A maverick who piloted with stealth
LAST December, the Racing Post rated the top 10 National Hunt jockeys of all time. Paul Carberry, highlighted for his ‘mesmerising boldness’ was afforded ninth place, in between Mick Fitzgerald and Adrian Maguire. It was an affront.
For sheer talent, supreme horsemanship and an intuitive racing brain, Carberry was in a class of his own. Of his contemporaries, only Ruby Walsh could match him for style and cunning. AP McCoy rode the most winners but was never a natural in the saddle, unlike Carberry (below), who rode shorter and quieter, than any of his weigh-room peers.
Whether he was hunting across the fields of Meath, or stalking on big race days at Cheltenham or Leopardstown, Carberry shone like a beacon; not since Lester Piggott has a jockey perched his backside so high in the air. For all his triumphs, he was at his best on horses with mulish minds of their own, as he put them at ease and made them forget they were in a race at all.
Harchibald (2005 Champion Hurdle), King John’s Castle (2008 Grand National), Bellvano (2012 Grand Annual Chase), Monbeg Dude (2013 Welsh Grand National) were classic snap-hots of Carberry’s genius on reluctant scrappers.
They didn’t all win but would any jockey have dared take Carberry’s high-wire approach? No chance. He loved ‘Harchi’ to bits and once declined to use the whip in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton when every other pilot was flailing theirs. ‘Why would I do that. He was doing his best,’ he shrugged. Carberry was known as ‘Alice’ for the way he would alert his rivals he was about to pounce by singing ‘Living Next Door To Alice’ as he crept up on their shoulders, all stealth in silks. He had balls of steel and when he executed a kestrellike swoop, there was nothing like it in racing. Punters loved the maverick, so did the trainers, who rushed to pay tribute to his retirement this week. Michael Scudamore hailed a ‘genius’ ride by Carberry on Monbeg Dude in the Welsh National, while Michael Hourigan felt Carberry could be relied to ‘get the best out of a horse.’
Howard Johnson observed how ‘you never had to tell Paul how to ride a horse – he wouldn’t take any notice anyway.’ Of all the trainers who gave Carberry a leg up in his 26-year career, Noel Meade trusted him the most. ‘He was one in a million,’ said Meade. ‘I often thought he could teach a horse to do more in one schooling session than someone else would in five.’
Like many gifted artists, the Co Meath jockey had a self-destruct button and at times he teetered close to the edge. Lighting a newspaper on a plane to Malaga in 2005 was a misguided prank that almost led to time in the clink.
Alcohol, too, was a vice, and after two failed breath tests, in 2007 and 2009, he
managed to park the jar on the advice of JP McManus. If he was never a squeaky-clean pro’s pro, Carberry was dedicated to his calling sufficiently to win two Irish jump jockey’s titles, and chalk up almost 1,600 winners, including 14 at the Cheltenham Festival.
His triumph on Bobbyjo in the 1999 Grand National was a career highlight, understandably so as his father Tommy was the trainer. Victorious Carberry celebrated by swinging from the Aintree rafters, before the mother and father of all parties at the Adelphi Hotel.
Injuries scarred his body and cost him many days racing. His decision to retire on Tuesday followed an 11-month fight to recover from a shattered leg in a fall at Listowel. ‘In the end, I stood the test of time. I’m going to miss it alright, but life goes on,’ he said.
Following Kieren Fallon’s retirement, racing has lost two of its flag-bearing non-conformists, and is the poorer for their departure. Carberry is unlikely to pop up alongside Walsh, McCoy or Fitzgerald on TV, as that’s not his gig; nor is he likely to be appointed as a wealthy owner’s spokesperson.
He says he will continue to break in horses as prep for racing but is unsure what lies ahead although he may follow his father into the training game. ‘You have to get used to it (retirement),’ said Carberry senior. Paul Carberry leaves a rich racing legacy and a style of horsemanship that will never be replicated.
It won’t be easy, but the racing world must get used to not living next door to Alice.