‘I was about 14 when Best Mate emulated Arkle. I firmly believe Al can do it too’ THREESY RIDER
“I never thought I would win one Gold Cup. I can only imagine how it will feel to win it a third time”
HE’S the horse who threatened to define Paul Townend’s career.
Happily for Al Boum Photo’s jockey, he still does.
On Friday, the nine-year-old will line up behind the starting tapes for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, less than seven minutes away from National Hunt racing immortality.
The venerated quartet of five-time winner Golden Miller, Cottage Rake, Arkle and Best Mate are the only horses to have landed the Festival’s signature race on three occasions.
Al Boum Photo has captured the last two runnings and is Ladbrokes’ 5-2 favourite to add his name to the exclusive list.
“I never thought I would win one Gold Cup,” admits the 30-year-old. “I couldn’t believe it when it happened a second time, so I can only imagine what it would feel like to win it a third time.”
This is the same horse from whom the Co Cork-born rider crashed to the ground amid the mayhem at the 2018
Punchestown Festival that brought the Willie Mullins trainee’s first season over fences to a chaotic end.
A short-circuit in Townend’s mind caused the jockey to steer Al Boum Photo, the leader, wide of the Champion Novice Chase’s final obstacle, smashing through the plastic wing and taking Finian’s Oscar out with him.
“The Punchestown incident was, of course, a low moment, but it feels a long time ago now. We have two Gold Cups under our belt and have been able to move on from that.”
Townend had just entered his teens when Best Mate, trained by Hen Knight and her late husband Terry Biddlecombe (right), became the first steeplechaser since Arkle to complete a Gold Cup hat-trick in 2004.
“I would have been around 14 when Best Mate won his third Gold Cup. Henrietta Knight had come over and bought a point-to-pointer off my dad after the second Gold Cup win,” he recalls.
“It was a big deal for me to have
Henrietta Knight in the yard. She sent me a lovely signed winning picture of herself, Terry Biddlecombe, Jim Culloty and Best Mate.
“It’s something I still have. I was a big fan of Best Mate.”
Knight and Biddlecombe grasped – and embraced – the need for sacrifice in landing steeplechasing’s most revered prize.
The template – targeting the Festival in March to the exclusion of all that comes before – has delivered Mullins the Gold Cup glory he feared would elude him.
Al Boum Photo’s campaign begins not at Down Royal or Punchestown in November, or Leopardstown at Christmas, but at Tramore – the charming Waterford course which has seldom been advertised as the launchpad of champions – on January 1. “Willie would be the first to say that this routine probably happened by chance – going to Tramore and going to the Gold Cup,” adds Townend. “It worked and he is a creature of habit, so he will continue to do it.” The French-bred bay returned to Ireland’s south coast for a third win in the New Year’s Day Chase, beating stablemate Acapella Bourgeois by 19 lengths and his partner recalls: “I thought ‘Al’ was a bit workmanlike initially, but when I got back into the weighing room, and watched it again, I was delighted. “He put 19 lengths between us and Acapella Bourgeois from the road crossing to the finishing
THREE OF A KIND Al Boum Photo was the final leg of a Paul Townend treble on Gold Cup day last year line, which is about a furlong. To open up that much of a gap over such a short distance was impressive – a proper performance.”
After Ruby Walsh’s retirement, Townend rode at the 2020 Festival as Closutton’s No 1 jockey, and shone in the limelight with five successes, including three on the Friday, and the award for the fixture’s leading rider.
Townend’s winning formula shuts out the background noise – and he’s sticking to it.
“To end on such a high with a final-day treble means we can bring confidence into the meeting, and this year’s Gold Cup is not preoccupying me,” he says.
“I’m not going to focus on the history side of it – I am going to take it as a normal race.
“It would be brilliant if he won three and I strongly believe we’re going there with a right good chance, so hopefully it can happen.
“We’ve been on a rollercoaster ride together, but he owes me nothing.
“I am sure there will be more chapters to it.”