‘Routey’s’ finest hour involved loss

Howard Johnson’s stable star was within touching distance of a deserved victory in the 2000 renewal Queen Mother Champion Chase when he was caught on the line by Henrietta Knight’s Edredon Bleu.

It followed an epic battle up Cheltenham’s heartbreak hill – the punishing charge from the last of 12 obstacles after a relentless fast-paced gallop over two miles.

This was in many respects 
Direct Route’s finest hour, only the shortest of short heads separated these two equine warriors in one of the best steeplechases of all time, and the difference was AP McCoy’s heroics on the winner.

In short, it took the most successful jump jockey of all-time to deny a horse whose roll of honour included the 1998 Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown and an equally memorable victory in Aintree’s Grade One Mumm Melling Chase just weeks after his historic race with Edredon Bleu.

Direct Route, pulled up on his last racecourse outing at Doncaster in 2002, was owned by Leeds entrepreneur Chris Heron, from Bramhope, and businessman Michael Thompson from Spofforth.

He was put down after breaking a leg in a paddock at Heron’s farm where he spent a contented retirement. “Howard bought him from Ireland as a four-year-old and said to Michael, ‘Come and look at the horse’,” recalled Heron’s wife Sally Anne, who looked after 
Direct Route in retirement and often rode him along bridleways in the Yorkshire Dales.

“Chris was on holiday in Tenerife and Michael phoned him up and said, ‘Do you fancy buying half a horse?’

“He did, as you do, and we had some fantastic days.

“His 15 wins included a Tingle Creek and Melling Chase, but everyone still remembers that Champion Chase.

“He was half a length up, bearing down on the line, and somehow Edredon Bleu got up after being set alight by McCoy. No other rider would have won that day. He was a demon.

“Yet Routey was quite a tricky ride and AP wasn’t really suited to him, despite winning the Henry VIII Novices Chase at Sandown.

“He had his own way of doing things and Norman Williamson and Paul Carberry got on particularly well with him.

“We have very happy memories. He was a special horse. There was no room for error in these two mile chases because they are going so fast.

“There were these three great racehorses who had some terrific battles; Routey, Flagship Uberalles and Edredon Bleu. It was a special era, even though the Queen Mother eluded us.”

A measure of Direct Route’s brilliance came with this tribute from trainer’s wife Sue Johnson, who said: “Howard has always classed him as the best horse that we ever had.”

She also confirmed that her husband intends to resume his training career in two years once he has completed his four-year ban from racing after being found to have been in breach of BHA welfare rules at his County Durham stables.

Mark Johnston’s Lyn Valley showed plenty of determination to claim the Peter Willett Conditions Stakes at Goodwood yesterday.

“It gets quite exciting now as he’s entered in next week’s Champagne Stakes at Doncaster as well as two of the valuable Tattersalls sales races at Newmarket on September 21 and October 5,” said the Middleham trainer’s wife Deirdre.

“The last one is worth half a million, so I would imagine we’ll be tempted by that.”

George Margarson, the Grimsby trawlerman’s son who cut his training teeth at Beverley, is confident Lucky Kristale will prove herself the best of her generation in what promises to be a thrilling Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket later this month.

A surprise winner of the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket in July, Lucky Kristale proved that resounding victory was no fluke when landing the Lowther Stakes at York’s Ebor festival.

The form could hardly be stronger with Duchess of Cambridge runner-up Rizeena taking a thrilling Group One Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday under tenacious James Doyle, edging out Royal Ascot winner Kiyoshi and the previously unbeaten Tapestry.

Brown Panther, owned and bred by retired footballer Michael Owen, heads the British entries for November’s Melbourne Cup.

The 2011 St Leger runner-up returned to winning ways at Pontefract in June before landing the Goodwood Cup.