O’Connor happy chasing Gold on old pal, Edwulf
‘I thought it was a heart attack and I feared the worst’
TURNING for home last year in the National Chase, all the props were in place for a perfect sporting tale.
This was the race renamed in honour of the late jockey JT McNamara and one that JP McManus, his former patron, deeply coveted.
When Derek O’Connor, on board Edwulf, swept alongside Lisa O’Neill on Tiger Roll with two fences to go, it pointed to a poignant victory for the McManus green and gold silks, carried so often to victory by the late JT.
But then, Edwulf’s engine dramatically spluttered.
A faltering jump at the last fence was followed by what looked like a drunken tremble and a legless collapse to the Cheltenham turf.
To all, it appeared as if death had struck on the track.
As Tiger Roll galloped to victory, all eyes turned apprehensively to the screens halfway up the hill where Edwulf, it seemed, was breathing his last.
Against the odds, he lived to fight another day and no one was more relieved than the pilot up top, O’Connor.
‘It all happened quite quickly. I’d no idea what caused it. One minute we were challenging Lisa O’Neill on Tiger Roll, the next he was in distress and came to a stop,’ he recalled.
‘I thought it was a heart attack and feared the worst. To be fair, the medical staff at Cheltenham got there right away and worked non-stop to save him.
‘For him to walk out of Cheltenham was one thing, to race again was something else.’
Edwulf returned to fight another day and, after his stunning Irish Gold Cup win at Leopardstown last month, O’Connor declared it ‘top of the pile for me, to win that race for Joseph (O’Brien) and JP.’
The nine-year-old returns to the scene of his scary speed wobble for Friday’s big one, where O’Connor bids to become only the fifth amateur, and the first since Sam Waley-Cohen on Long Run in 2011, to win the Gold Cup.
‘He’s got every chance,’ reckons O’Connor. ‘He’s an unbelievable horse. He’s very straightforward to ride, and a good jumper.
‘His will to win is massive. He’d burst his heart for you.’ Come Friday, O’Connor may have added to his Festival haul of three wins as he rides No Comment in the JT McNamara National Hunt Chase today and Chel- tenham specialist Pendra in the Kim Muir Handicap Chase on Thursday.
There is also the Foxhunter Chase on Friday, the race immediately after the Gold Cup, which could be tricky should Edwulf see off all-comers.
O’Connor will be in demand this week, starting today as he seeks to add to his two wins in the National Hunt Chase, on Chicago Grey (2011) and Minella Rocco (2016) and also make up for last year’s capsize.
The four-miler, the oldest on the Festival card, is a race he enjoys and one that has attracted better horses since conditions of entry were changed.
‘It used to be for maidens (nonwinners) over fences but it is open now to novice chasers and you see a lot of horses just below Grade One level who compete.
‘It’s a tougher race to win, and the trophy is huge, but it would be great to win for JP the race named after JT.’ No Comment is trained by Philip Hobbs, with whom O’Connor has a special connection as his first Festival ride in 2007 was for Hobbs, on Parsons Legacy in the Kim Muir — the partnership was a fastfinishing second.
Since then, O’Connor has established himself as a jockey without peer on the Irish point-to-point scene.
From his base in Tubber on the Galway-Clare border, he has totted up over 1,150 winners, the bulk of them on maidens, and earned plaudits for his ability to switch off young horses and nurse them into a race.
Ted Walsh, who knows a good jockey when he sees one, has hailed O’Connor as ‘the best amateur I’ve seen.’
The term amateur may infer part-time, but O’Connor is as competent as any professional, as he showed in the Irish Gold Cup when he galvanised Edwulf after the last to out-gun Jack Kennedy on Outlander by a neck.
O’Connor is part of a golden generation of Irish amateur riders, who have all won at the Festival, which includes Jamie Codd, Nina Carberry, Patrick Mullins, Katie Walsh and Lisa O’Neill.
It helps that at Cheltenham, there are three races confined solely to amateurs, the National Hunt Chase, Kim Muir Chase and the Foxhunters, but many amateurs take on the professionals and win, as Codd and Mullins have shown in the Champion Bumper.
‘Competition in the weigh-room is intense but fair. We all know each other and get along. There is no sense of intimidation as these days you’ve top amateurs like Jamie, Nina, Katie who are professional in all but name.
‘Amateurs are vital in the racing industry; every yard is full of young lads who have to ride at a high level to get the opportunity on the racetrack.’
At 35, with flecks of grey in his mane, O’Connor is among the senior amateurs this week but his experience, cool head and soft hands will bring plenty to the combat zone in the Cotswolds.
‘He’s got every chance. He’s an unbelievable horse and a good jumper’