Golden day for Johnson
Double banishes three days of disappointment Gallant chaser digs deep to edge out Might Bite
For most of the week trainer Colin Tizzard has been almost anonymous and Richard Johnson, the Champion jockey, even more so during the blitz of Irish winners. That ended yesterday as they combined to carry off the week’s most desired prize when Native River, the 5-1 third favourite, bravely galloped away with the Timico Gold Cup.
So it was the dairy farmer from Milborne Port, with the sheep farmer from Herefordshire on board a horse owned by a retired farmer, and not the Irish, which finally thwarted Nicky Henderson’s attempt to win the meeting’s big three races as Native River outstayed the Lambourn trainer’s Might Bite, the 4-1 favourite, to win by 4½ lengths.
This year’s Gold Cup was a twohorse race from start to finish. Nothing else got a look in. Native River, the slogger, and Might Bite, the sometimes quirky crown prince of steeplechasing, filled those positions from the moment the starter dropped his flag to the moment hats and newspapers were flung into the air when Native River crossed the line.
Knowing he was riding a Welsh National winner in the mud, Johnson set off with a plan to make it a war of attrition and, with his mount jumping exuberantly, he began to turn the screw from the top of the hill the second time round.
Behind him a collection of the best staying chasers in England and Ireland laboured, unable to get a shot in before, one by one, waving the white flag.
Turning in to the home straight, approaching the penultimate fence, though, Might Bite, who had shadowed Native River throughout, loomed alongside and although Nico de Boinville’s body language and stillness suggested he was going the better, the jockey was trying to nurse Might Bite home though the mud.
The pair were still level at the last fence and it was there that Native River’s stamina began to kick in. Up the hill Might Bite began to wearily tread water as his rival galloped all the way to the line.
The Irish pair Anibale Fly and Road to Respect then arrived at four length intervals behind Might
Bite to finish in third and fourth respectively.
“The Irish have been winning everything for three days – I thought we had no chance,” said an emotional Tizzard, best known before yesterday as the trainer of evergreen chaser Cue Card.
He has endured a topsy-turvy season, which has included an infection in the stable, a seasonending injury to Thistlecrack and the death of one of his principal patrons, Alan Potts.
“To then go and have two win- ners [he also won the preceding Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle with Kilbricken Storm] in an hour is unbelievable,” he admitted.
“The chap on Native River was as good as the horse. He was brave and the horse was braver and he kept pushing on. The Gold Cup is everything and the fact we’ve won it is unreal.
“Up until last night we had not been that competitive. The Irish have blown us away and we couldn’t even buy one at the sales last night. I said to my lot we needed to buck up a bit and we have.
“Our horses went out of form at Christmas which coincided with the flu injections, so we eased off with them a bit and that may have helped them going into the spring.”
Recalling that he had once stood down by the last fence watching The Dikler win the Gold Cup in the early 70s as a teenage farmer, he added: “I never thought then I ever have a runner in it, let alone win it. And I’ve just done it. We’ve had the perfect prep with the horse and no excuses.”
Owner Garth Broom, who with his wife Anne sold his farm and invested some of the proceeds in horses under the Brocade Racing banner, said: “I said to someone on the stands ‘wake me up if I’m dreaming.’ It’s not often they come true.”
Far from losing anything in defeat, Might Bite’s reputation was enhanced. “There were 12 others that never got into it,” Henderson pointed out.
“We’re very proud of him. You can’t say he tried to shirk it today. He never flinched and I think the horse has gone up in people’s estimation.
“It’s a difficult place to finish second, but you have to accept it and it’s been a great week. It’s quite nice to see a British one-two – that’s been about the rarest thing this week.”