Scu' aims to emulate father in Champion Hurdle

Five years of age, he had just finished lessons at his Catholic school and was listening to the commentary on a car radio when his teacher – a nun – came running out bearing good news.

“Sister Helen, she’d watched the race and was coming to tell me that Dad had won,” Scudamore junior told The Yorkshire Post. “I was excited Dad had ridden a winner, but didn’t realise what it meant. I was excited, but wasn’t quite sure why.”

Looking back, this was the moment, reflected the 34-year-old that he realised that the Cheltenham Festival had special significance as a celebration of National Hunt racing.

An annual pilgrimage for British and Irish devotees of National Hunt racing that will see £350m gambled in bets, and celebrate past greats like the aforementioned Winter who was both a champion jockey and trainer, Scudamore hopes to join his illustrious father on the Champion Hurdle roll of honour when he partners the talented, but fragile novice Moon Racer in today’s big race.

Like Malton’s Malcolm Jefferson whose lightly-campaigned Cyrus Darius takes his chance following injury woe of his own, the absence of past winners Faugheen and Annie Power has prompted many connections to chance their arm.

This is a wide open renewal headed by the JP McManus-owned Yanworth and Buveur D’air while Bryan Cooper’s mount Petit Mouchoir, a dual Grade One winner, could be the best of Ireland’s raiding party.

Though Scudamore admits victory would not compensate him for the disappointment of steeplechasing superstar Thistlecrack missing Friday’s blue riband Gold Cup with a tendon injury – the King George hero is one of a number of high-profile absentees this week – it would, nevertheless, be another big race to add to a burgeoning CV.

And it would represent one of the all-time great training performances by David Pipe to eclipse the 1997 victory of his father Martin’s Make A Stand who defied his novice status to make all under a cherubic AP McCoy.

After all, Make A Stand was racing over obstacles for an 11th time while Moon Racer, now eight, will be having his sixth career start – and encountering hurdles for just a third time. That said, nine novices have previously won the Champion Hurdle and Alderbrook’s victory at Cheltenham in 1995 was just his third encounter with obstacles. It gives Scudamore hope.

“There’s no such thing as a bad Champion Hurdle but this year’s race appears wide open,” says the jockey. “We were very pleased with Moon Racer when he did a piece of work at Wincanton. He was very professional and slick at his hurdles. He did everything I could have asked. For a horse who has had only a couple of runs over hurdles he is very mature and he should thrive on the challenge.

“We wanted to leave the decision as late as possible. We didn’t go to Wincanton thinking he would be a Supreme horse (the novice hurdle is the Festival’s traditional curtain-raiser).

“For a long time, we’ve had it in the back of our minds that he could end up in the Champion Hurdle as a novice. David wouldn’t have given him the entry otherwise.”

Fulsome in his praise for co-owners Professor Caroline Tisdall and Bryan Drew, the jockey says there are three reasons why this calculated gamble could pay off.

First, he points to Moon Racer’s victory in the Champion Bumper two years ago when he streaked clear of his 22 rivals in this Grade One.

Second, Scudamore cites the battling qualities when he beat Ballyandy, the 2016 Bumper champion, on his hurdling debut at Perth last September. It remains one of the races of the season.

Third, Moon Racer oozed class when winning a Grade Two novice at Cheltenham last November, beating talented adversaries whose subsequent runs have franked the form.

Yet, while many of this year’s Champion Hurdle contenders have run indifferently at various stages of the season, Scudamore’s mount has not seen a racecourse.

“He’s had as many races over hurdles as Alderbrook,” says the rider who is also hopeful that Un Temps Pour Tout can defy top weight and replicate his handicap chase victory of 12 months ago.

“It’s not like winning four p*** poor hurdle races where he’s beaten 12 rivals in total.

He showed in the Bumper that he can handle the pressure and intensity of a Festival run while you couldn’t have asked for more from his two runs this season.

“Whether it’s the Supreme or the Champion, you have to jump and that’s the key. Fair play to David and the Pond House team for getting him there – he’s not an easy horse to train.”

As for Moon Racer’s rivals, Alan King believes Yanworth – fourth to Moon Racer in the 2015 Bumper – could not be in better shape.

Nicky Henderson is triple-handed with Brain Power, Buveur D’Air and dual runner-up My Tent Or Yours as he seeks a record-breaking sixth success, eclipsing the five winners saddled by legendary Ryedale trainer Peter Easterby.

Although Willie Mullins is without his stars of previous years, Ireland’s champion trainer still has Footpad (the mount of the peerless Ruby Walsh) and Wicklow Brave as he pursues a record-equalling fifth win.

The most popular winner would be The New One who lines up at the fourth time of asking for father and son combination Nigel and Sam Twiston-Davies, while victory for the aforementioned Cyrus Darius would provide North Yorkshire jockey Brian Hughes with the biggest win of his burgeoning career.

Yet course form is key and Tom Scudamore has quietly emerged in recent years as one of the pre-eminent big race riders of his generation.

Of current jockeys, he’s the fifth most successful at the Festival with nine winners to his name and matching his father’s 13 victories will be a tantalising target if Moon Racer defies his inexperience.