Grasshopper
Senior Jockey
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We quite often see Mouse Morris in the Royal Oak in Prestbury after racing during the Festival, and he always has time for a chat about the racing. A top man, and I'm delighted for him.
The 2016 Grand National
- Thread starter Diamond Geezer
- Start date
Diamond Geezer
Gone But Not Forgotten
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Echo that, have been to his yard at Fethard two or three times and nothing too much trouble. Remember sharing a lunchtime snack with him and one or two others in the back room in McCarthy's Bar in Fethard a few years ago and after we'd finished he casually observed we'd better move, they want to put a body on the table, apparently the room ( and table !) doubled up as a funeral parlour.
granger
Senior Jockey
Please god Gigi furnish him with a few nice ones now
granger
Senior Jockey
:lol:
frontrunner
Conditional
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Have to admit thats pretty funny .
Will echo above ,had a chat with him in the plough on the Thursday evening after the World hurdle. He truly is a humble man considering his background, he was convinced that his yolk would not be beaten in the WH ( so just how good is the winner). A little pissed off with some of the press mentioning the death of his son and winning the the national in the same breath, how winning any horse race can help with that.
Desert Orchid
Senior Jockey
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Anyone got any views on the race itself now that the dust has settled?
Hard luck stories? How does it rate in terms of quality? How does it compare with previous renewals?
I'm in the middle of doing my own analysis which I expect to complete midweek. Will post my findings but will happily contribute to any meaningful debate in the meantime.
Hard luck stories? How does it rate in terms of quality? How does it compare with previous renewals?
I'm in the middle of doing my own analysis which I expect to complete midweek. Will post my findings but will happily contribute to any meaningful debate in the meantime.
granger
Senior Jockey
Morning Assembly stopped pretty quickly.
Vics Canvas with a slightly less taxing ride may have went closer
Vics Canvas with a slightly less taxing ride may have went closer
Diamond Geezer
Gone But Not Forgotten
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Vic's Canvas lost twenty lengths at Beechers first time round and had to be ridden to regain a foothold in the race, rider thought he was going to win at the elbow. I thought it was a brilliant ride.
edgt
Senior Jockey
Without the mistake he should most likely have won PJ.
(Imagine the fun on ATR with them unable to show any live pictures despite Gary O' Brien being a part owner.
A little imagination is required by tv channels to get over these issues methinks)
A lot of horses stopped quickly on the ground but still ran very well for a long way.
(Imagine the fun on ATR with them unable to show any live pictures despite Gary O' Brien being a part owner.
A little imagination is required by tv channels to get over these issues methinks)
A lot of horses stopped quickly on the ground but still ran very well for a long way.
fonz
At the Start
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I think Gallant Oscar's connections are entitled to think what could have been
Did we ever get a reason as why Sil Conti stopped so quickly? I think in hindsight they realise what a daft decision it was running a horse like that in the race.
Desert Orchid
Senior Jockey
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granger
Senior Jockey
i know he had to use a lot of petrol to get back into it, I just thought 1 out from the elbow he could have been held with a little more restraint at that stage.
no criticism of the jockey, was a fine ride
granger
Senior Jockey
GOB was working for BBC Radio n the day.
CH4 would have had 2 reasons to ignore him.
CH4 would have had 2 reasons to ignore him.
G-G
Senior Jockey
I think Plunkett/Spencer said at the round up that SC's jockey said he wasn't enjoying the ground.
Diamond Geezer
Gone But Not Forgotten
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Alistair Down's piece in the RP
SOMETIMES the most unlikely numbers magically synchronise and add up to something simply sublime. And on Saturday Rule The World, zero from 13 over fences, ridden by a 19-year-old first-timer with just 16 chase wins to his name and trained by a one-off genius of 65 with a 65-a-day habit to match, landed a Grand National restorative to the soul and riveting to witness.
This was an afternoon that reinforced once again the extraordinary power that jump racing has to uplift, excite and heal the battered spirit.
There in the Aintree winner's enclosure stood the ever unkempt, shaggy-maned figure of Mouse Morris, diminutive in stature, but towering over all. The man who brought a maiden and second-season novice to conquer a race normally reserved for the long-grizzled.
At dinner the night before attended by every available O'Leary, Mouse and I went for the third of about 17 cigarette breaks and, as we sheltered from the pouring rain, he said in that quiet way of his: "I think Bryan may have chosen the wrong one."
We were standing on Liverpool's Hope Street and in a sense every single owner, trainer and jockey who ever had a runner in the National walks that street the night before the big race. Usually to no avail.
But you could tell Mouse felt he could not have either Rule The World or the indomitable First Lieutenant in more rampant nick.
Mouse could not do excited if you put three million volts through him but, as he drew deep on an umpteenth Major, you sensed he knew his horses were bang right and that now it was all about gods and laps.
Mullins displays 'the mad assurance of youth'
When First Lieutenant fell at the second, Michael O'Leary must have been looking at his phone to check for flights home. It had all the makings of one of those days.
But as the race began to acquire rhythm and shape, you could see the blue cap of Rule The World was bang up there and settled into a ludicrously easy fluency by the teenager on his back.
David Mullins put in a performance that belied his tender age of 19
PICTURE: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)
At 19 and with all the mad assurance of youth, David Mullins carried no baggage into the race - none of that "Oh Christ I have never won this" worry that stalked even someone as brilliant as Tony McCoy for all those years.
There were only three horses who looked like winners midway through the race - The Last Samuri, Gilgamboa and Rule The World. But the eye kept returning to that blue cap and the utterly chilled figure of Mullins - known as ‘Stud' in the weighing room, presumably because he has expressed the wish to own one some day.
Youth is exuberant by nature and it would have been oh-so-easy for Mullins to fall into the trap of getting overexcited and making a move on sapping ground that would have cooked Rule The World.
But in an astonishing display of maturity, the youngster sat like a dowager duchess in the back of a chauffeured Bentley and waited for the race to come to him rather than make the fatal mistake of going out to grab it.
His orders had been "make for the outside and try to find some luck", and while he did just that, there was paint on his left boot jumping the Canal Turn second time.
But at the fourth-last the horse made the type of clunking mistake that is usually a half-brother to terminal at that late stage of the race. But the page of Mullins' dictionary that included the word ‘flustered' was clearly torn out long ago and still he bided his time, eking out Rule The World's energy like some calculating miser on a mission.
He jumped the last in third and found himself in behind the The Last Samuri and a fellow teenager in Vics Canvas. Still he hung on with that Burma Road of a run-in lying ahead of him.
Whip in his left hand, he coolly switched Rule The World out from the pair in front as they battled for mastery and it wasn't until approaching the Elbow that he picked up and launched the kitchen sink.
Rule The World rose magnificently to the moment and, grabbing the cloying ground, powered home with relish to beat The Last Samuri by six lengths. The Samuri were famous for their swords and Kim Bailey's horse cut and thrust magnificently and manfully throughout and was indeed carried out on his shield.
In third place the 13-year-old Vics Canvas and Robbie Dunne, another National virgin, all but stole the show. They made a mistake at Becher's first time that would have stopped a Saturn rocket and McCoy said: "You'll never see a better recovery."
The Racing Post comment in running on Vics Canvas should read ‘fell sixth'. Because that is what he did. Somehow, through superglue, stubbornness and survival instinct, Dunne stayed on board.
They lost a pile of ground. To get back into a close second and still contending two from home was a masterpiece from Dunne and the stuff of heroics from his horse.
David Mullins passed the post exultant and covered in the noble acne of mud-spatters that only jump jockeys acquire and wear with pride.
Awaiting him in the winner's enclosure was his grandmother Maureen, just under seven decades his senior and struck dumb, for once, by a flood tide of excitement, pride and family feeling that she should live to see this day.
Mullins handled it all with great assurance and aplomb. He had his mum Helen on hand and also his little brother Charlie, who was in happy bits and could not work out whether to laugh or cry.
The tears won but the 19-year-old treated the young fella with a tender affection that was nothing less than a joy to behold.
David Mullins' younger brother Charlie could not hold back tears of joy
Afterwards, he said tellingly: "Mouse is the best I have seen to prime a horse for a day. If it was easy everyone would be doing it."
I have 41 years on young Mullins, but I could not have put it better myself. Morris trained Gigginstown's first festival winner in the shape of Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition and in all my years I cannot think of a better target trainer or a man you would trust to save your life with one.
And of course this was a moment of almost eviscerating emotion for Morris.
He is a man of unusual pedigree. His father was president of the International Olympic Committee from 1972-80 and mum received an MBE for her work in Hut 6 at Bletchley Park during World War Two. War-shortening stuff.
On Saturday, Morris had his son Jamie at his side and be in no doubt that Mouse jnr has played a huge part in his father's return from the valley of the shadow of death after Tiffer Morris's death in early summer last year.
From the loss of a child there is no recovery. It becomes about living every day through the ever-present ache of irreversible and devastating dislocation.
Mouse is a man with the sensitivity to feel things with a razor's sharpness and, for all his ex-jockey's toughness, he has been to hell and is still on his way back.
And don't forget the tower of strength that is Jamie Morris. The father has lost a son but the youngster is also missing, in every way, a brother.
There are no consolations here but the wracked endurance is something to admire. Days like Saturday compensate for nothing but they do restore a touch of faith in the idea that life is still worth the painful wrestle.
At the end of the day, Rule The World and his exceptional young jockey gave us a day that had about it the quality of hope and redemption.
Neither of the O'Leary brothers, Michael nor Eddie, were born - they were both quarried. But, rightly, they were not immune to the tear-duct invasive power of the moment. Michael very publicly, Eddie I suspect on the quiet when nobody was watching.
And Mouse? Well, he will go on puffing away in a major fashion and continue to produce miracles from slender resources.
Mouse Morris is congratulated as Rule The World returns to Mullingar
PICTURE: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)
At the end of a momentous National weekend it is right to turn to the Beatitudes, very much some of the central words of the New Testament.
In that famous Sermon on the Mount, Christ said: "Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted."
Let us hope that is so.
SOMETIMES the most unlikely numbers magically synchronise and add up to something simply sublime. And on Saturday Rule The World, zero from 13 over fences, ridden by a 19-year-old first-timer with just 16 chase wins to his name and trained by a one-off genius of 65 with a 65-a-day habit to match, landed a Grand National restorative to the soul and riveting to witness.
This was an afternoon that reinforced once again the extraordinary power that jump racing has to uplift, excite and heal the battered spirit.
There in the Aintree winner's enclosure stood the ever unkempt, shaggy-maned figure of Mouse Morris, diminutive in stature, but towering over all. The man who brought a maiden and second-season novice to conquer a race normally reserved for the long-grizzled.
At dinner the night before attended by every available O'Leary, Mouse and I went for the third of about 17 cigarette breaks and, as we sheltered from the pouring rain, he said in that quiet way of his: "I think Bryan may have chosen the wrong one."
We were standing on Liverpool's Hope Street and in a sense every single owner, trainer and jockey who ever had a runner in the National walks that street the night before the big race. Usually to no avail.
But you could tell Mouse felt he could not have either Rule The World or the indomitable First Lieutenant in more rampant nick.
Mouse could not do excited if you put three million volts through him but, as he drew deep on an umpteenth Major, you sensed he knew his horses were bang right and that now it was all about gods and laps.
Mullins displays 'the mad assurance of youth'
When First Lieutenant fell at the second, Michael O'Leary must have been looking at his phone to check for flights home. It had all the makings of one of those days.
But as the race began to acquire rhythm and shape, you could see the blue cap of Rule The World was bang up there and settled into a ludicrously easy fluency by the teenager on his back.
David Mullins put in a performance that belied his tender age of 19
PICTURE: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)
At 19 and with all the mad assurance of youth, David Mullins carried no baggage into the race - none of that "Oh Christ I have never won this" worry that stalked even someone as brilliant as Tony McCoy for all those years.
There were only three horses who looked like winners midway through the race - The Last Samuri, Gilgamboa and Rule The World. But the eye kept returning to that blue cap and the utterly chilled figure of Mullins - known as ‘Stud' in the weighing room, presumably because he has expressed the wish to own one some day.
Youth is exuberant by nature and it would have been oh-so-easy for Mullins to fall into the trap of getting overexcited and making a move on sapping ground that would have cooked Rule The World.
But in an astonishing display of maturity, the youngster sat like a dowager duchess in the back of a chauffeured Bentley and waited for the race to come to him rather than make the fatal mistake of going out to grab it.
His orders had been "make for the outside and try to find some luck", and while he did just that, there was paint on his left boot jumping the Canal Turn second time.
But at the fourth-last the horse made the type of clunking mistake that is usually a half-brother to terminal at that late stage of the race. But the page of Mullins' dictionary that included the word ‘flustered' was clearly torn out long ago and still he bided his time, eking out Rule The World's energy like some calculating miser on a mission.
He jumped the last in third and found himself in behind the The Last Samuri and a fellow teenager in Vics Canvas. Still he hung on with that Burma Road of a run-in lying ahead of him.
Whip in his left hand, he coolly switched Rule The World out from the pair in front as they battled for mastery and it wasn't until approaching the Elbow that he picked up and launched the kitchen sink.
Rule The World rose magnificently to the moment and, grabbing the cloying ground, powered home with relish to beat The Last Samuri by six lengths. The Samuri were famous for their swords and Kim Bailey's horse cut and thrust magnificently and manfully throughout and was indeed carried out on his shield.
In third place the 13-year-old Vics Canvas and Robbie Dunne, another National virgin, all but stole the show. They made a mistake at Becher's first time that would have stopped a Saturn rocket and McCoy said: "You'll never see a better recovery."
The Racing Post comment in running on Vics Canvas should read ‘fell sixth'. Because that is what he did. Somehow, through superglue, stubbornness and survival instinct, Dunne stayed on board.
They lost a pile of ground. To get back into a close second and still contending two from home was a masterpiece from Dunne and the stuff of heroics from his horse.
David Mullins passed the post exultant and covered in the noble acne of mud-spatters that only jump jockeys acquire and wear with pride.
Awaiting him in the winner's enclosure was his grandmother Maureen, just under seven decades his senior and struck dumb, for once, by a flood tide of excitement, pride and family feeling that she should live to see this day.
Mullins handled it all with great assurance and aplomb. He had his mum Helen on hand and also his little brother Charlie, who was in happy bits and could not work out whether to laugh or cry.
The tears won but the 19-year-old treated the young fella with a tender affection that was nothing less than a joy to behold.
David Mullins' younger brother Charlie could not hold back tears of joy
Afterwards, he said tellingly: "Mouse is the best I have seen to prime a horse for a day. If it was easy everyone would be doing it."
I have 41 years on young Mullins, but I could not have put it better myself. Morris trained Gigginstown's first festival winner in the shape of Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition and in all my years I cannot think of a better target trainer or a man you would trust to save your life with one.
And of course this was a moment of almost eviscerating emotion for Morris.
He is a man of unusual pedigree. His father was president of the International Olympic Committee from 1972-80 and mum received an MBE for her work in Hut 6 at Bletchley Park during World War Two. War-shortening stuff.
On Saturday, Morris had his son Jamie at his side and be in no doubt that Mouse jnr has played a huge part in his father's return from the valley of the shadow of death after Tiffer Morris's death in early summer last year.
From the loss of a child there is no recovery. It becomes about living every day through the ever-present ache of irreversible and devastating dislocation.
Mouse is a man with the sensitivity to feel things with a razor's sharpness and, for all his ex-jockey's toughness, he has been to hell and is still on his way back.
And don't forget the tower of strength that is Jamie Morris. The father has lost a son but the youngster is also missing, in every way, a brother.
There are no consolations here but the wracked endurance is something to admire. Days like Saturday compensate for nothing but they do restore a touch of faith in the idea that life is still worth the painful wrestle.
At the end of the day, Rule The World and his exceptional young jockey gave us a day that had about it the quality of hope and redemption.
Neither of the O'Leary brothers, Michael nor Eddie, were born - they were both quarried. But, rightly, they were not immune to the tear-duct invasive power of the moment. Michael very publicly, Eddie I suspect on the quiet when nobody was watching.
And Mouse? Well, he will go on puffing away in a major fashion and continue to produce miracles from slender resources.
PICTURE: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)
At the end of a momentous National weekend it is right to turn to the Beatitudes, very much some of the central words of the New Testament.
In that famous Sermon on the Mount, Christ said: "Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted."
Let us hope that is so.
Desert Orchid
Senior Jockey
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The guy can write, can't he?
I wonder if Mouse appreciated the mention of his son, though. He seemed to resent it on Saturday.
As for Mullins's ride, I agree it was incredibly well-judged. Having watched the race at least 20 times yesterday in order to cobble together my notes, I wrote:
I wonder if Mouse appreciated the mention of his son, though. He seemed to resent it on Saturday.
As for Mullins's ride, I agree it was incredibly well-judged. Having watched the race at least 20 times yesterday in order to cobble together my notes, I wrote:
Last edited:
Euronymous
Senior Jockey
I thought it was really enjoyable to watch but lacking in terms of quality, maybe on the same level as Pineau de Rei. The classier types seemed to find it very hard in that ground.
I know he grates on some, but I love reading his stuff. I also miss him on C4. He added class and quality to the programme, and always took me back to a racing era that sadly seems long gone in broadcasting terms.
I think that's harsh Euro. Strictly on OR's that the highest quality National ever.
I presume you mean in terms of how many really got competitive inside the last mile?
archie
Senior Jockey
Damn right. His 'Best of' book is a good read if you've been around as long as he has. His postscripts to the Cheltenham highlights programmes were pure and regular quality. A victim of La Balding on C4? Only one person allowed to do the atmospheric pieces.
Agreed Archie. His Best Of book is possibly the best written racing book I've read.
He had his 'problem' and was quickly and conveniently consigned to the scrap-heap by the suits at Highflyer. It gave them the excuse to replace him with the broadcasting version of wallpaper.
He's not a 'yes' man and was never going to fit into the soft airy way of doing things I suppose, but losing him was a loss to both the sport and to any older armchair fan who enjoyed the great racing broadcasts of years gone by.
He had his 'problem' and was quickly and conveniently consigned to the scrap-heap by the suits at Highflyer. It gave them the excuse to replace him with the broadcasting version of wallpaper.
He's not a 'yes' man and was never going to fit into the soft airy way of doing things I suppose, but losing him was a loss to both the sport and to any older armchair fan who enjoyed the great racing broadcasts of years gone by.
Desert Orchid
Senior Jockey
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I had mixed feelings watching it, with Holywell exiting early and one or two others [I'd backed] not really getting into it.
From three out I was willing The Last Samuri home even tho' RTW ended up the better financial result for me.
As for the quality, I'm not sure what more we could ask for. When I'm trying to narrow the field down, I'm always concentrating on something I think can hit at least 160. My provisional figures for this year point to three of the first four doing that. Rule The World was a classy hurdler and today the trainer revealed he thought the horse could have been better than War Of Attrition but for injuries. The Last Samuri off 149 was already 12lbs well in so was officially a 161 horse and is clearly better than that. Many Clouds hit 170 in winning last year. The year before the second and third were above 160 and Pineau hit 159.
Even with the result in, I'm still convinced Holywell was the best handicapped runner in the field but I suspect we'll never see him in the race again. I think the fences frightened him but I'd want to know McLernon's view. I would assume Jonjo has National fences at home and that Holywell wouldn't have run here if he didn't cope with them.
I agree the ground makes it harder to carry weight although it didn't really stop Suny Bay. Most of my bets were on before the day in the hope of the going being 'managed' to produce something with give but not heavy. EVen so, 16 finishers is a lot for heavy ground.
Diamond Geezer
Gone But Not Forgotten
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Pretty sure they took him to Lambourn where they have national type fences for schooling, I know Kim Bailey took The Last Samurai there.