The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Civic reception a ‘Don deal’
TRALEE jockey Bryan Cooper is to receive a civic reception from Kerry County Council in recognition of his historic Gold Cup win aboard Don Cossack at Cheltenham in March.
The 23-year-old jockey said he is honoured at the prospect of celebrating such a tribute in his home town and even though it will be 3 months, 2 weeks and 5 days since that memorable Gold Cup, it still feels like yesterday for Bryan and for the thousands of people in the bars and sitting rooms across Kerry who celebrated that day.
“It’s still a great memory and when you have a few bad days it’s especially fresh in the memory which is great. The civic reception is a great honour and I’m very grateful they have organised it for me. I’m heading down to Tralee on Wednesday night and I’m really looking forward to it,” Bryan said.
Bryan’s dad Tom is no stranger to big-time Cheltenham winners either, having famously trained Forpadydeplasterer to win the Arkle Chase in 2009 and the 2004 Champion Bumper with Total Enjoyment. However, the sum total of enjoyment doesn’t get any better than watching your son clear the last fence and make his way up the famous Cheltenham hill and into the history books as a Gold Cup winning jockey.
“There’s only one Gold Cup and nothing surpasses it. I trained two Grade One winners at the Cheltenham Festival and absolutely nothing compares to Bryan winning the Gold Cup. The whole family are delighted and we will be there on the night for the reception. It’s richly deserved,” Tom said.
Mayor Terry O’Brien was the man who first called on the Council to honour Bryan’s win, tabling the motion just three days after his Gold Cup win.
“This is the classic case of a local boy doing well. Most jockeys would give their right arm just to ride in the Gold Cup, let alone win it, it’s only right we, as a county, honour one of our own in what was an outstanding achievement,” he said.