Deserved victory for ‘majestic’ Johnson at Wetherby

RICHARD JOHNSON’S majestic masterclass on Menorah to win the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby showed why the jump jockey would be regarded as the greatest of all-time if his career had not coincided with the one and only AP McCoy.
UPSETTING THE ODDS: Menorah and Richard Johnson jump the last fence before going on to win the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby. Picture: John Giles/PAUPSETTING THE ODDS: Menorah and Richard Johnson jump the last fence before going on to win the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby. Picture: John Giles/PA
UPSETTING THE ODDS: Menorah and Richard Johnson jump the last fence before going on to win the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby. Picture: John Giles/PA

So long in the shadow of McCoy, Johnson is – in terms of wins – the second most successful rider in National Hunt history with a mere 2,726 victories to his name and he used all of his tactical acumen to win the West Yorkshire track’s signature race in front of 9,000 sun-kissed racegoers – up 1,000 on last year.

As a tightly-packed field turned for home, Johnson angled Menorah away from the inner – he wanted his horse to have a clear sight of the final four fences – before quickening clear with decisive ease on the run to the penultimate obstacle and giving no hope to the pursuing McCoy on the runner-up Taquin Du Seuil.

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Though 2012 winner and long-time pacesetter Silviniaco Conti was a big disappointment and faded to fifth in this £100,000 contest, Menorah’s win was not the greatest of surprises. The horse still retains the class that saw the gelding win the 2010 Supreme Novices Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, ground conditions suited and the string of trainer Philip Hobbs is flying following the recent wins of Big Easy in the Cesarewitch and the wily Wishful Thinking in Aintree’s Old Roan Chase.

“He jumped and he travelled nicely,” a clearly elated Johnson told The Yorkshire Post. “Good ground and a flat track are key. Though Menorah has won at Cheltenham, he just doesn’t seem to show his best form there for whatever reason.

“Turning in, I just wanted to keep it simple. It’s a long straight and I didn’t want to get into any unnecessary difficulty on the inside. Philip’s horses are in good order and I thought this could be Menorah’s day, though I didn’t expect to win so handily.”

William Hill spokesman Jon Ivan-Duke responded to the win by saying that Menorah’s odds have been trimmed to 12-1 for the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and 16-1 for next March’s Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup.

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However, Grahame Whateley, whose wife Diana owns the horse, did not want to be drawn on future targets. He hopes their Captain Chris can finally win the William Hill King George and that Menorah is ground dependent.

“I travelled here more in hope than expectation. I thought Silviniaco Conti would be absolutely cock on and I still think he is a great horse,” he said. “Good going and a nice flat track suits him down to the ground. At one stage, I really thought he was going to be a world beater after his early successes at Cheltenham, but it is terrific to see him win races like this.”

As for the winning jockey, Johnson was completing a double after a hard-fought win in the opening hurdle aboard the Steve Gollings-trained The Grey Taylor.

This race was a privilege to watch as Johnson beat the McCoy-ridden Chieftain’s Choice.

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Here were the the winners of 7,000 races between them showing why they have been at the top of their game so long – it tormented the injury-hit McCoy, physically and mentally, that he was beaten.

No wonder McCoy credits his rivalry with Johnson for bringing the best out of both riders. There was further disappointment for the 19-time champion jockey when top hurdler At Fishers Cross was a distant third in the West Yorkshire Nurdle to Cole Harden. The victor led from start to finish for champion conditional Gavin Sheehan, who completed a double when Kaysersberg beat Sue Smith’s chasing debutant Blakemount in the finale.

Sheehan, and his trainer Warren Greatrex, now have four winners apiece this season at Wetherby and this burgeoning partnership hope that Cole Harden will be a serious Ladbrokes World Hurdle contender at the Cheltenham Festival.

However McCoy did record one win – his first since aggravating a shoulder injury at the West Yorkshire track on October 15 – when partnering John Quinn’s Aurore D’Estruval to victory in the OLBG.com Mares’ Hurdle.

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The four-year-old is also Cheltenham-bound; Norton-based Quinn has hopes of winning the David Nicholson Mares Hurdle that was monopolised by the legendary Quevega for six successive seasons. “She’s a good one,” observed the canny trainer who did admit to harbouring dreams of this horse winning a Gold Cup after he followed her up the gallops recently in his Jeep.

She’ll be some horse if she does – Dawn Run remains the only mare to win the Gold Cup.

Quinn is not alone in looking to the future with optimism – his near neighbour Malcolm Jefferson hopes Secrete Stream could win a Cheltenham Festival handicap hurdle after his smooth win in the Racing UK Handicap Hurdle under Brian Hughes.

This is a strapping horse who will make an imposing steeplechaser in time and Jefferson’s sentiment matched a raceday when each of the victors could dare to dream of greater glories.

Jamie Osborne’s Toast Of New York was foiled by a nose in his bid to “pull off the impossible” as Bayern made all to land the $5m Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.