On the day which marks 30 years since the birth of Istabraq, John Ingles reflects on the career of the remarkable horse.
Only five horses have ever won the Champion Hurdle three times and Istabraq was the most recent of them, following in the footsteps of Hatton’s Grace, Sir Ken, Persian War and See You Then when winning it for the third time in 2000.
Had it not been for the cancellation of the 2001 Cheltenham Festival due to foot and mouth, he might well have made history with a fourth win. There hasn’t been a better Champion Hurdle winner since, his Timeform rating of 180 bettered over hurdles only by the 1976 and 1977 winner Night Nurse.
No need to wonder who the favourite horse is!!! Happy 30th birthday Istabraq #Champion 🙇 pic.twitter.com/mRtEDq0KnP
— AP McCoy (@AP_McCoy) May 23, 2022
He might have become an outstanding hurdler, but more than any of the other Cheltenham greats in this series Istabraq had greater ties to the Flat. For a start, he had a top-class Flat pedigree, being by Sadler’s Wells out of a mare by the American Triple Crown winner Secretariat and who was already the dam of the 1984 Derby winner Secreto.
Istabraq proved to be a fairly useful stayer on the Flat, winning twice for John Gosden in the colours of Hamdan Al Maktoum, before being sold for 38,000 guineas to J. P. McManus.
Istabraq should have been trained by Gosden’s former assistant John Durkan who advised his purchase for his new owner. Durkan was planning to set up his own yard in Newmarket before being diagnosed with leukaemia which sadly claimed his life at the age of just 31 early in 1998, just before Istabraq’s first Champion Hurdle.
It was therefore Aidan O’Brien who oversaw Istabraq’s brilliant hurdling career soon after the trainer’s move to Ballydoyle signalled a shift in his focus from training jumpers to the Flat.
O’Brien wasn’t as well-known as he is today when Istabraq gained his first win at the Cheltenham Festival in the 1997 Royal & SunAlliance Novices’ Hurdle. As a result, there were attempts to evict him from the winner’s enclosure as he wasn’t wearing the correct badge!
Former resident of Kremlin House Stables, Istabraq turns 30 today !🥳 pic.twitter.com/Dzeovn1haN
— 🏇🏽🏇🏽Martin Smith🏇🏽🏇🏽 (@MartinPBSmith) May 23, 2022
Istabraq had ‘Irish banker’ status at his first Festival and was the subject of some big bets as he was sent off the 6/5 favourite in a field of 17.
Beaten a head on his debut over hurdles, Istabraq had then won his next three starts before Cheltenham where he was stepping up in trip. Charlie Swan had Istabraq positioned last of all with a circuit to go before gradually creeping closer. A bump in mid-air jumping the second last failed to check Istabraq’s progress and he took a narrow advantage at the final flight which he maintained to the line. He had to work a bit harder than expected but had a length to spare over one of the main British-trained hopes Mighty Moss.
Immediately after the Royal & SunAlliance, Istabraq was quoted at 14/1 for the following year’s Champion Hurdle and, while he’d shown plenty of stamina on the Flat, enough had been seen of him over hurdles to suggest that the drop back to two miles wouldn’t inconvenience him. By the time the 1998 Champion Hurdle came round, Istabraq was sent off the 3/1 favourite on the day, having won all five of his races over hurdles back in Ireland since the previous year’s Festival.
His last win before Cheltenham in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown had been the least impressive of those victories but, having stepped up his training in the run-up to Cheltenham, his trainer was confident of a better showing from Istabraq at the Festival.
The first Champion Hurdle
He duly delivered in style in front of a record Tuesday crowd at the meeting. Only once since has there been a larger field, though it was a case of quantity over quality among the 18 runners. As is the case nowadays, at least in Britain, there was a shortage of top two-mile hurdlers, with the Kingwell Hurdle winner I’m Supposin, fourth the previous year, and Dato Star, winner of the Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock, reckoned to be Istabraq’s main dangers.
But Istabraq turned the race into a procession once he produced a telling burst of acceleration rounding the home turn. Drawing away under just hands and heels from Swan, Istabraq coasted over the line 12 lengths clear to deafening cheers from the stands as he completed a St Patrick’s Day double for the Irish initiated by French Ballerina’s win in the Supreme.
No horse had won the Champion Hurdle by a wider margin (the 1932 winner Insurance won by the same distance) and it was only in 2019 that Espoir d’Allen, also owned by McManus, won by further still when scoring by 15 lengths. Istabraq was chased home by his stablemate Theatreworld who had also been runner-up the year before and stayed on from a long way back with I’m Supposin making the frame again in third. Dato Star was well beaten after sustaining an injury.
While acknowledging the field might not have been the strongest, it was Timeform’s view that he couldn’t have beaten them any more impressively and awarded Istabraq the Champion Jumper title for the season. The Champion Hurdle was also Istabraq’s tenth straight win over hurdles, matching sequences established by two winners of the race in the 1970s, Lanzarote and Night Nurse, though in desperate conditions Istabraq was beaten by the Champion Hurdle fourth Pridwell under an inspired ride by Tony McCoy in the Aintree Hurdle on his next start.
But that proved to be a mere blip in Istabraq’s record because the following season he won all seven of his races, including a second Champion Hurdle, before atoning for his defeat at Aintree and then winning the first running of the Shell Champion Hurdle at Punchestown to complete a rare treble at the three big spring festivals.
In fact, Istabraq never even looked like being beaten all season, and when he lined up to defend his Champion Hurdle crown he did so at odds of 4/9, the shortest-priced favourite since the days of Sir Ken in the ‘fifties. Theatreworld joined him from Ballydoyle again but the only one backed against him this time was French Holly even though Istabraq had beaten him in breathtaking fashion with Swan barely moving a muscle in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle again.
Defending his title
Having sweated up before the start, Istabraq wasn’t quite at his best at Cheltenham but still proved much too good for his rivals, notably French Holly who he soon left trailing when taking the lead from him in the straight. Once again it was Theatreworld who stayed on best behind him, finishing three and a half lengths back in second, with French Holly beaten a total of six lengths in third.
French Holly was runner-up to Istabraq again at Aintree but it was at Punchestown where Istabraq probably put up his best effort yet, ending the season with a rating of 177+ after beating the Tote Gold Trophy winner Decoupage and the prolific Limestone Lad with any amount in hand.
Istabraq was Timeform’s Champion Jumper again in the 1998/99 season and it was inevitable that he’d win that accolade for a third time after completing a hat-trick of Champion Hurdles in 2000. This time, though, he had suffered a shock defeat along the way – just the third of his career over hurdles so far – when Limestone Lad, in receipt of weight and after establishing a big lead, beat him in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse.
Like his Aintree defeat to Pridwell, that was over two and a half miles on soft ground, and Istabraq comprehensively gained his revenge on Limestone Lad when winning his third AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown with his usual ease. Swan delayed his retirement to continue riding Istabraq and Chasers & Hurdlers 1999/2000 made the observation that that ‘was as good a preparation as any for an increasing number of hours spent in the armchair’!
Swan enjoyed another comfortable success in partnering Istabraq to his third Champion Hurdle, though made his move later than in previous years, Istabraq touching down just in front over the final hurdle before racing clear to win by four lengths from the previous season’s runaway Supreme winner Hors La Loi III.
This time, Istabraq landed odds of 8/15 after a late pre-race scare; he was only given the go-ahead to run hours before the race after a trickle of blood was detected coming from one of his nostrils the previous evening.
We’ve already listed the other horses to have won three Champion Hurdles and, having also won the Royal & SunAlliance, Istabraq became only the third horse after Golden Miller and Arkle to have won at four or more consecutive Festivals. Now rated 180, Chasers & Hurdlers thought it ‘highly likely’ that Istabraq could win a fourth Champion Hurdle and the bookmakers agreed, making him only just bigger than even money to achieve that feat. With no sign of any rivals looking good enough to challenge him, it seemed that only some sort of physical problem might stop Istabraq making history.
Denied history and a fourth win
Istabraq was fine and well and still seemingly as good as ever when March 2001 came round but there was no Champion Hurdle for him to run in after the Cheltenham Festival fell victim to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Britain. His well-being had been the subject of rumour earlier in the season, though, and he suffered the first fall of his career on his belated reappearance in the December Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown which went to last week’s ‘Cheltenham Great’ Moscow Flyer.
O’Brien had intended that to be Istabraq’s only race before Cheltenham but his non-completion resulted in him going for the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle again. He was an easy winner of that contest for the fourth time (this time it was Moscow Flyer who fell) making him a 1/2 shot ante-post for the Champion Hurdle that never was.
His only other race that season resulted in another fall at Leopardstown, in the Shell Champion Hurdle which was transferred from the abandoned Punchestown Festival. Istabraq would have been an easy and clear-cut winner but completely misjudged the final hurdle and came down leaving Moscow Flyer to win again.
There was still one last chance for Istabraq to make Champion Hurdle history but could he do it at the age of ten? His only start beforehand in the 2001/02 season raised doubts after he’d made heavy weather of beating the 147-rated Bust Out by a head in the December Festival Hurdle.
Again there were rumours about Istabraq’s well-being and participation in the lead-up to Cheltenham, even losing his position as favourite in the ante-post betting at one stage, before support on the day made him favourite again at 2/1, the first time since his first Champion Hurdle that he started odds against.
His backers soon knew their fate, however, as he was already struggling when Swan pulled him up after jumping just two flights. His jockey reported he had lost his action and a vet confirmed Istabraq was lame behind, having sustained a tendon injury.
Istabraq retired as the first British or Irish jumper to win over a million pounds in prize money, being successful in 23 of his 26 completed starts over hurdles. His final essay in Chasers & Hurdlers noted that ‘fluent jumping and a fine turn of foot were notable hallmarks of his superb career.’ Of course, his trainer has since gone on to saddle countless Group 1 winners on the Flat but it’s doubtful any of them have deserved the title of ‘champion’ quite as much as Istabraq did over hurdles.
