O’leary revels in Tiger Roll’s epic journey from ‘rat’ to riches
Owner reaping benefits after switch to fences Elliott hailed as a ‘genius’ for training performance
Shortly after Tiger Roll had won the 171st Randox Health Grand National at Aintree on Saturday his owner, Michael O’leary, described the eight-year-old affectionately as “a little rat of a thing”.
Reflecting on the race yesterday O’leary’s brother, Gigginstown Stud’s racing manager Eddie O’leary summed up Tiger Roll as the “complete over-achiever”, recalling that, despite hurdling being something of a rude word in the O’leary household, where steeplechasing is the main passion, he was originally bought to win the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle – a handicap hurdle over two miles.
On his second start for them, however, he won Cheltenham’s infinitely better Grade One Triumph Hurdle in 2014. It was one of only two times that Davy Russell had ridden him before Saturday.
But there are Grand National winners and then there is Tiger Roll, who has now won three different races at the Cheltenham Festival – a rare feat in itself – adding the National Hunt Chase over four miles in 2017 and the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase over a variety of obstacles four weeks ago.
Despite his size – just under 16 hands – and being dwarfed by Saturday’s gallant runner-up, Pleasant Company, steeplechasing has been the making of Tiger Roll. After the Triumph win, he had a couple of further seasons when he fell between two stools over hurdles – too much weight in handicaps and not good enough to win condition races – so O’leary took the decision to send him over fences.
“We never thought he’d make a chaser,” said the owner. “After he won the Triumph we thought he might run in the following year’s County Hurdle, but it’s tough as they progress. I said we might as well try him over fences but as he’s got older and the longer he goes – this is part of the phenomenal training performance – the better he has become.”
He won his first chase at Ballinrobe, when his jumping was described in the form book as “nimble” although, on his second start, also a winning one, it said that the jockey was probably grateful that the fences were soft and suggested there would be times when he paid for his mistakes.
But although Tiger Roll can get low, particularly at those obstacles where you can get away with an economy of effort, he seems to have a sixth sense about which fences you can or cannot take liberties at and though he lost his jockey once, he has never fallen.
His nimbleness stood him in good stead at Becher’s first time on Saturday when he deftly sidestepped the fallen I Just Know but even Russell, who rode a double at Tramore yesterday, had his doubts about his jumping for Aintree.
“I just wondered if he’d have enough respect for those fences,” he said. “If he’d fell at the first I wouldn’t have been surprised. He’s shockingly brave. At the start he seemed to set his eyes on the first and I knew we were in business.”
“He’s not a good horse, he’s not got class, he’s just a complete overachiever,” added Eddie O’leary. “He’s an amazing horse. He has endless stamina. He idled on the run-in and couldn’t pick up when the other horse got to him because he didn’t have time to. He has a heart bigger than himself. We’ll never find another like him.
“And what a trainer. He called it last year. When he won at Cheltenham he said we’d go for the Cross Country and Grand National this year. The man’s a genius.”
Gordon Elliott, who is massing his forces for one final assault on wresting the Irish trainers’ title from Willie Mullins at the five-day Punchestown Festival, said: “When you look back at his record he’s won three different types of races at the Cheltenham Festival. To come on and win a National is unbelievable.”
Not bad for a little rat of a thing.
‘He’s an amazing horse and he has endless stamina. We’ll never find another like him’