Triple champions: a look back at Best Mate and Jim Culloty
IN 2002 when Jim Culloty and Best Mate put rivals to the sword in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, few imagined it would form part of a glorious trilogy - a feat not matched since the days of Arkle. They say winning one Gold Cup is harder than finding hens teeth, but to win three must surely rank in ‘ fitting the hen with dentures’ territory. But the partying and euphoria which swept through Killarney on that memorable day in 2002 was just a prelude to greater things to come. “This is the pinnacle of my career and what every jockey aims to achieve,” said Jim Culloty after the ’ 02 race.
Back home in The Speakeasy Bar in High Street, the going was anything but easy as Jim’s family and friends all gathered around the screen to watch Jim and ‘Matey’ accelerate up the Cheltenham hill with Commanche Court and Ruby Walsh in second place. Speaking to made his move and with it went Jim’s chances, eventually finishing second to Noel Meade’s Sausalito Bay. Best Mate’s owner Jim Lewis and trainer Henrietta Knight both proved shrewd beyond measure in sticking by Culloty and in 2001 he notched 18 winners alone during the month of November marking his arrival as a top rider.
The 2003 renewal of the Gold Cup was the most flamboyant of the three victories as Best Mate had twelve lengths to spare over Truckers Tavern and Davy Russell. By now, Jim’s confidence in Best Mate couldn’t have been any more exuberant. “If I was confident he would win last year, I was absolutely certain that he would win in 2003.”
Former racing writer with The Kerryman, Joseph Doyle, captures the growing reputation and public excitement surrounding Best Mate’s spiralling achievements at the time: “It might be expecting a bit much at this juncture, but if this partnership gains a third Gold Cup, it should be marked with some special structure. Lesser events have been.”
While Best Mate’s third Gold Cup is remembered as a hard fought contest, it’s equally remembered as his best performance. The charge of mollycoddling Best Mate was one frequently directed at Henrietta Knight who, along with husband Terry Biddlecombe – a former UK champion jockey in the 1960s, masterminded Best Mate’s success with all the delicacy and consideration of a museum curator entrusted with a rare and priceless artefact. They chose races wisely making sure ground conditions were just perfect for their star steed, but many misinterpreted this as a sign of Best Mate’s ‘softness’. However, as so often happens in jump racing, perceptions can run to seed when faced with the colder climate of reality.
The 2004 Gold Cup was run on soft ground, conditions many felt would find Best Mate out. But Jim Culloty rode the race of his life when sticking Best Mate close to the inside rail where a better strip of ground eased Best Mate into contention.
With just three fences between home and history, Paul Carberry, aboard Harbour Pilot, pinned Best Mate to the inner rail. It’s said the gasps of tension at Prestbury Park and Killarney at that precise moment can still be heard on a quiet day around Cheltenham. But Culloty kept his cool and gave the horse enough daylight to scale his fences.
Three Gold Cups! “You wouldn’t get too many rides in this game if you were a perfect gentleman and Paul Carberry was just doing his job,” Jim said of Carberry’s tactics after the race.
But Culloty was far from finished with history-making and in 2014 he became one of only five men in the history of the sport to ride and train a Gold Cup Winner when Lord Windermere won racing’s blue-riband event.
But we all know who the Killarney man’s best mate will forever be.