FEATURE JP McManus
“I think that victory in the Gold Cup was one of AP McCoy’s greatest ever rides”
John picked Aidan O’Brien. I have to thank John for picking Aidan as it worked a dream. “I never went to see Istabraq work, nor do I see any of the horses work, but I remember going down to Aidan’s on the Saturday before his first Champion Hurdle [1998]. I couldn’t see him as he was having his siesta, so we had a lovely lunch instead. I remember asking Aidan how he thought he’d run and he said he’d blow them away. I only wish I knew him as well as I do now! “The Champion Hurdle has always been a good race for us, we’ve won it nine times and Buveur D’Air was really good. He was a very slick hurdler. Binocular (2010), Jezki (2014), Espoir D’Allen (2019) and Epatante (2020) also won the coveted title. The great thing about winning the Champion Hurdle is that you can celebrate it for four days! You’re just walking on air.” While success flowed freely in the Unibet Champion Hurdle, McManus had to wait until 2012 to get his hands on the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup and even then, it required all the strength and determination of his jockey, a certain AP McCoy. McManus says: “It’s always nice to win the Gold Cup and I had a couple of chances before that with fancied horses, but to be honest with you, I found it hard to see Synchronised winning the Gold Cup beforehand.
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