Un De Sceaux’s soft ground versatility is truly unbeatable
If there was ever any trouble in describing Un De Sceaux, you need to look no further than Simon Holt’s commentary of the horses third Clarence House Chase win on Saturday. The star commentator was the fitting man to call home this star horse in full flight. Having claimed long time leader Speredek on the way to the final fence, Holt described him as “powering through this deep ground”. After Un De Sceaux quickly put the race to bed after the last, Holt concluded: “this magnificent horse is striding away with his third Clarence House Chase.” It seemed the necessary description of this horse, magnificent.
Having broken the record of the first horse to complete three back to back Clarence House Chase wins, Un De Sceaux now has an incredible record of sixteen wins from twenty-two races under rules. This feat is not one that main owner Colm O’Connell takes lightly, with the Cork native left speechless and in tears on ITV racing yesterday after his horse’s gritty success. The O’Connell Family, the name under which the horse runs, are never short of numbers on the racetrack. Despite the persistent rain at Ascot, yesterday was no different. In the parade ring stood thirty-seven men and women, all donning blue and orange scarfs to support their hero, their champion. Why wouldn’t you either? Un De Sceaux has been a miracle horse for relatively unknown owners, the son of Denham Road bringing them to all the big race tracks, all the big races and also winning most of them. It can be a slightly overused phrase in horse racing but you couldn’t begrudge the O’Connell’s calling this horse “a horse of a lifetime”.
Not only has Un De Sceaux captured the love of his multiple owners, he has become a star in the eyes of many. He is the sort of horse you could only dream of owning, a strong front runner with a wonderful constitution and a great flare for jumping. However, it is his ability to handle really testing conditions that has made this horse so synonymous with winter jump racing. His two runs this season, at Cork in December and at Ascot yesterday, have both been run in bottomless ground. This is the same bottomless ground that is usually associated with being the graveyard for favourites and ‘class’ horses. Un De Sceaux doesn’t suffer from this, in fact the softer it is, the better he becomes. A strong horse with a terrific cruising speed on any ground, usually other horses just can not live with his gallop.
Although his preference is for soft ground, it would be incorrect to call the horse a ‘mudlark’. Due to his immense ability and versatility he can handle good ground with almost as much zest and quality. Two Cheltenham Festival wins in the Arkle and the Ryanair sandwiching a game second to Sprinter Sacre in the Champion Chase tell you all you need to know. Last year’s Ryanair win was up there with one of the most impressive performances of the meeting, with his electric jumping and gallant galloping bringing the house down under a vintage Ruby Walsh ride.
Despite that superb Walsh ride, this horse has also showed that he is not jockey dependant either. In both runs this year, he has had two different jockeys deputising for the injured Walsh. David Mullins was in the plate at Cork and Paul Townend got the honour of guiding him around a rain drenched Ascot. Also yesterday, for one of the first times he also showed he is tactically versatile. Townend allowed outsider Speredek cut out the running for the contest and resisted getting into a battle with the runaway leader, despite Townend’s mount usually benefitting from front running tactics. Un De Sceaux made up big ground before two out and put the race to bed in quick timing, aided by the fall of Brain Power who looked beat at the time.
Un De Sceaux, who know is now ten years of age, will be looking to record back to back Ryanair Chase wins at the festival in March. And based on all form we have seen this year, he is in just as good form as ever to go and do so. You couldn’t put it past him and it would be one of the most popular winners of the festival. Un De Sceaux is the people’s champion, he is Colm O’Connell’s champion.