Al Boum Photo picture perfect as Mullins lays Gold Cup hoodoo to rest
Twenty years after Florida Pearl failed to carry the burden of favouritism in the 1999 Gold Cup, Willie Mullins finally claimed one of the last remaining outposts on his CV when Al Boum Photo stormed up the hill for a pulsating triumph under Paul Townend.
Cruelly, six times since 1999 Mullins had returned to his corner with the runner-up medal. Beaten, for sure, but this man is never quite defeated.
“Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better,” Samuel Beckett famously wrote.
Still, when On His Own was denied a short head by Lord Windermere so controversially in 2014, it began to feel like the Cheltenham Festival’s most successful handler was mastering the art of failing better.
And when three of his four runners were left out of contention on the first circuit here, he’d have been forgiven for wondering if he might never emulate his late father Paddy’s fabled 1986 victory with Dawn Run.
Kemboy unseated David Mullins at the first fence, and Ruby Walsh pulled up Bellshill at the top of the hill after he had blundered his chance away.
Then Invitation Only crashed out at the tenth fence with a circuit to go. In a heavy fall that sadly left him fatally injured, he also brought down Definitly Red.
Al Boum Photo was the last of Mullins’ warriors left standing, and he seized the initiative under Townend to bound to a hugely popular success.
“It’s fantastic,” Mullins admitted coolly. “Paul seemed so relaxed. He had the horse in a rhythm, galloping away, and at the top of the hill when he wanted a jump, the horse gave it to him. I thought he’d plenty left then, although I didn’t know how much.”
This time, mercifully for Mullins, there was enough in reserve. It was also a deserved reward for the winner’s owner Joe Donnelly and his wife Marie, whose Melon has been second in successive Champion Hurdles.
“It’s very exciting,” Donnelly said, although he was a picture of calm. “And it’s great because it’s Willie’s first. I knew he was a very good horse always, because Willie said he was one horse he really liked, but you’re never confident in racing.”
“The early defeats were probably disappointing,” Mullins admitted of his six near-misses, “but you probably get used to it. I’d probably resigned myself to maybe never winning a Gold Cup so I said I wasn’t going to obsess about it.
“Sometimes trainers train certain types of horses a certain way and maybe my way wasn’t the Gold Cup way, even though we were so close. I just thought maybe it wasn’t to be.”
Ahead of the event, all the talk was of an Irish challenger who played a pivotal role in last year’s RSA Chase, one whose preparation was described as unconventional due to the unusually dry winter restricting him to a single run.
So it proved, except it wasn’t Presenting Percy who stepped up. Davy Russell’s mount never jumped or travelled fluently before trailing home in eighth, beating only Shattered Love.
Al Boum Photo’s significant role in the 2018 RSA was that his fall two out left Ruby Walsh with a freshly broken leg, and his only run of the campaign came on New Year’s Day at Tramore, an unlikely seaside destination for a Gold Cup contender.
He impressed many that day, but Walsh eschewed him for Bellshill here. Walsh has previous experience of being on the wrong one in a Gold Cup after remaining loyal to Kauto Star over Denman in 2008, but you sensed this pill was a mite less bitter to swallow.
Indeed, he was quick to note how pleased he was for Townend, who lost his mother to cancer shortly before he joined Mullins’ yard as a 15-year-old.
“I had it down to him and Bellshill, but I just didn’t think we’d get the rain we got this morning. That helped him,” Walsh said.
“Paul is a great fella to work with and I’m delighted for him and his sisters Caroline and Jodie and their father Tim. They haven’t always had it easy and they are a great unit.”
At last year’s Punchestown festival, a deeply uncharacteristic brain fade by Townend saw him steer Al Boum Photo through the wing of the final fence.
For someone defined by his reliability, it was a startling blunder, but he duly showed his true colours by bouncing back with a treble the very next day. Townend also now leads the jockeys’ championship in Ireland as he chases a second title, so his response to adversity has been edifying.
“I can’t believe it,” he said as the magnitude of it all sank in. “I’m so grateful to Willie and the owners for sticking by me. From the time I was an apprentice, Willie has supported me and I’m just so grateful to give him his first Gold Cup.”
The 28-year-old’s tenth festival winner was the 25th time an Irish-trained horse had won jump racing’s blue riband.
Townend had settled Al Boum Photo at the rear early on and gradually eased him into contention around the middle of the course.
Like last year, Native River and Might Bite exchanged blows for much of the way, but Townend ghosted on to Native River’s shoulder turning for home.
Bristol De Mai was bang there on the outside and plugged on gamely for third, as Anibale Fly again finished powerfully to be second, with Clan Des Obeaux fading into fifth, just behind Native River.
Al Boum Photo clipped the top of the second-last and had a brief wobble. However, he flew the final fence and eventually drew clear.
It was a thoroughly comprehensive performance that prompted Paddy Power to install him as low as 6-1 to repeat the feat in a year’s time. Mullins, though, was happy to think no further than the night that lay ahead.
“When Dawn Run won it I don’t think I got home for two days so I don’t know what’s going to happen after this,” he quipped.
“It’s nice to have a Gold Cup finally. Between Ascot, here and Melbourne we’ve hit the board a few times so at least we’ve won now. I’m very proud for the whole yard, and all of my owners who give huge commitment to our yard. It’s a victory for their support as well.”
Paul Townend savours finest redemption after claiming Gold Cup glory for Mullins
There will surely come a time when we see those infamous pictures of Al Boum Photo and Paul Townend approaching the final fence of Punchestown’s Champion Novice Chase on A Question of Sport. The scene will be frozen before Sue Barker then asks: “What happens next?”
Now we know what happens next. They win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The events of that early evening in County Kildare were beyond improbable. Had anyone then forecast that Al Boum Photo and Townend would combine 11 months later to win the most coveted of all jump racing’s prizes, the claim would have seemed every bit as ridiculous. Yet they did. The pain of the past has been replaced by the glory of the present. One will surely endure much longer than the other.
“I’m tingling,” said Townend after giving Willie Mullins his first Gold Cup triumph. “My body is physically shaking. You dream of winning the Gold Cup as you grow up. I can guarantee it’s as good as you dream it’s going to be. It’s some feeling to cross the line, I swear to God.
“I’m so grateful to Willie and the owners for sticking by me. To repay them with a Gold Cup is the best feeling in the world.”
To tell this story properly one must inevitably go back to when Townend was feeling very different. He thought he heard someone shouting that the fence was to be bypassed. In the split second when a decision had to be made he steered Al Boum Photo around the fence, taking out Finian’s Oscar in the process. Punchestown was left in a state of shock.
Broadcaster Sally Ann Grassick is a good friend of Townend. That night she worried for her friend.
“I remember speaking to one of his best mates, Johnny Burke, that evening,” said Grassick. “Neither of us knew what to say to Paul. All Johnny wanted to do was give him a hug. I felt the same.”
Townend’s sister Caroline also waited for news. The provider of that anxiously awaited news was Ruby Walsh, to whom her brother has been an exceptionally able deputy for so long.
“I stayed away and left him alone,” said Caroline. “Ruby was just amazing and kept us in the loop. Those 24 hours were tough but, at the end of the day, shit happens. Paul proved himself the next day. This is just magic.”
Townend did indeed prove himself the next day. There was a Punchestown treble that helped Mullins on his way to the trainers’ title. That meant a lot to Townend. For so many reasons this Gold Cup victory meant even more.
“From the time I was an apprentice I’ve had Willie behind me, all the way up through my career,” said the 28-year-old. “To walk into Punchestown the next day with him having my back was a huge thing. It happened but it’s in the past now. Al Boum Photo is a Gold Cup winner. I think I owed it to the horse.”
Townend was effusive in his praise of Mullins, the winning owners Joe and Marie Donnelly and, of course, Walsh, who this season has foregone winning mounts to boost his deputy’s bid to regain the Irish jockeys’ championship.
“Ruby has been a mentor to me all my career,” said Townend, who on Tuesday had captured the Racing Post Arkle on the Mullins-trained Duc Des Genievres, a horse he has partnered all season. Briefly, that became his biggest Cheltenham success.
“I grew up with horses all my life,” he said. “I remember rushing off the school bus and trying to make it in for the big race. The poor pony knew it was Cheltenham week because he used to have a harder time than any other week of the year.”
During those childhood days the young Townend would be ferried around Ireland by his parents to contest pony races. Many years have passed since he lost his mother, Jo, but she was at the front of his mind in this precious moments.
“I know Mam would be so proud of him today,” said Caroline, her voice full of emotion, matching that of her Gold Cup-winning brother.
“I hope she is looking down on me,” he said. It was one short sentence. Nothing more was needed, for this was a day of actions not words, as one would expect of a man who is understated, unassuming and consistently humble.
“He is the most laid-back, down-to-earth person and he has never changed,” said Grassick.
Yet for the dear friend she was talking about, something rather wonderful did change this Cheltenham afternoon.
“I try to keep as balanced as I can,” said Townend. “Racing is full of disappointments. You really have to enjoy the big days.”
Days do not come bigger than this one, a Gold Cup-winning day of the most glorious redemption.
Presenting Percy found to be lame after finishing eighth in Gold Cup
Presenting Percy was found to be lame after his tame performance in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, in which he was sent off the 100-30 favourite.
A post-race examination by the veterinary officer during routine testing reported the Pat Kelly-trained eight-year-old to be lame on his right hind.
Owner Philip Reynolds earlier refused to blame an unconventional preparation for Presenting Percy’s eighth-placed finish of nine who completed the course, 33 lengths adrift of winner Al Boum Photo.
Presenting Percy had not run over fences since winning the RSA Chase 12 months earlier but Reynolds, the son of former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, said: “I said before the race I wasn’t going to give his preparation as an excuse. Maybe the horse just isn’t good enough.
“Maybe he’s not a Gold Cup horse, maybe he’s just a three-miler. There’s a huge difference between three miles and three miles two and those couple of extra furlongs can make all the difference.
“He didn’t jump with the same fluency as he did last year. I thought from the get-go he was struggling even to hold his position at times – he didn’t have the usual cut he would at a fence. He’s a much better jumper than he showed today.”
Davy Russell reported to the stewards that Presenting Percy, tasked with becoming the first horse since Easter Hero in 1929 to win the Gold Cup without running over fences all season, was never travelling having made an early mistake and that his saddle slipped mid-race.
The rider, winless at the festival for the first time in 14 years, said: ”It was disappointing. He didn’t travel like he did last year. He never really got into a rhythm.”
On plans for the rest of the season Reynolds said: ”We’ll see how he comes out of that, he looked all right straight after. It’s early in the season for him yet, that’s only his second run. Last year we pulled up stumps after Cheltenham. I’ll talk to Pat in the morning and we’ll see how the horse is and make up our minds then.”
He added: “There’s no point in saying otherwise, it’s deflating. I don’t know that I’ll ever send off a favourite for a Gold Cup again. Of course I’m disappointed and I’d prefer to be leading in a winner than leading out a favourite, but that’s horseracing.
“I’ve been in it long enough and at least we live to fight another day, I’ve still got a horse. When you see what happened to poor Sir Erec in the first race, that’s what horseracing can do to you and I’ve got a horse coming home and JP [McManus] doesn’t.”
fonte : RacingPost
