Dessie Hughes was remembered with an impeccably observed minute’s silence shortly before racing here on Sunday, news of the Irish trainer’s passing having broken around the time the gates were opening at the track where he enjoyed his greatest successes. There must have been thousands around the paddock shortly before the first race but, after a montage of highlights from his career was shown on the big screen, the requested hush was broken only by the footfall of the circulating horses.
Hughes made his name as a jump jockey in the late 1970s with a particular reputation for strength in a finish. “Lovely man. The only bad thing was he was hard to beat on the track,” recalled Jonjo O’Neill who, back in 1979, must have thought he and Sea Pigeon had the Champion Hurdle in the bag as they cruised passed Hughes, pushing away at Monksfield for all he was worth.
But it was Hughes’s drive that prevailed and a quarter of a century later he trained Hardy Eustace to win consecutive runnings of the same race. Like Monksfield, Hardy Eustace was a grafter whose willingness to keep scrapping helped him to see off flashier types when defeat had seemed certain.
A similar level of determination undoubtedly sustained Hughes through the various trials that a life in racing brings. But the word most often applied to him as tributes were paid on Sunday was “gentleman” and, by common consent, he never met the outside world with anything less than civility, in times of famine or feast.
Hughes recovered well from surgery to remove a pancreatic tumour last year but was said to have fallen ill again some weeks ago. His son, Richard, on becoming Britain’s champion Flat jockey for the third time this autumn, dedicated the title to his father and wrote last month in the Racing Post of the debt he owed him.
“After every winner I rode I would look for his approval,” Hughes Jr said. “I vowed to do everything I could to defend the title for him. He was the one I was doing it for. I know how much he wanted me to do it and I know how proud of me he is now I have done it.”
Hughes Sr was a noted mentor of other young jockeys besides his son, with Charlie Swan, Tom Morgan and Daryl Jacob among those to have spent their early days at his Kildare yard. “I’ll forever be indebted to him,” said Jacob, who might never have tried his luck in England but for Hughes’s encouragement.
Denis O’Regan, who finished second in a Grand National aboard the Hughes-trained Black Apalachi, spoke in glowing terms and with evident feeling. “He always stood by his jockeys, he was a very loyal man. It’s something that is just not there nowadays. As a man, there was no one like him. We’ve lost one of the real good people in the sport.
“I went back to Ireland this summer to ride there for a bit and made it my business to ride out for Dessie a couple of times and see him. He put me up in the Galway Plate and I had a couple of other rides for him. It is something I’m really pleased I’ve done. I had a good chat with him. He told me to keep my head down, keep working hard and I’d be all right.”
The action on the track on Sunday was dominated once more by Richard Johnson, who in 20 years with a licence had never ridden a treble here until Friday and has now done so twice in three days. He ended the Open meeting with seven wins, six of them provided by his longstanding supporter, Philip Hobbs, who has now taken over at the top of the trainer’s table.
The highlight of their day was provided by Garde La Victoire, who made almost all the running to land the Greatwood Hurdle after no one else had wanted the early lead. “It’s fantastic,” Hobbs said. “I couldn’t have imagined it in my wildest dreams. Richard’s just said then, this isn’t really a dream, is it? I might have to pinch myself. Both winners today, we were borderline whether to run them or not because it might be too soft for them.”
Johnson and Hobbs may try to extend their run of success in Saturday’s Betfair Chase with Menorah, if the weather in the Haydock area proves as dry as forecast. Their opponents will not include Bobs Worth, who has been ruled out of the race by Nicky Henderson, who may instead send him over hurdles at Newbury the following weekend.
In Ireland the day belonged to Hurricane Fly, who turned round Champion Hurdle form with Jezki to win Punchestown’s Morgiana Hurdle, the 20th Grade One victory of his career.
“It won’t be always that easy,” said his trainer, Willie Mullins, and the 10-year-old is 16-1 for a third success in the Champion Hurdle here in March.
