Ron Reed: Pluck of the Irish prevails

RICHIE Cully spent most of the morning sitting in a sauna trying to get his weight down to the 64kg that his mount Chaparro had to carry.

Grand Annual winner 'Chaparro' ridden by Richard Cully (right) battles with 'Via Savoia'

RICHIE Cully spent most of Thursday morning sitting in a sauna trying to get his weight down to the 64kg that his mount Chaparro had to carry in the Grand Annual Steeple.

Cully, who is a six-footer in the old and big even for a jumps jockey, made it _ just. “Sixty-four, that’s me _ I couldn’t do 63.8,” he said.

The big sweat proved worthwhile when Chaparro came from well behind at the last of the 33 fences to chase down the heavily-backed Palmero, ridden by champion jumps jockey Steve Pateman, in the long straight..

Palmero carried an extra 5kg over the 5500 metres of the famous marathon on a heavy track and it eventually told, with Chaparro catching it in the shadows of the post to prevail by less than a length, with none of the other five starters closer than 15 lengths.

Palmero is trained at Warrnambool by Ciaron Maher, and the locals love nothing more than to see one of their own salute in the race that has defined the popular country carnival since it was first run in 1872.

So they unleashed a massive roar when “their” horse looked to have the race in its keeping, only to see it snatched away at the death.

Still, it was such an exciting finish that nobody seemed to mind.

Club chairman Des Roberts went so far as to say at the presentations that it was the best edition of the race “in my time _ and I’m getting long in the tooth.”

There was also plenty of goodwill towards winning trainer Patrick Payne, who won the race with Awakening Dream two years ago.

Payne, 38, is the son of a jumps jockey and was a good one himself, riding hundreds of winners before he took up training six years ago. Quite a few of those were at Warrnambool, but he never managed one of the feature jumps there.

Part-owner and prominent Sydney racing identity Bob Charley told the crowd Payne was “arguably the greatest jumps trainer in Australia.”

As for Cully, not many people on the course had much idea who he was.

He is Australian-born, but has Irish parents, speaks with a brogue, finished school and began his riding career in the Emerald Isle, later riding in New Zealand for six years, where he won two jumps premierships.

When he accompanied veteran jumps trainer John Wheeler to Warrnambool a couple of years ago, one of the first people to offer him opportunities was Maher, for whom he has ridden several winners.

The Grand Annual is, he said, the biggest win of his career by far.

“It was only halfway up the straight I thought we were a show. The horse has bad breathing and pulls and hangs, but it gives everything and I knew he’d find something,” he said.

“I wasn’t confident but I knew if anything could catch Palermo it would be him.

“It’s a massive thrill and a relief to get a big one.

“Jumps riding is very competitive now and Steven (Pateman) is at the top. It’s hard to play second fiddle all the time, but the competition is only going to get better.

“You work every day and sit in the sauna but there is nothing bigger than this and that makes it all worthwhile.

“Now I can’t wait to celebrate.”

Nor could chairman Roberts and his committee, with the seven jumps races completed without serious mishap for the third year running.

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