Grafter is a word that has followed Gary Moore around throughout his career as a jumps jockey and a trainer, but after another exceptional afternoon for the stable at this track he could soon be known as “Grade One” Gary instead. Moore saddled a treble here for the second day running and the third time in all this season, including the feature events, the Tingle Creek Chase and the Henry VIII Novice Chase, and he can now plan to return to the Champion Chase at Cheltenham in March with his rejuvenated stable star, Sire De Grugy.
Several of the best two-mile chasers had dropped out of the Tingle Creek in the week before the race, but Sire De Grugy’s performance and the roar from the crowd that carried him up the hill were in the finest traditions of a much-cherished event.
Sire De Grugy’s success in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in 2014, Gary Moore’s first Grade One victory over jumps, cleared the weighing room as jockeys emerged to applaud the horse and his jockey, Jamie Moore, into the winner’s enclosure. The chestnut won four Grade Ones in 2013-14 but his performances dipped sharply last season, so this was a hugely popular return to form.
The winner’s connections had to wait for the result to be confirmed after a stewards’ inquiry. Sire De Grugy bumped Special Tiara, the runner-up, jumping the last but the interference was accidental and Special Tiara was three-quarters of a length adrift and not making any ground as they crossed the line.
“You’d have to say he’s definitely a lot better than he had been,” Moore said. “He’s put [a disappointing return at] Devon behind him, and one or two runs last season, and he can be better than today as well.
“Last season was a write-off, there was only one day when he performed. I was critical of myself. We gave him a hard season after he won the Champion Chase but he’s put it all right today. There’s the Desert Orchid [at Kempton on 27 December] now or the Clarence House Chase at Ascot in January.”
Sire De Grugy is unbeaten in four starts here including three Grade Ones, and he had plenty of backers at 100-30 as he went to post after two earlier winners for Moore: Flute Bowl at 5-1 in a mares’ novice hurdle and, more significantly, a first Grade One winner for jockey Joshua Moore, the youngest of the trainer’s three sons, aboard the 14-1 shot Ar Mad.
There are few sights in jumping to match a brave, athletic chaser attacking the two-mile course here and Ar Mad was out to tame it from the off as he built up a lead and defied Bristol De Mai, the evens favourite, to chase him down. The latter started to close on the run to the third-last, but Moore had kept something back for the uphill run to the line and Ar Mad came home 10 lengths clear.
“He was electric, he jumped the fences like hurdles,” Gary Moore said. “He’s always been a brilliant jumper and very quick. When I saw that he [Bristol De Mai] was going to drop in and not take him on, I knew it was going to be very difficult to get him back. Josh nicked lengths and nicked lengths, then he’s gone again on the bend.”
Several bookmakers quoted Ar Mad at around 14-1 for the Arkle Trophy as he was being unsaddled, but Moore will not enter the winner for the Festival as he believes he is much better running right-handed.
“It would be a waste of money and it’s not fair to the horse,” Moore said. “In time, he may go left-handed, but he’s not the same horse.”
By the end of the afternoon, Moore had won with nine of his 11 runners here this season, recording trebles at odds of 1,529-1, 615-1 and now 389-1 and all while recovering from fractured ribs and a punctured lung, sustained when a horse kicked him in early November.
“It’s the best racecourse in the country, isn’t it?” Moore said. “In my mind, anyway.”
Don Poli, the winner of last season’s RSA Chase at Cheltenham, made the most of a 5lb weight concession from the Grand National winner Many Clouds to grind out a four-length success on his seasonal debut at Aintree. After the race the six-year-old, who is trained by Willie Mullins, was unchanged at a top price of 8-1 to win the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in March.
