Tom Gibney bidding for more Irish Grand National success

It’s now twelve years since Tom Gibney enjoyed his biggest success as a trainer when Lion Na Bearnai won the Irish Grand National at odds of 33/1 in a maximum field of thirty. With fellow novice Out Now his only threat in the closing stages, the pair had a protracted duel over the last two fences before Lion Na Bernai gamely proved the stronger on the run-in, adding his trainer to the roll of honour on Irish jumping’s biggest prize well before either Willie Mullins or Gordon Elliott had won the race.

Gibney ran just two other runners over jumps that season but the Irish National wasn’t the first time that Lion Na Bearnai had gained a shock win against rivals from much more powerful yards. On his previous start, he’d gained just his second career win, at the age of ten, when a 50/1 winner of the Ten Up Novice Chase at Navan, beating the Gigginstown-owned Four Commanders, trained by Mouse Morris, who was sent off favourite when the pair met again at Fairyhouse.

Despite being a former winner, Lion Na Bearnai was sent off at 33/1 again in two further Irish National appearances, including when falling at the first on his final outing as a thirteen-year-old. He’d also started at the same odds for the 2014 Aintree Grand National when making little impact from a stiff-looking mark, Davy Russell eventually pulling him up with a slipping saddle.

Compared with the likes of Mullins and Elliott who are set to have multiple entries in Monday’s race, Gibney’s training operation in County Meath not far from Fairyhouse is still on a small scale, though it has grown a bit since he had a mere handful of horses in Lion Na Bearnai’s day. He achieved a career-best total of 17 victories in Ireland in the 2021/22 season and has had a dozen wins so far this term.

Two of those wins have been provided by Intense Raffles, an ex-French six-year-old novice who goes to Fairyhouse with seemingly much better claims than Lion Na Bearnai back in 2012. He’s also got some family history on his side when it comes to winning at Fairyhouse’s Easter meeting.

On the same day that Lion Na Bearnai finished down the field in the 2014 Irish National, Nicky Henderson won the next race on the card, a Grade 3 mares’ chase, with the Simon Munir-owned Une Artiste. She was a useful chaser and had shown a similar level of ability over hurdles, notably when winning the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap at the 2012 Cheltenham Festival at odds of 40/1.

Une Artiste never ran over much further than two and a half miles herself but her useful half-brother Coup de Pinceau is a thorough stayer whose wins have included a four-mile hunter chase at Cheltenham. Stamina is also the strong suit of Une Artiste’s first foal Great Raffles, a winner over three miles and three furlongs over hurdles, which bodes well for her second foal, Intense Raffles, on his first try over a marathon trip on Monday.

Munir and Isaac Souede campaigned Intense Raffles in France to begin with where he made a very promising start with Patrice Quinton, winning his only outing in a bumper and then his first two starts over hurdles at Auteuil as a three-year-old. On his hurdling debut he beat the future Martin Pipe winner Iroko into second. Intense Raffles was soon switched to fences as a four-year-old and he ran some good races at Auteuil without getting his head in front. But that was to prove a blessing in disguise as it meant he was still a novice when his owners sent him to Ireland to be trained by Gibney this season, presumably with this race the plan all along.

Making his Irish debut in a novice chase at Fairyhouse in January, Intense Raffles made all the running, jumping well in the main, to beat Where It All Began by four and a half lengths. The Gordon Elliott-trained runner-up, who has since won the Grand National Trial at Punchestown and finished fourth in the Kim Muir at Cheltenham, is set to reoppose Intense Raffles in the Irish National and has some of the best claims among his stable’s runners.

Back at Fairyhouse the following month, on a first try beyond three miles, Intense Raffles built on the good impression he’d made on his Irish debut when turning a four-runner novice chase into a very one-sided contest. Making the running again and going with enthusiasm, he was soon in a clear lead and in control a long way out before winning by an official distance of 43 lengths with another potential Irish National rival, Good Time Jonny, a well-beaten third.

Plenty of chasers aged just six have won the Irish National, including Rhyme ‘n’ Reason in 1985, who went on to win the Grand National at Aintree, while the latest was Burrows Saint in 2019. Although Intense Raffles will be up against some more seasoned chasers than in his first two starts in Ireland, he won’t be lacking in course experience after those two wins. However, he will be without Daryl Jacob who steered him to success in both his victories at Fairyhouse after the jockey broke his collarbone in a fall at Newbury last week.

Jacob was clearly very taken with Intense Raffles on his Irish debut, describing him in his Sporting Life column as ‘an absolute joy to ride’ and saying that ‘a good way down the road he could develop into a Welsh National horse, or even an Aintree horse with a bit of luck.’ He added that the way Intense Raffles jumped and galloped reminded him of the Nicky Henderson-trained Terrefort, another grey son of Martaline whom Jacob partnered to victory in two Grade 1 novice chases in the ‘double green’ colours.

While Intense Raffles has only the Mullins-trained novice Nick Rockett ahead of him in the betting, another of his notable rivals is the recent Leinster National winner Hartur d’Arc whom Gibney trained until his last couple of starts.

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