CHAMP GIVES HIS RONSEAL OF APPROVAL
ASKED to nutshell the strengths of his Gold Cup mount Native River, Richard Johnson needs no pause to ponder. “He does what it says on the tin.” They say the same of the jockey. The punters’ Ronseal.
On Friday, Johnson, the reigning champion jockey after 20 seasons in the shadow of the now-retired Sir AP McCoy, seeks a second Gold Cup triumph aboard the going-places seven-year-old, the bookies’ favourite for National Hunt racing’s pinnacle prize.
“I couldn’t be happier with my Gold Cup ride,” says 39-year-old Johnson, raised on a Herefordshire farm — his parents rode in point-to-points — before joining twice champion trainer David Nicholson at 16.
“The Gold Cup will be his biggest test by a long way but he’s favourite, and he’s done all the right things to become favourite.”
Last March, Native River’s trainer Colin Tizzard saddled the novice, a winner of two of his first five races over fences, for the four-mile National Hunt Chase — a contest cherished by amateur riders but hardly a fertile source of future Gold Cup heroes.
The chestnut finished second before combining with Johnson to go one better in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree’s Grand National fixture the following month.
After a return-to-action second over hurdles at Wetherby in October, Native River and Johnson repelled a series of challengers in the home straight to lift the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury four weeks later, delving into his rich stamina reserves to add the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow over Christmas.
“It’s an awful long way from four out to the winning post in the Hennessy, but three out he gave the fence about three feet and I thought, ‘You’ve definitely got something left!’” recalls Johnson.
“When I got stuck into him, all he’s done is respond. He idled after the last, but I was confident that if something got upsides he would go again.
“When he finishes his races, whether it’s the Hennessy or the Welsh National, he jogs back into the paddock. You think, ‘You’ve just run three miles two, or three miles five, with lumps of weight on your back. You should be tired!’”
Native River returned to Newbury last month for his Cheltenham prep, facing two opponents in the Denman Chase.
But Johnson watched the race in the weighing room — feeling “dizzy and not quite with it”, he stood himself down and was replaced by Aidan Coleman.
“Small-field races like that have a different feel to big-field handicaps,” observes Johnson. “It’s a bit more tactical, but he’s picked up and galloped away like a fresh horse.”
Seventeen years have passed since Johnson captured the Gold Cup on Looks Like Trouble. He married winning trainer Noel Chance’s daughter Fiona — the couple have three children — in 2007. Looks Like Trouble still enjoys life on the family farm near Leominster.
There’s none of the McCoy torment in Johnson, uncomplicated in and out of the saddle, and his simple method on the track gels with Native River.
“I’d love to say I’m the only one who can get on with him, but he’s a very straightforward, honest horse.
“I’ve learned from my mistakes of getting over-excited with horses — you always hope they can make that leap, but there’s a big difference between a handicapper and a Grade 1 horse. “But you get the right feeling from him. He’s got the right credentials to do
the job.”