Nice guys do finish first

Richard Johnson, possibly the nicest man to occupy a saddle and certainly the most modest, once said of his Irish rival Ruby Walsh, ‘Ruby never seems to fight horses. It never looks forced with him, he never throws the kitchen sink. But I do — metal ones and porcelain if necessary.’

There weren’t too many of us there to see it but there was a trademark kitchen-sink job in Warwick’s third race last Friday, the Listers Audi Novices’ Handicap Steeplechase, worth just £2,972 to the winner. Johnson’s mount Cheat The Cheater shared the lead much of the way but before the last turn the nine-year-old was passed by three horses who appeared full of running. Most jockeys would have given up then and waited for another day. Two punters in the stand next to me, who had been yelling, ‘Come on, Cheater,’ groaned and tore up their tickets. They had forgotten who was riding the 4–1 co-favourite. As the others sailed into the straight eight lengths clear, Richard Johnson, in that inimitable style, was still clicking and kicking, urging his one-paced mount not to give up. The front two faltered and began running through glue, and suddenly, who was on the leader’s shoulder at the last fence but Cheat The Cheater, who soared over it and went away up the run-in. All around me, amid the applause, heads shook ruefully or admiringly as everybody asked themselves, ‘Just how the hell did he do that?’ When we put that question to the winning rider, the typical reply was, ‘You need a horse that helps.’