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High hopes: Maher, Ballyboker Bridge and Woods.
Cheltenham

Cheltenham 2016: Ballyboker Bridge has Big Shu to fill today

Peter Maher is hoping for victory in the Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase this afternoon.

IN the middle of the most spectacular jumps meeting on the calendar, few races offer punters more of a spectacle than the Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase.

The small matter of 32 obstacles – of all shapes and sizes – to be negotiated over a distance of 3m7f will sort the hopeful from the hopeless around the Cheltenham banks this afternoon (4.10).

Irish-trained runners tend to fare well in this unique discipline. Enda Bolger earned his ‘King of the Banks’ nickname by dominating the race in the late noughties, winning it four times in five years.

Perhaps the most popular winner from this side of the Irish Sea, however, came three years ago when Big Shu climbed up the hill ahead of the rest under Barry Cash.

Trained by Peter Maher, the strapping bay became a firm fan favourite – and scourge of the bookies. Alas, the two-time Punchestown winner would be lost to a heart attack after pulling up in a race at the Cheltenham Open meeting just before Christmas in 2014.

Despite the loss of their stablestar, racing life went on for Maher and his partner and assistant trainer, Caroline Woods. In fact, they return to the Festival this year with a live chance in the very same race they pocketed in 2013.

Ballyboker Bridge is Maher’s latest cross-country specialist and he is as prepared as can be for the gruelling Cotswolds trip.

P1070930 Eric Haughan Eric Haughan

On our first visit to Team Maher’s Ashfield Stud – a tight chicane away from Mondello Park in Co Kildare – reminders that you are knee-deep in horse country are unavoidable.

Every piece of the place seems typical of a hard-working race yard. Every item on the premises a reminder of the day-job. The shelves of a glass cabinet sag under the weight of what appears to be every horse-related book ever written. At The Races enjoys round-the-clock top billing on the big-screen TV and a well-read copy of the day’s Racing Post sits folded on the arm of a chair.

Apart from a very brief diversion around Kim Kardashian’s latest internet-breaking naked selfie, the chatter does not venture too far from the business at hand. Indeed, everything about the place seems typical – apart, perhaps, from the trainer himself.

Ballyboker Bridge has the 6ft3ins Maher dreaming of a second Cheltenham coup.

Comparing the nine-year-old to the departed Big Shu, he said: “They’re completely different horses. Big Shu was a slogger, it was the trip and the mud that suited him, a big strong horse.

“Ballyboker Bridge is more of a summer, hard ground, galloping horse. The last time he ran in Cheltenham (finishing third last December), the ground was quite sticky, he wouldn’t like that at all.

“On that occasion he travelled well into the straight and then looked like he didn’t stay.

“He’s a good-ground horse and he showed a lot of class that day to still finish third. The usual, standard Cheltenham ground is his idea of rock n’ roll!”

A winner at Punchestown last time out (January 31), Ballyboker Bridge will have some eye-catching opponents to overcome this afternoon. Josies Orders and two-time Glanfarclas champ Balthazar King sit ominously towards the top of the betting.

Maher said: “Sometimes you get a good racehorse but he may not necessarily be a good cross-country horse.

“It’s like a football player and a hurler: a lot of footballers also make good hurlers – but some don’t. Not every good horse can take to cross-country racing.

“I’ve great respect for Balthazar. He had a great rivalry with Big Shu… I hope our lad will be in the shake-up.”

Boylesports Tied Cottage Chase Day - Punchestown Races Ballyboker Bridge ridden by Andrew Lynch (left) goes over Ruby's Double for the first time on the way to winning the P.P. Hogan Memorial Cross Country Steeplechase during the Boylesports Tied Cottage Chase Day at Punchestown Racecourse, County Kildare in January. Brian Lawless Brian Lawless

The relentless nature of the racing business leaves little time for rose smelling. You get the distinct impression Maher would not have it any other way.

He said: “It’s like a drug, you have a winner and you only get a fix for so long and then you’re back on the bandwagon again looking for the next one.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re very successful or if you’re a small trainer. This job is seven days a week, that’s what you sign up for.

“It’s not really work, in the sense that I don’t find it ‘work’ anyway, I love every bit about the game

“I set a goal for 12 winners this year. Last year I had nine so I set a goal for 12 this year and I’ve had a few hit the crossbar at Punchestown and that so I’ll probably try and go back to Punchestown and to have a winner there.

“It’s good to have a few goals. We’re only a small outfit but at the same time we’re very ambitious.”

Maher’s love of the wide-open plains of cross-country racing is steeped in him from a career in the game.

Barry Cash leads on Big Shu on the way to winning Barry Cash leads on Big Shu to win the Avon Ri Corporate and Leisure Resort Chase for the La Touche Cup in 2013. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

He explained: “I served my time first with Francis Flood and then I worked in an Eventing/Hunting yard, Shay O’Haire’s in Newcastle, Co Dublin, and I went hunting an awful lot.

“But when I went down to PP Hogan’s I got a love for the bank racing and the cross country.

“I’m a big hunting man and when you’re a big hunting man, what better way to get a bit of glory than to win the big cross-country race in Cheltenham?”

Might Maher even have his sights on Bolger’s unofficial title as ‘King’ of the circuit?

“I’ve a good bit of catching up to do on Enda Bolger. If I ended up doing half of what he’s done I’d be happy enough. Caroline’s mother calls me the “prince of the banks – soon to be King”, so we’ll see!”

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Poll: Who do you think will win today’s Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham?

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