Meade's Rambler proves class is permanent

Racing feature brought to you by Fairyhouse and Navan Racecourse

DAVID JENNINGS

Class is permanent. Twenty-six years after Sausalito Bay belatedly broke his hoodoo at the Cheltenham Festival, and 55 years after his first ever winner, Noel Meade was back in the sacred winners' enclosure in the Cotswolds with The Mourne Rambler who landed the Weatherbys Champion Bumper on the second day of the four-day extravaganza.

It was a proper Royal County success, too, as the 15-2 shot was not only trained in Castletown by Meade, but also ridden to victory by six-time champion Flat jockey Colin Keane who hails from Trim. It was his very first ride at the track.

The achievement was all the more remarkable when you consider Meade's team of jumpers has dwindled in recent years as his focus has switched to the Flat. He only has 15 for the National Hunt game at the moment. But, on the big day when it matters most, Meade still has the Midas touch no matter what code it is and he had The Mourne Rambler at the peak of his powers. The Leopardstown bumper winner over Christmas powered up the famous Cheltenham hill to win by two and three-quarter lengths from Mets Ta Ceinture. It was an explosive display and one of the most popular results of the entire week. Meade said of the success: "I'm absolutely delighted. We haven't had many runners for the last couple of years over here at Cheltenham, but it's great to be back. We only have about 15 jumpers so it's really nice to have a winner here.

"The Mourne Rambler is a very good horse and the ground drying up was a help. We never really took him off the bridle at home and his couple of bits of work at home had been good leading up to the race. He's bred by a very good friend of mine, ever since we were kids, Christopher McKeever, and he's bred all of this family and they have all been very good horses."

On Keane's first festival success, Meade added: "Colin rides a lot of my Flat horses. He's the most fantastic man, and a great friend of mine, and the best Flat jockey in Ireland. I know he's not the best jump jockey, but this was a Flat race. Everyone kept saying he'd get murdered in this race but I said they won't murder him."

It's been a fantastic season for Meade given he also won the Grade 1 Savills Chase at Leopardstown with Affordale Fury. Meade attention will now turn to the spring festivals before the Flat kicks off properly, starting at Fairyhouse over Easter where he invariably gets among the winners.

The legendary Castletown-based trainer won the Boyle Sports Irish Grand National in 2002 with The Bunny Boiler under Ross Geraghty and, although he doesn't have an entry in Ireland's richest jumps race this year, he looks to have a very strong hand in the €100,000 RYBO Handicap Hurdle with Helvic Dream and Messerschmitt. It would be fitting if Helvic Dream could land the big pot given he was demoted from first place in the Galway Hurdle following a stewards enquiry. The Meade team heads to Fairyhouse over Easter in cracking form, that's for sure.

This feature was brought to you by Fairyhouse and Navan Racecourses.

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