O’leary the leading man in National Hunt’s movie plot

Irish mogul is the most compelling character in the racing season’s cast of heroes and villains

One aspect of National Hunt racing which make it so compelling is that every season is like a multi-plot, character-woven film. The horses, of course, are always the central protagonists and never fail to deliver. Their unpredictability gives brilliant tension to the sport. What happens up until the new year, for instance, will not necessarily be repeated at Cheltenham.

The audience longs for underdogs such as Coneygree to triumph and stay at the top against all odds, but the script is never that kind. Like Thistlecrack, they have tendons to tweak, jumps to negotiate and fate to navigate. But that’s the whole point – the audience knows that they can never predict the ending.

The battles of Denman and Kauto Star made the best blockbuster in years. It was, however, a howler by the scriptwriters to place them in the same yard. Ridiculous.

It was a story that demanded antagonism and conflict, so when the crisis finally arrived and there was an almighty bust-up, it was way too late in the film to make maximum impact.

The trainer subplots have been disappointing in recent years. They are all far too nice to each other; they even wear the same clothes.

Nothing like the good old days when Martin Pipe made a fantastic Dr Evil, swooping around in his helicopter and being generally disliked. Then some idiot with no concept of antagonistic plotbuilding replaced him with a thoroughly likable son and ruined the whole premise. Fool.

But the awful, compliant niceness that we have suffered in recent films is preferable to the absurd Bambi years of one populist female trainer who kept telling us “I luv my ’orses”. Oh how we wept.

Not that love and all that has not been the subtext in recent sequels. The West Country trainer who turned Kramer vs. Kramer into a long-form TV series saw to that.

Although no one is buying the fact that he works so hard he does not know how to cook breakfast.

The subplot of jockeys is already being interwoven into this season’s film. Harry Cobden ‘jocking’ Paddy Brennan off Cue Card was just what the scriptwriters needed to spice things up a bit. This will play out as “Young Harry makes good and seizes his chance” or “Young Paddy shows he can take the knocks and bounce back”.

All of which is a welcome respite from the Tony Mccoy superhero genre, which went on way too long. He didn’t even drink, womanise or take drugs. Hopeless.

But plucky underdog Richard Johnson, now top of the pile, has a storyline that is beginning to look a bit similar to Mccoy, despite the scriptwriters originally setting him up with a princess (who then married a rugby player). Would Lewis Hamilton not have been a bit more box office? Anyway, the next time Johnson’s on camera, he needs to tell the audience that he is going to trample all over Mccoy’s records. I can see the reviews already: “Dirty Dicky set to outrun Forrest Gump.”

Of course, the owners are a big part of the tale. The best character we have just now is Michael O’leary, the boss of Gigginstown Stud in Ireland (this is an Angloirish production, by the way).

This guy is a subplot in his own right. He wins everything and sacks everyone at such a rate that every scene of his has a positive or negative charge. And like Rick in Casablanca, you know that there is more to him at heart than simply being a cold, selfish b------. He will show his humanity in the airport scene at the climax.

Just sit back and enjoy this season’s film. I can guarantee there will be no cliches.