Following JP McManus bringing up a landmark 4000th winner, Tony McFadden highlights five of the best horses to have carried the owner's familiar green and gold silks
Istabraq (peak Timeform rating 180)
Only the legendary Night Nurse has achieved a higher Timeform rating over hurdles than Istabraq, a completely dominant force in his division around the turn of the century. Istabraq, trained by a young Aidan O'Brien, matched the record of three Champion Hurdle victories, but he probably would have set a new benchmark had the 2001 Cheltenham Festival not been cancelled due to the outbreak of Foot-And-Mouth disease.
A 38,000 guineas purchase off the Flat, Istabraq was beaten on his hurdles debut - you can probably count yourself a bit unlucky if on that day! - but he went on to win his next ten starts, including the SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle at the 1997 Cheltenham Festival and the Champion Hurdle the following season.
Istabraq's unbeaten run came to an end in the 1998 Aintree Hurdle, when he was narrowly touched off on stamina-sapping ground over two and a half miles, but he continued to dominate, his one defeat in 12 races across the next two campaigns again coming over two and a half miles on testing ground when he was unable to reel in Limestone Lad in the 1999 Hatton's Grace Hurdle.
It was during that 1999/00 campaign that Istabraq earned his peak Timeform annual rating of 180, and it's plausible that he could have achieved an even higher figure had he not been so far clear of the opposition and had a top-class rival over two miles to push him harder.
First Gold (180)
First Gold, purchased by McManus after winning the King George VI Chase at Kempton in 2000, got off to an inauspicious start in the green and gold hoops when beaten at 1/3 in the Aon Chase at Newbury but he quickly put that behind him in the Martell Cup at Aintree, bolting up by ten lengths to prove himself the chaser of the season.
First Gold never quite matched the lofty figures he achieved during the 2000/01 campaign, but he did have a couple more moments in the sun, winning the Martell Cup and Punchestown Heineken Gold Cup at the end of the 2003 season, showing top-class form on both occasions.
That decisive six-length success at Punchestown, where he beat Rince Ri and Native Upmanship, proved to be his final win, but he acquitted himself with credit on occasions, including when third in the following season's King George.
Flagship Uberalles (175)
Flagship Uberalles had won an Arkle, three Tingle Creeks and a Champion Chase by the time he was purchased by McManus in January 2003, and his best days were behind rather than ahead of him.
However, he still produced some notable performances for McManus, taking the Grade 1 two-mile chase at the 2003 Punchestown Festival and finishing runner-up in the following season's Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
That runner-up effort behind Azertyuiop proved to be the final top-class effort Flagship Uberalles produced in his long and distinguished career.
Baracouda (175)
Baracouda was bought at the same time as First Gold and he proved to be an excellent purchase, winning 14 of his 19 starts for McManus, including back-to-back editions of the Stayers' Hurdle in 2002 and 2003, with the latter victory over Iris's Gift and Limestone Lad coming in a race regarded by many as one of the most exciting seen at a Cheltenham Festival.
Baracouda was only narrowly denied by Iris's Gift when bidding to complete a Stayers' Hurdle hat-trick the following season, producing a performance that would have been good enough in an ordinary year but not against another top-notcher in his pomp.
He was also runner-up to Inglis Drever in the Stayers' Hurdle the following season but by that point he was ten years old and slightly past his best.
More of That (173)
Physical problems ultimately prevented More of That from fulfilling his potential over fences and that is a shame given how quickly he developed into a top-class performer over hurdles.
More of That was an impressive, albeit surprise, winner when scoring at 20/1 on his hurdling debut at Folkestone on his only start in the 2012/13 campaign, and he rapidly climbed the ranks the following season, his unbeaten four-race campaign culminating with success in the Stayers' Hurdle.
He took a notable scalp at Cheltenham, beating Annie Power, a top-class mare who won all her other completed starts.
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