“The thing with Might Bite is that at home he’s a very easy horse to deal with,” Nico de Boinville, who will ride the favourite in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Tuesday, said last week. “In his schooling and his work, you really couldn’t get a more straightforward horse. Instead of talking about his quirks, I think we should probably be talking about what a good horse he is.”
Perhaps we should, perhaps we would – if Might Bite’s quirks when he sets foot on a racecourse were not so unforgettable. Straightforward though he is at Nicky Henderson’s stable in Lambourn, Might Bite’s public appearances on racing’s major stages have been marked by a flair for last-gasp drama and tales of the unexpected. He is turning into the equine Balotelli. Why always him?
There is, of course, a long list of horses that were famous – and often cherished – for their unpredictability. There were those, like Vodkatini in the late 1980s, who would decide for themselves when the tape went up if they felt like a race. Punters would hover by betting windows across the country with slips in hand, waiting to see if Vodkatini was on a going day before joining the scrum to get a bet on if he was.
Much more recently, Gordon Elliott’s Labaik refused to race twice in December 2016, and then finished last, 71 lengths behind the horse in front of him, after effectively refusing again. Next time up, in this year’s Supreme Novice Hurdle on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival, he got away on terms and won at 25-1, rubbing salt into the punters’ wounds by beating the joint-favourite Melon into second. He had, it seemed, turned the corner – until his next race at Punchestown when, as a 5-2 chance, he planted himself once again and gave his opponents a two-furlong head start.
Then there are the horses that are winners everywhere but the line. Harchibald, for instance, who cruised all over his opponents in the 2005 Champion Hurdle but refused to go past when Paul Carberry asked him for just a little more. And in the King George itself, there was Challenger Du Luc, who was the Grinch that stole Christmas for his backers in 1997. He jumped around Kempton like the best horse in the race, but when he refused to run on, even Tony McCoy could not persuade him otherwise.
But while some horses have managed to pluck defeat from the jaws of victory, and others have summoned victory from the brink of defeat, very few have managed to do both, in Grade One races, in the space of three months. At which point, enter Might Bite, stage right, at Kempton Park last Christmas. With De Boinville out of action with injury, Daryl Jacob took over on Might Bite in the Grade One Kauto Star Novice Chase, and the pairing had galloped their field into the ground by the time they arrived at the final fence, almost 20 lengths clear. If he had the chance again, Jacob would possibly make sure and ease Might Bite a little on the approach, but he kept up the gallop and asked him up. Might Bite got it wrong and took a heavy fall.
In the RSA Chase at Cheltenham three months later, Might Bite expanded on his theme. First, there was the trademark dominance to the final fence, which he jumped 10 lengths clear of Whisper. Then came the moment when De Boinville suddenly realised that either the rest of the world was speeding up, or Might Bite was slowing down.
Might Bite was almost down to a walk, having seen the exit from the track and assumed that the race was over, as Whisper galloped past a furlong from the line, and if Marinero had not unseated his rider at the third Whisper would surely have won. But Marinero was galloping loose in front of Might Bite as a reminder that there was still work to do, and De Boinville’s partner suddenly started to motor.
The graph of Might Bite’s in-running price on Betfair looked like a sketch of the Alps, as his chance of victory veered from near-certain to hopeless, and then back to 50-50 in the final strides before Might Bite got up to win by a nose.
“It was all in slow motion, because he’s pulled himself up from a pretty good gallop to almost a walk,” De Boinville says, “and all you can do is to curse a bit and see what happens. But luckily the loose horse came and he picked up again, and he’s gone from doing nothing to flat out again in no time. It shows what a good horse he is, in that he can do something like that.”
Might Bite’s only start this season was a routine win in a four-runner race at Sandown but, as the punters know only too well, he seems to save his most dramatic performances for the biggest days. No one at Kempton will take anything for granted until Might Bite’s nose has crossed the line.
“I’m sure it was just his youth at Cheltenham,” De Boinville says. “He did the same thing there a couple of years back, and I thought he would have matured another two years down the line. All we can do is keep our fingers crossed that he does seem to be maturing mentally, and I think we’ve got a tremendous horse on our hands. But everyone likes a bit of a flaw somewhere.”
Chris Cook’s Boxing Day tips
Kempton 12.45 Diese Des Bieffes 1.20 Reigning Supreme 1.55 Mia’s Storm 2.30 Buveur D’Air 3.05 Might Bite 3.40 Kildisart
Huntingdon 11.40 Amberjam 12.10 Boreham Bill 12.40 Trojan Star 1.15 Smart Boy 1.50 Bestwork 2.25 Grageelagh Girl 3.00 Becauseshesaidso 3.35 The Big Bite
Sedgefield 11.55 Quick Pick 12.25 Oak Vintage 1.00 Rockalzaro 1.35 Tonto’s Spirit (nb) 2.05 Whitsundays 2.40 Ange Des Malberaux 3.15 Birch Vale
Wetherby 12.00 Petticoat Tails 12.30 Pinch Of Ginger 1.05 Dalaman 1.40 Caraline 2.10 Baywing 2.45 Ryedale Racer 3.20 Royal Beekeeper
Market Rasen 12.05 Cliffside Park 12.35 Ashkoul 1.10 Boagrius (nap) 1.45 Compadre 2.15 Vinegar Hill 2.50 Bisoubisou 3.25 See The Rock
Wolverhampton 12.05 Royal Pursuit 12.40 Windsor Cross 1.10 King Kevin 1.45 Emenem 2.15 Ocean Of Love 2.50 Line Of Reason 3.25 King Of Nepal 4.00 Smugglers Creek
Fontwell 12.20 River Dun 12.50 Oxford Blu 1.25 Jersey Bean 2.00 Brown Bear 2.35 Champagne George 3.10 Silent Man 3.45 Undefined Beauty
Wincanton 12.25 Quiz Master 12.55 If You Say Run 1.30 Persian Delight 2.05 Wizards Bridge 2.40 Coeur Tantre 3.15 Jessber’s Dream 3.50 Lechlade Magician
