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Smiles can return with enigmatic Geordieland
AS a stylish jump jockey, Jamie Osborne's beaming smile regularly lit up the winner's enclosure.
As a trainer of Flat horses, Osborne has found success to be slightly more elusive – frustratingly so on many occasions.
It is not just the absence of hurdles, or steeplechase fences, which is proving such a handicap to the Hull-born horseman.
Simply finding winners is that more difficult when you are competing against the might of Ballydoyle or Godolphin – two training and breeding operations where money is no object.
However, a long-overdue victory for Osborne's perennial Geordieland in today's Ascot Gold Cup – the centrepiece of the five-day Royal meeting – will see the smile return to the trainer's cherubic face.
A crowd-pleasing horse now approaching veteran status at the age of eight, the gallant grey has provided his trainer with the best of days. And the worst.
The best? Victory in the Yorkshire Cup in May last year and a comeback success in a high-quality Henry VII Stakes at Sandown last month when he showed plenty of resolution in overcoming the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Patkai, who reopposes today.
The worst? A dispiriting defeat at Pontefract in October 2007, when his enigmatic charge was ridiculously below-par, and two seconds in the Ascot Gold Cup.
On both occasions, the horse that denied Geordieland was Yeats – the superstar from Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle stables who is seeking an unprecedented fourth successive Gold Cup today.
Since the two-and-a-half mile stamina test was first staged in 1807, only one other horse has recorded a hat-trick of triumphs and that was the Francois Boutin-trained Sagaro (1975-77).
Ironically, it is a distance that Osborne relished when he was plying his trade over obstacles and riding horses as illustrious as Remittance Man, winner of the 1992 Queen Mother Champion Chase and one of five triumphs the jockey recorded at that year's Cheltenham Festival.
But, while O'Brien believes Yeats' disappointing comeback run at Navan in April could be attributed to unfavourable soft going, Osborne's problem is persuading the enigmatic Geordieland to put his head in front.
The winner of more than 500,000 in career prize money, Geordieland has become regarded as an "underdog" after winning seven of his 32 starts to date, and being runner-up on 11 separate occasions.
With a seeming aversion to leading a race, his jockeys – Shane Kelly in today's instance – have to leave their final push to the very last moment, and even then the horse might not respond to their urgings.
If Osborne knew the answer, it would be Geordieland who would be seeking to equal the great Sagaro's feat today rather than Yeats looking forward to a date with history.
The trainer, however, is simply relieved that he bypassed this year's renewal of the Yorkshire Cup in favour of the Henry VII Stakes.
"The reason why the Henry VII was never our first plan was because of its proximity to Ascot," said the Upper Lambourn-based handler.
"My heart was a little bit in my mouth but I have to say I'd be fairly confident the race hadn't left its mark.
"Geordieland and Yeats are both the same age which everyone seems to be forgetting, but win, lose or draw, isn't it fantastic that you've got the first and second from the last two Gold Cups re-opposing?
"They are first and second favourites – it's like National Hunt racing.
"If these two were hurdlers they'd just be coming into their prime with the only difference being they are not geldings.
"They are great horses and it would be great to see them fight out the finish again – but obviously with a different result."
Osborne's modus operandi is to buy horses with potential, and sell them on as two-year-olds. It is the most effective way of paying the bills as the recession take its toll on those owners with horses in training at his yard.
The only horse definitely not for sale is Geordieland, quirks and all, whose durability – year after year – is akin to many of the enduring hurdlers and chasers who prospered under Osborne's riding.
"I bought him privately in France as a two-year-old," said the trainer. "I suppose I didn't envisage that he would win this amount of prize money. He's just awfully frustrating – people either love him or they love to hate him.
"He's not like many of my horses who are semi on the market all the time. Horses like this don't come along that often.
"You need a slice of luck. Milk it Mick was a Group 1 winner, landing the Dewhurst at Newmarket in 2003, but we haven't had one since then; in fact we've had precious few Group One winners apart from Geordieland."
As a jockey, Osborne said it was much easier to jump from one good horse to another likely winner. By his own admission, training has been an eye-opener.
A Gold Cup success would certainly emulate any of his achievements in the saddle.
Reputedly the Queen Mother's favourite jockey, he had fruitful partnerships with several trainers, most notably Oliver Sherwood and Nicky Henderson, before a long-standing wrist injury prompted his riding retirement just over 10 years ago at the relatively young age of 31.
He was born with horses in his blood. His father, Anthony, from an East Riding hunting family, had a property company in Sheffield, while his mother, Angela, show-jumped at a high level for Yorkshire's Trevor Banks.
Osborne was brought up near Wetherby where he spent his weekends and school holidays riding out for local trainer Harry Wharton.
It was Wharton who provided the first of Osborne's 803 winners – Fair Bavard – at Southwell in March, 1986.
Osborne knows Geordieland faces a tough ask. Eight rivals have been declared.
The danger is not just Yeats; Godolphin trainer Saaed bin Suroor is sweet about the chances of Veracity, the mount of Frankie Dettori.
The five-year-old finished third in the Yorkshire Cup last time and the form has since been boosted by the winner Ask who went onto to land the Coronation Cup at the Epsom Derby meeting.
Last year, on the eve of the Ascot Gold Cup, Osborne remarked: "My training career is not going to fail or succeed on the outcome but, from a pleasure point of view, it would make a hell of a difference."
Twelve months on and the sentiment is exactly the same. And a phlegmatic Osborne might even manage a smile if Geordieland gets his head in front where it matters most of all – the winning post.
And that is where things become slightly less certain.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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