almost £1.1 million. Seven of his dozen wins over timber were at Grade 1 level]

Ada Matheson’s lifetime of dedication honoured

2007

ADA Matheson received a worthy standing ovation when accepting the lifetime contribution award at the Eventing Ireland David Foster Injured Riders’ Fund Ball in the Marriott Johnstown Hotel last Saturday night.

A highly-successful competitor in her own right, she represented Ireland at Aga Khan and world championship level in show jumping before turning her focus to eventing.

Surprisingly, her first connections in the sport came through her catering business and it was from there, through John Watson and Gillian Kyle, that she became involved in the administrative side of the industry.

What originally began as a month’s work stretched to 25 years, during which time her roles in eventing included that of organiser, selector, treasurer and secretary, the latter a post she retired from last autumn.

Some sort of job in racing

1957

DICK Francis has not ridden since January 11th, when he was kicked in the stomach and broke a wrist after Prince Stephen fell at Newbury. Now comes news of his decision to retire at the age of 36 on the advice of his friends, and “before I slip too quickly down the scale”.

Dick Francis was a very popular man, and a horseman of great accomplishments. He was, in my opinion, the typical Liverpool [Aintree] horseman with his long stirrups and quiet, unruffled style. Over the big jumps I would say he had no superior, though when it came to a driving finish over hurdles he lacked the ‘devil’ of other riders.

His departure is genuinely regretted. As one of his colleagues put it: “It is the passing of the best type of jockey, the best type of man”. However Francis hopes to get “some sort of job in racing”, and that is unlikely to be long in coming.

[Born in Wales, Richard Stanley Francis rode more than 350 winners and was champion jockey in the 1953-54 season. From 1953 to 1957 he rode for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and is forever associated with the inexplicable ‘fall’ of Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National with the race at his mercy.

On his retirement he rejected the idea of having an established writer pen his story, and instead wrote his autobiography, the best-selling The Sport of Queens. Its success led to his appointment as racing correspondent for The Sunday Express, a role he had for 16 years.

In 1962 his first novel, Dead Cert, was published and this was the start of an illustrious and hugely successful career that spanned more than 40 best-sellers. He worked closely with his wife Mary and first collaborated with his son Felix on the 2007 novel Dead Heat. Today Felix continues to write works which bear the imprint of being ‘A Dick Francis novel’.

Francis once said of the teamwork with his wife: “Mary and I worked as a team. I have often said that I would have been happy to have both our names on the cover. Mary’s family always called me Richard due to having another Dick in the family. I am Richard, Mary was Mary, and Dick Francis was the two of us together.”

Honoured many times in the field of literature, Dick Francis was given an OBE in 1983 and promoted to CBE in 2000. The latter was a year after he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature]