As the major races of a new jumps season heave into view, what better moment to drop in on a star of winters long past, now enjoying an easeful life, cosseted in a small stable in Gloucestershire. Young Hustler is 30 years old and still with us, to the surprise and delight of people like Peter Scudamore, who won on him at the Cheltenham Festival in 1993.
“He would run through a wall for you,” his former jockey remembers and, as the veteran of 65 races including three Grand Nationals, Young Hustler was certainly tested. But he came through it all, ran his last race at the age of 11 and has been provided with a long, comfortable retirement by his owner, Gavin MacEchern.
Thirty is an excellent lifespan for horses of any kind and racehorses in particular, which explains why Scudamore is slightly stunned to learn that Young Hustler is still going. The popular chestnut was not quite good enough to cope with The Fellow and Jodami in the 1994 Cheltenham Gold Cup but has outlived both by nine years. When they run the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday, a race he won 23 years ago, Young Hustler’s longevity will be featured in the racecard.
“For a horse of that age he seems in very good nick,” says MacEchern. “The Racing Post put him in their birthday list on 1 January this year, which was rather sweet of them. He spent the summer out in a paddock by my house and now that the weather’s not so good he comes here to be mollycoddled.”
Debbie Maunder, who looks after Young Hustler day to day, croons over him while describing how he has mellowed. “He can be a bit pushy sometimes but that’s typical ex-racehorse. He’s a lovely old man, really.”
“He could be a stroppy little sod,” recalls Nigel Twiston-Davies, who trained him to win 15 races. “But he was the most unbelievable horse ever, so tough and brilliant. He was just a little bit short of top class but they always gave him lumps of weight when he went to Aintree. If they compressed the top of the Grand National weights then, like they do now, he’d probably have won one.”
Ruefully MacEchern remembers the 1994 National, before which someone apparently shared an old piece of hunting wisdom with the horse’s rider, David Bridgwater, that loose horses tend to go left and should therefore be kept on one’s left. Trailing the loose Usher’s Island to the 11th, Bridgwater sensibly steered to the right, only to see Usher’s Island belt the fence and fall in front of him, on to the spot where Young Hustler should have landed. His forelegs knocked from under him, the game little chestnut was brought down.
The injustice still rankles a bit. “He was a phenomenal jumper,” his owner says. “If you saw him jump The Chair at Aintree, he popped it. He’d go over anything, the most beautiful jumper. And he’s not the biggest but he’s certainly one of the bravest. It was all bravery and athleticism.”
“To be involved with him, I was amazingly lucky,” says Scudamore, who calls Young Hustler ‘Moony’, short for Moonbeam, the stable name he was given because of his shiny coat. “He had this big, bright arse,” the jockey recalls. “He wasn’t big but he was the right shape, a ball of muscle. Anything he lacked in ability, he made up for in heart.”
“Owning him really did change my life,” adds MacEchern, well aware of his immense good fortune in having bought such a horse on a budget of £10,000. “He was so in the spotlight and so well liked by the public. People loved this little horse that jumped big.”
Tuesday’s tips, by Chris Cook
Catterick 12.35 Machree 1.05 Ebitda 1.35 Jabbaar 2.10 Our Charlie Brown 2.40 Tonto’s Spirit 3.15 Economic Crisis 3.45 Short Work 4.20 Commanche
Bangor 12.55 Dostal Phil 1.25 Modus 2.00 Pearlita 2.30 Ballycool 3.05 Cave Top 3.35 One For Rosie 4.10 Nestor Park
Chepstow 1.15 Out Of Style 1.45 Bandon Roc (nb) 2.20 Winido 2.50 Filatore 3.25 Knight Of Noir 3.55 Smart Boy (nap) 4.30 First Flow
Wolverhampton 4.40 Dream Mount 5.10 Laieth 5.40 Jellmood 6.10 Tidal’s Baby 6.40 Wild Flower 7.10 Mistry 7.40 My Brother Mike 8.10 Vivre La Reve
