Oldest swinger in town back to write another chapter

RACING:With 98 races under his belt, A New Story is back for more. BRIAN O'CONNORreports

THERE WILL be much bigger stars racing at Cheltenham next week and much bigger talents but A New Story will still occupy his own rather special place at the festival.

When he lines up for the Glenfarclas Cross-Country Handicap Chase on Tuesday, it will be race number 99 of a career that may not have taken him to the pinnacle of the sport but which is remarkable for its longevity.

Now 14, he is venerable by racehorse standards. He also hardly boasts an exceptional winning average. Of the 98 so far, he has won just six, but sampled the limelight when springing a 25 to 1 surprise in the cross-country race two years ago at the comparatively sprightly age of 12.

That’s the last time he won. True to form he has been kept busy since then, running 18 times. That has helped maintain his average of running 11 times a year, over fences and hurdles, even on the flat, on all types of ground and over all sorts of distances.

His trainer Michael Hourigan already plans to notch up the century with his hardy annual in France during the summer. And then A New Story will be back in the autumn, preparing to race on at the age of 15.

It is not too unusual for horses to run a 100 times, but they’re usually on the flat, and often in sprints, those blink-and-you-miss-them jobs that can be over in a minute. A New Story is different.

He has run 57 times over fences, and is most effective when it’s a test of stamina. Tuesday’s race will be almost four miles. Only once has he fallen, and that was over Aintree’s Grand National fences.

He has run in the Irish Grand National six times, twice finishing third, twice finishing fourth, and fifth on one occasion.

He is nothing remarkable to look at, bought by Hourigan as a yearling for “small money – hundreds” and yet he remains as constant as the seasons, seemingly immune to aches and pains, and the potentially much more serious injuries that are usually the lot of a thoroughbred steeplechaser.

So what’s his secret? According to Hourigan, it’s because he has forgotten more about racing than many of the jockeys who’ve sat on his back will ever know.

“He is a bit of a character, and he knows how to mind himself. There’s no doubt he’s a talented horse. He as good over two miles as he is over four; he’ll run on hard ground or soft and he comes alive when he goes to Cheltenham. But he has only ever won six times. So he does keep a little bit to himself,” the trainer says.

But there’s no hiding the affection for a horse who might not win very often but is always in there pitching. That toughness was there from the start in the son of Fourstars Allstar who has been owned by the Storey’s Over Syndicate, which now includes Hourigan, throughout his career.

“He was a bugger at one stage. You couldn’t get near him to clip him, or shoe him, or give him an injection. You’d have to have five fellas hanging out of him, a hardy f***er,” the trainer remembers. “But at any time a child would be able to ride him. And as the years have gone on he’s got good in the yard. Mind you, he’s had plenty practice!”

What he still has is enthusiasm for the business of racing. That is helped though by Hourigan’s daughter Laura taking him hunting about 10 times a year where the change of scenery and challenge works wonders for A New Story.

It’s not coincidental then that his greatest moment came in the different challenge that cross-country race provides. This will be his fifth successive attempt at the festival race. As well as winning in 2010, he has twice finished third and fourth once.

“I don’t know why it is but he comes alive at Cheltenham. Maybe it’s the atmosphere, I don’t know. But he’s in great form. He ran over hurdles at Naas recently and didn’t show much but the ground is gluey and that’s the one thing he doesn’t like,” Hourigan says.

“He’s like a four-year-old right now and after Cheltenham we’ll aim him at a cross-country race in France (Le lion-d’angers) where he was fourth last year. And then we’ll aim him back at Cheltenham in December and all being well he’ll keep going as a 15-year-old,” he adds.

And it’s that resilience that makes A New Story a real story.