Reunited for Wetherby hat-trick tilt

Then he thinks of Fair Along, the horse of a lifetime who has provided him with so many memorable and emotional days in the saddle, and he remembers why he put a career in racing before the oval ball game.

This is a battle-hardened warrior, small in size but big in heart, who will attempt on Saturday to become the first three-time winner of Wetherby’s three-mile John Smith’s Hurdle – the main support act to the Charlie Hall Chase.

Yet the horse and rider’s amazing empathy stems from Fair Along spending his formative days over obstacles at the Bridgend stables owned by Flint’s parents, John and Martine, before switching to the yard of top West Country trainer Philip Hobbs.

Then just 12, and beginning to catch the eye of Wales’ district rugby selectors as a hard-tackling inside centre of some repute, Flint would dash home from school to ride the three-year-old novice. By his own admission, some of these impromptu schooling sessions were, perhaps, a little longer when Flint’s parents were absent.

“He was so eager, and so was I,” recalled Flint. “I would pretend to be a jockey, we’d jump away and off we went – I loved it.

“Yes, I schooled him a little more than I should up a line of fences. I was 12 and eager. I treated him like a pony. He was my little pony that I could jump – and I would jump anything I could on him. Perhaps that’s why I get on with him. We nicknamed him Hitler. He was a German-bred horse and he always thought he was the main man at he yard. He wanted to rule the world.”

Flint admits to being devastated when owner Alan Peterson, aware of the gelding’s potential, switched Fair Along to the Hobbs yard where the horse prospered under top jockey Richard Johnson. Yet Peterson made Flint a promise: he could ride Fair Along if he was ever good enough to be a jockey.

It explains why rugby, and the prospect of trials with the Ospreys’ Under-16 side, lost some of its allure. The young rider became immersed with pony racing, before graduating through the National Hunt ranks until the autumn of 2008 when Peterson allowed Flint to ride Fair Along at Cheltenham.

Three races at jump racing’s premier track yielded two victories and an enduring association reached its peak in October of the following year when Fair Along recorded his first John Smith’s success by an emphatic 18 lengths.

Just the memory of that day stirs the rider’s emotions.

“Going down the back straight, Tom Scudamore made a good strong gallop on Lough Derg,” he added. “I was travelling second, always keen, and he ran off with me. Tom shouted at me ‘Rhys, you’re going too soon’. I shouted back ‘I can’t do anything about it’.

“He sprinted up the straight in soft ground and the only other horse who’s given me that feel was Captain Chris at Kempton in March 2010, and he won the Arkle at Cheltenham this year.”

While Gordon Elliott’s Cheltenham Festival winner Carlito Brigante is likely to be the main threat on Saturday, Flint takes heart from the fact that his horse wins most of his races in the autumn when fresh.

He still believes that Fair Along could land a major steeplechase when he reverts to the larger obstacles after the Wetherby race.

“He needs everything to go his way,” added Flint, who studied at Doncaster’s Northern Racing College en route to becoming a fully-fledged jockey and the champion apprentice in 2009-10.

“He looks after himself. He’s only small, but his jumping is very, very clever. It’s his time of year and he’s a top-class horse. He owes me nothing – he will never be able to disappoint me. I can never, ever repay him”

As for Flint, who works full-time for his parents, his tall build and weight mean that his career will probably not reach the lofty heights that many predicted when he was powering his childhood horse, now nine, up the Cheltenham hill in 2008.

“Some days, when I’m having a bad time at racing, I wish I’d gone down the rugby route – especially when Wales are playing. I love watching them,” he says as Fair Along prepares to eclipse dual John Smith’s winners Boss Doyle and Cab On Target.

“Racing is frustrating. If you’re riding horses that, perhaps, aren’t quite good enough on their day, but then you think of Fair Along.

“I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to Saturday, and for how long. To win, it would be amazing.”

Paul Hanagan took another step towards being crowned champion jockey for a second successive season with a double at Redcar yesterday

With less than a fortnight of the turf season remaining, Hanagan took his tally for the campaign to 156, leaving him nine winners clear of Silvestre de Sousa and 13 ahead of six-time champion Kieren Fallon.