APPLE'S JADE.

​Let’s be clear; owners of racehorses, within reason, of course, can run their horses in whatever races their heart desires. That does not, though, necessarily make their decisions correct.
Racing in Ireland and fans of horse racing both sides of the Irish Sea owe Michael O’Leary and his Gigginstown operation big-time. They employ a large number of people and support many racing stables. Without them Gordon Elliott would join all the other licensed trainer in Ireland looking on in awe at the juggernaut that would be Willie Mullins. Yet this is not a one-way deal, this unspoken respect for a man who owns many hundreds of horses. Mr.O’Leary, too, has responsibilities, not least to the sport that is his great recreation.
Mr.O’Leary, Gordon Elliott and Gigginstown have had great success over the years at the Cheltenham Festival and will undoubtedly do so again this year and in the years to come. They have no need to run a ‘certainty’ in what is one of the least important races at the meeting, to have Apple’s Jade run round in glorious isolation for a prize that in decade or twos time will be forgotten, hardly worth mentioning in dispatches.
Gigginstown’s policy is to buy young horses to go chasing, with the aim of producing Gold Cup winners, and as such they are very unlikely to have a Champion Hurdle winner and, in the not-so-distant future, when the O’Leary brothers are old men they might reflect and regret that though they won every other National Hunt race of note in Ireland and at Cheltenham and Aintree, the Champion Hurdle trophy eluded them. Over their brandy or Guinness, as they huddle around the fire in wait of the nurse, doctor or long-suffering wife, to summon them for their nightly sponge-bath, rejuvenation jab or mushed-up supper, one might say to the other. “A shame we didn’t try Apple’s Jade that year in the Champion.” And, of course, there will be no reply as there can be no reply, except. “Where’s the trophy for winning the Mares Race. Haven’t seen it for years.”
Gigginstown’s responsibility to the sport and the Irish racing enthusiast merits far more than a cursory dismissal. If they declared Apple’s Jade’s objective at Cheltenham to be the Champion Hurdle, she would be backed down to favourite in ten minutes. She is not a shot in the dark, even if she is not a shoo-in for victory. She would go to Cheltenham with a favourite’s chance, receiving 7lb from the geldings, from Buveur D’Air. From being a race only interesting because of, hopefully, Laurina’s participation, the Champion Hurdle would become, with Apple’s Jade in the field, the most intriguing race of the meeting. Perhaps of the season.
I have said this in the past and it bears repeating: every man, woman and child with a love of this sport has the responsibility to do all that can be humanly done to promote and care for the sport. To run Apple’s Jade in the Mares Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival would be an act of brazen selfishness. Fortune favours the bold, Mr.O’Leary. Give Ireland a Champion Hurdle winner. Give the sport a race to savour.
 
A ‘greatest ever’ list, no matter what is bring graded, be it sweets, goals or Champion 2-mile chasers, will always be a matter of opinion, a matter for debate and argument and though I can only concur with the choice of Sprinter Sacre as the greatest 2-miler in the history of National Hunt, and as much as I revere Desert Orchid and champion the name and memory of Flyingbolt, I was surprised both were placed in front of Moscow Flyer and Badsworth Boy, my choice of 2nd and 3rd of all-time.
The legend that is Dessie was not gained through his prowess at 2-miles, even if he put-up some spectacular performances at the distance. His greatness came from races of 3-miles and beyond that he won. I even suspect in a list of the most versatile horses of the past one-hundred years he may only be third in that list as both Flyingbolt and Kauto Star might have out-performed him.
And as for Flyingbolt, possibly the second greatest steeplechaser in the history of National Hunt, though for the sheer number of top races he won I would place Kauto Star in front of him, his fame comes not from winning the 2-mile Champion Chase but by mind-numbing weight concessions in handicaps and his ability to win over any distance, including the Irish Grand National conceding 40lb to the second. Amazingly and tragically, considering what he won by the age of seven, Flyingbolt was still only a work in progress when illness stole his brilliance from him.
What is invaluable about the Racing Post’s choice of him as second only to Sprinter Sacre is that his name has been brought to the attention of younger enthusiasts who might now go back in the record books and discover for themselves why the name of Flyingbolt flickers in the sport’s history with the eternal presence of an Olympic Flame.