If you happen to be 78 years old and own a racehorse that is not only the best you’ve ever owned, but could also be a future steep chase champion, it’s hard not to be impatient. writes Tony Stafford. It must have been unbearable for Harry Redknapp to have to wait 331 days for his previously undefeated young chaser The Jukebox Man to re-emerge this weekend after an injury kept him out of the big spring festivals last March.
The year before, The Jukebox Man and his trainer Ben Pauling had tried valiantly to keep the Irish at bay with second-place finishes at both Cheltenham and Aintree. He came in a head of the Gordon Elliott trained Stellar Story – no relation Wilf! – at Cheltenham, was then five and a half lengths behind Mullins’ Dancing City at Aintree, but more than seven lengths ahead of third-placed Cherie D’Am ahead of Dan Skelton.
The two novice pursuits he took part in last winter were comfortably annexed. First dropping to 2m4f for a Grade 2 at Newbury, he beat Alan King’s Masaccio by a few lengths before winning Kempton’s big Christmas novice chase, the three-mile Kauto Star with another similarly controlled performance.
So now it was Haydock and an Intermediate Chase over a distance of 2m5.5f, but that course requires a lot of endurance and jumping ability. Once again the margin was modest, again by a few lengths, but Ben Jones was always in control and the Greenall/Guerrerio-trained Iroko, owned by JP McManus, is no ordinary horse to be brushed aside.
His final run before Saturday was a few miles west along the East Lancs Road at Aintree, where he started as the 13/2 favorite for the Grand National and finished a creditable fourth. Iroko predictably continued to gallop to the line on Saturday under the urging of Jonjo junior, but never looked like getting to the winner.
The King George, which would be a return to Kempton for Harry’s horse on Boxing Day, is the hope, but as a former highly respected manager of Tottenham Hotspur and other football clubs he knows full well that injuries to man or horse can happen at any time.
He spoke to friends last month about his increased involvement in racing on Champions Day at Ascot. And it was clear that the fingers were crossed that nothing would go wrong before Haydock. That didn’t happen, and now there’s no doubt that this Poplar-born phenom shows no signs of slowing down, held steady by his 58-year marriage to Sandra.
There must be something about the working-class upbringing in that part of East London that instills sustainability. . My mate Harry Taylor beat me by a few months, half a mile away, and was celebrating his 80th birthdaye birthday party with friends and his lovely family on Saturday afternoon.
Organized as ever, I had lost the original invitation, but I contacted him on Saturday morning. “Yes, it is the Northwick Park Golf Course.” Rain made the journey difficult, but once I arrived at the site, near Harrow in West London, my phone’s Maps function sent me to some sort of golfing location. I went in, asked at reception where the party was and was directed to a room where an Indian wedding was taking place! The food smelled delicious, but I thought I’d better hang in there.
Harry took me in circles on the roads surrounding the huge Northwick Park Hospital, once saying: “I know where you are!” and I was just about to give it my best when his grandson Connor called Harry’s phone. “It’s at another golf club, close to where we live in Harpenden
A much more venerable son from that part of east London is 92-year-old Bill Gredley, who, while still very active with home-bred horses from his established business at Stetchworth Park Stud in Newmarket, has also developed a formidable show jumping team. Almost everything is in training with James Owen these days. Tim Gredley, Bill’s son, after a while of driving as he says modestly: “Rolls Royces in point-to-point, I didn’t have to get much right!” is back with his first love and hopes to make the British show jumping team for the next Olympics.
A much better known veteran of show jumping obviously has an important connection with Britain’s premier show jumping training organization. Nick Skelton, one of the world’s best show jumping riders for decades and a gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, was at the time finalizing plans for his sons’ budding business in Warwickshire.
That has become extremely powerful and their Gray Dawning, the impressive winner of Haydock’s Betfair Gold Cup an hour or so after The Jukebox Man’s romp, looks very expensive to me at 16/1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Day after day, illustrations of the skills of three recent champion jockeys, commissioned by Harry Skelton, Harry Cobden and the latest Sean Bowen, are presented to an adoring audience. All three can be devastating, especially in waiting races, to the extent that they often don’t get involved in their winning races until many in the stands have probably already given up. Gray Dawning narrowly took the lead on Saturday (to use a cliché) against last year’s winner Royale Pagaille, coming alongside and going on to win with a decent amount of money in hand. How much should you ask Harry?
This performance will have helped boost the Redknapp/Pauling team’s confidence in The Jukebox Man, as runner-up Iroko had finished second to the Skelton horse in his pre-national warm-up at Kelso last March.
Royale Pagaille also suffered a lot as a horse with four Haydock victories. Before you say that his strength as an 11-year-old is certainly waning, you don’t want to understand Venetia Williams’ training, especially her experienced pursuers.
In Horses in Training 2025, her 79-strong stable had 18 horses aged ten years or older and another 22 aged eight or nine. Don’t be shocked if the softer ground we get heralds a signature midwinter bonanza for the Hereford handler.
Speaking of venerable phenomena, Willie Mullins, who had put his feet up in Ireland after his killer stormed the Breeders’ Cup, was back in action with a nice little sum of €88,000 for the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown.
An outcome that was not that surprising. Lossiemouth, who has eight Grade 1 wins in her career, started at 5/1 for the four-horse affair. The only surprise was that the runner-up in ninth place, which collected €28,000, was not second favorite and Mullin’s second string Irancy in McManus colours, but Glen Kiln, a 28/1 shot trained by David Harry Kelly. Some turn to him!
Lossiemouth are around 3/1 for the Champion Hurdle, but we’ll wait to see what Nicky Henderson and Constitution Hill will have to say about that in Newcastle’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle on Saturday.
Mullins also won the novice chase on the Punchestown card with odds-on Kitzbuhel, running for the first time since he dropped $8,000 into the Mullins coffers for his third-place finish on the final day of the season at Sandown last April. But given the way Dan Skelton is going, I doubt there will be as much in the finish this time between the respective superpowers of Great Britain and Ireland – or even that the result will be the same.
– TS
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