The wonder horse
Every so often a sportsman comes along of such supreme brilliance you can only watch and admire. Ian Botham was one — he could shut down offices when he went out to bat; so was George Best for a few wondrous years; Pele too; Roger Federer in his golden years when no one could come near him; Borg as well, cold and mysterious; Usain Bolt, who can destroy the best sprinters in the world in a few metres. Bradman by all accounts. They are sportsmen who can’t be explained in any normal way.
Now we have one more great athlete, though this time with four legs. If you haven’t seen Master Minded, the six-year-old French-bred bay gelding trained by National Hunt maestro Paul Nicholls, then you’re missing one of the wonders of the world. You can see him next at Newbury on 7 February. It will be his last outing before the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham. He blitzed the Queen Mum last year in a way that left you open-mouthed: this season he has walked the Tingle Creek at Kempton and last weekend the Victor Chandler chase at Ascot. He wasn’t even off the bridle as Ruby Walsh slowed him up over the line with a 16-length lead. He’s a two-mile chaser, which in racing terms is like a sprint. And just like Usain Bolt in Beijing, Master Minded had the race won at more or less halfway. It is quite mind-boggling.
His races are not thrilling, like back in the day when Moscow Flyer, Well Chief and Azertyuiop fought out lung-busting, vein-swelling finishes to the line. Master Minded races against daylight. Nothing comes close to him. He can leap over fences ‘like an aeroplane’, as Ruby put it, or he can punch them economically.
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