in front and bolted whenever she could. So what made the difference? At the Oaks Doyle was asked that very question by RTE.
‘It’s a great team I’ve got,’ he told the television presenter smugly. ‘Everyone’s played their part to get her here, you know?’
He was lying, of course: the real difference was Tipper O’Reilly.
And as Stella Maris became a hot topic in racing circles in the weeks leading up to the Oaks, Tipper had been showing what a useful jockey he was all round; able to judge pace, keep a horse balanced in a packed field and time a run to the line. As a result he’d begun to get rides from other stables. Some were even on winners and, before long, he found himself leading the field for the apprentice jockeys’ championship. But claimers—jockeys so inexperienced they get a weight advantage of seven, five or three pounds—are hardly ever entrusted with runners in Group One races. So the question round every bar table on the course was, could this downy-cheeked boy of eighteen beat the grizzled and hardened men, and take a classic?
As the horses began to go forward and into the starting stalls, Tipper hung back, as he quickly ran through in his mind what Doyle had told him to do.
‘Don’t let them box you in. Try and sit handy and make your move at the last moment. Be the last one to play your hand. And, whatever you do, don’t sit too far back.’
Doyle knew that, overall, he had the best horse in the race. But she was a galloping type, who’d done all her winning over a mile and a half, and there were some useful mile and a quarter horses in this contest who could box Red in and then outpace her to the line if they got the chance.
‘They’ve got a pacemaker in,’ he warned. ‘He might try and dictate a false pace. Don’t fall for it. You can make the running if you absolutely have to, if they go no pace at all. And don’t get boxed in on the inside. Go wide on the last bend. And more important than anything, for Christ’s sake don’t give her too much to do.’
Watching them load horse after horse into the stalls, Tipper remembered the day on the Curragh when the handlers played brag while he’d coaxed Red through her first lesson in stalls entry. After that there had always been a residue of tension at the starting gate, but he’d never failed to get her in yet. Still, he knew better than take it for granted. Horses are specialists in making a fool of you.
Dancing a little on her toes Red was the last to approach the line of stalls. Tipper sensed her hesitancy and clicked his tongue as a reminder that he was there. She seemed to make up her mind then, walking sweetly forwards and in. Tipper heard the rear gates close with a click behind her tail. At least, that’s what he thought.
Aside from normal riding tactics, neither Doyle nor Tipper were on the look out for any foul play. But stalls handlers are far from the best paid people in racing and the opposition had not been averse to laying out a few euros in the hope of lowering Red’s colours. Eamonn—the brag player who’d once predicted Tipper’s future as a shelf-stacker—was the handler charged with shutting the gate behind Red. The previous evening, in the pub, he hadn’t needed much persuasion that Tipper was a cocky little shit who thought he could make eejits out of the professionals. So, as Eamonn eased Red’s gates shut, he made sure her tail was well and truly wedged between them. It was an easy mistake to make—and well paid enough to get him and Mrs Eamonn a flight to Lanzarote. The starter had no chance of seeing what had been done and nor had Tipper. When you go in last, there’s no time to be looking behind you.
Tipper was relaxed as he waited for the stalls to burst open. He was sure of Red now, sure she would be delighted as always to get the hell out of the stalls as quick as she could. ‘Jockeys!’ the starter roared, indicating that he was about to let them go. And then, almost immediately, came the crash as the gates sprang open. Red lunged towards freedom but immediately she felt the stinging tug on her tail and instinct made her plant. Tipper, leaning into her neck to anticipate their forward momentum, almost went over Red’s ears as she threw back her head and smacked him in the face. Blood from his nose splattered onto the goggles. Christ! Tipper kicked Red’s flanks as her instinct to bolt from pain drove her forward again. This time the tail freed itself and they were out.
But it was too late. Red was ten lengths adrift of the field and Tipper’s head was still ringing from the blow to his nose. At the same time some of the words uttered by Doyle in the paddock reverberated through his mind. ‘Lay handy. Don’t give her too much to do.’ That plan had just gone for a Burton.
In the grandstand, Red’s owner lowered his binoculars and turned to the trainer beside him.
‘What the fuck happened there?’ wailed Robinson.
‘Fucked if I know,’ said Doyle in despair. ‘She’s never dwelt before. And now the race is as good as over, for Christ’s sake.’
If the field had gone no gallop, Tipper could have made up his ground painlessly enough and the damage might have been minimal. But the pacemaker, in the colours of the man who had given Eamonn his summer holidays, went off like it had a chilli-pepper up its arse. All Tipper could see were rumps, human and equine, at some distance in front of him. Don’t panic, he told himself as he used his gloves to wipe the blood from his goggles. Don’t try to make up the ground too soon, you’ll blow her engine.
The field streamed away down the back straight as Tipper frantically formulated a plan to rescue the situation. It would have to be the reverse of the one he had agreed with Doyle. Instead of sitting handy and swinging wide off the bend, as if using it like a sling shot, he would have to hug the rail, saving every inch of ground as he gradually caught them up, then gamble on holding his position round the long bend into the straight. If at that stage any of the horses running the rail in front of him started going back through the field he would be sunk. But it was probably his only chance.
Up ahead the ferocious pace was stringing the field out while Tipper, riding as patiently as he knew how, let Red’s strong, easy stride inch her back into contention. He was still four lengths adrift of the tail enders when he spotted the elbows on one of the jockey’s flailing. The horse had blown up and, despite his efforts, there was nothing his rider could do. Luckily there was room to ease Red to his outside and glide past him, before angling back to the rail. That’s the only horse I can go outside of, Tipper told himself.
On the bend his luck held and Red had enough gears to thread through a narrowing gap on the inside of another two struggling horses. The jockeys shouted some uncomplimentary remarks at him for sneaking up their inside, but he was already past them before they could close the gap. With the straight approaching Red was still fifteen lengths off the leaders, but she was moving well, devouring the ground. Then, as he’d known he might, Tipper found himself closing on some more closely-packed traffic. The inside route was blocked by two runners having a fruitless battle with each other. Should he go wide and round them? No. Sit and suffer and try and get up their inner in the straight. Tipper tightened his reins and steadied Red.
Doyle, who had begun to hope again, was plunged back into renewed despair. ‘What the fuck’s he doing?’ he yelled. ‘He’s taken a pull.’
Tipper wasn’t enjoying himself but he kept his head: be calm, don’t panic. As the two beaten horses battled into the straight they did what Tipper had gambled on. Tiring and losing their balance, they rolled wide, so that Tipper was able to grab hold of Red, make sure she was balanced and then throw her into the gap along the rail. She seemed to punch her way through, but there were still twelve lengths to make up.
‘She’s got the break,’ Robinson shouted.
‘Too late,’ Doyle muttered, putting his binoculars down to stare blankly out at the track. He’d thrown the towel in; but Red hadn’t. Tipper gave her a slap down the neck and bellowed at her. As if needing to be told, she dropped her head, lengthened her stride and passed three more horses. Ahead of them, a furlong from home, there were still two runners going like hell side by side, and four lengths for Red to make up. Tipper could see the leading jockeys’ whips flailing, and heard the crack as they connected. He was rapidly gaining on them, though it couldn’t be said they were stopping. He looked for a gap on the rail, but there