The Sunday Times November 14, 2021 19Mania found it ‘a
long way home’
but Midnight
Shadow held on
to win the Paddy
Power ChaseThe Ilkley
Moor yard
is a mix
between
the Bronte
Sisters and
Steptoe
And Son
There is no worse feeling than being
in front up Cheltenham’s final hill
with the horse stopping beneath you
and the pursuers closing like hungry
wolves. No better feeling than
landing a big race there and to
confirm glory days which had looked
forever lost. Salute Ryan Mania and
Midnight Shadow in the Paddy Power
Chase yesterday.
Midnight Shadow was always close
up behind last year’s trailblazing
winner Coole Cody and was set for a
battle royal when his rival capsized
after getting too low at the second
last. But the gift of a long lead soon
had a twist, as the eight-year-old lost
concentration, slipped for a moment
on landing and then set off up the
run-in with focus gone, as the
winning post seemed to edge ever
farther away.
Fifty yards out Midnight Shadow
was still way clear but Harry Skelton
and Protektorat were under full sail
and for a second or two it looked as if
they would catch the leader. In the
end the post came three quarters of a
length too late for them, with Lalor
and Dostal Phil also closing to be
third and fourth.
“He does idle in front and he’s like
that at home schooling,” Mania said
of his winning partner. “Going to the
last he was listening to the crowd and
losing concentration. It was a long
way home.”
It is also a long way from where
Mania, 31, was when he quit the
saddle over weight problems and
ballooned to 14 stone seven years
ago. A career that had taken the boy
from Galashiels to glory at the 2013
Grand National on Aurora’s Encore
appeared to be over at the age of 23.
But after four years out, much of it as
a professional huntsman, getting fit
for a ride in an Aintree charity race
relit the flame. With the support of
the Borders trainer Sandy Thomson
and the love of his daughter Annie,
Mania got his weight stabilised and
renewed connection with Aurora
Encore’s trainer Sue Smith.
It was for Sue and her former
showjumper husband, Harvey Smith,
that Mania rode his first Festival
winner this March but yesterday wasBROUGH
SCOTTEarlier in the day Third Time
Lucky again showed he is a
contender for the Arkle Chase at the
Festival here in March. His clear
round got any skeletons off Harry
Skelton’s back after the drama of My
Drogo’s slip-up at the second last on
Friday but there was no doubt to
whom the day belonged.
There was a faraway look in
Mania’s now very clear and steady
eyes as he finished his interviews. His
two children are little more than
toddlers although his daughter,
Aurora, is already pictured in riding
kit on the stable website.“I have been
so lucky to have come back,” he said,
“I want to make my family proud of
me. I am doing this for them and for
all those who have supported me.”
He’s also doing his game proud at a
time when it needs it more than ever.
For watching Mania and Midnight
Shadow at Cheltenham was to get the
good feelings again.more important. “It was great to win
back then but there were no crowds
and so today with everyone cheering
was very emotional,” he said. “To
have this when it all seemed to have
gone is very special for me. Midnight
Shadow is a proper horse and has
been so consistent for the yard who
have been so good to me. Sue and
Harvey are unbelievable people.”
Harvey was back home at the yard
up on Ilkley Moor, which is
something between the Bronte
Sisters and Steptoe And Son. Harvey is
in his early 80s now, his wife ten
years younger.
“I probably get more emotional
these days,” Sue said. “It’s special for
everyone because we are only a small
yard and northern trainers don’t get
to do this very often. I have probably
got about 40 to 50 in training but
they are not all Midnight Shadows.
These are once-in-a-lifetime horses,
the same as Aurora’s Encore was.”Mania’s emotional triumph
RACING
the story [Azeem Rafiq’s]. I am
intrigued to know what happens with
the parliamentary review coming up
on Tuesday. I think the contribution
of Richard Hutton, the Yorkshire
chairman who fell on his sword, is
going to be revealing. He hadn’t been
there that long, he’s a bright boy and
he kept notes of everything. What he
has to say will be well worth listening
to. I think there’s a bit to go on this
story. I never saw much of a [racism]
problem inside dressing rooms.
“This case is very difficult to judge
and until I hear both sides of the story,
I’m going to stay open-minded. The
way the chairman walked away from
it, where he effectively said, ‘OK, if
this has been going on, we need to put
it right,’ I think he showed a lot of dig-
nity and I am very interested to hear
what he’s going to say.”
Unsurprisingly, Botham views the
Ashes series, which begins on Decem-
ber 8, as one that England can win. His
DNA doesn’t allow anything else.
“Australia are favourites but I go back
to ’86-’87. We were written off by
everyone and we were holding the
Ashes at the time, and we wrapped it
up in the fourth Test. England need a
good start and a good first-innings
score and then they’re in the game.
It’s important for the team that Ben
Stokes is fit, it’s what he brings to the
team and to the bigger picture.”
It pleases him that England are
there with their best available squad.
“At one stage it looked like they might
have half a dozen players pull out.
They couldn’t bear to be away from
their wives and families. You’re play-
ing a professional sport, getting very
well paid and what other job allows
you to take your wife and family with
you? They’re in a very privileged
place, pulling on that sweater should
be the greatest honour in your
life. Thankfully they saw
the light, a solution was
found and everyone
signed up.
“They know the
Australians are
going to come hard
at them and it’s
going to be brutal.
But you want that
aggression, that’s
what you play for.
One-day cricket
has its place and it
sounds great,
‘Wham, bam,
thank you ma’am,’
but it is no more
than an off-shoot.”Friends in high
places: Botham
spends even more
time in distinguished
company now, below,
since becoming a lordagainst England in the semi-
final. The gloves will revert
to Tim Seifert, who kept in
the opening group game.
BIG BROTHER SYNDROME
New Zealand have
struggled in big clashes
against their neighbours
from across the Tasman
Sea. Having raised
themselves to No 1 in the
Test and ODI rankings, are
they still afflicted by this
inferiority complex? In the
only previous meeting in a
limited-overs final, they
were heavily beaten in
Melbourne in the 50-over
World Cup of 2015, but New
Zealand did prevail the only
time the sides have met in a
T20 World Cup, in 2016.
THE TOSS
In 25 out of 32 games at this
tournament, the side winning
the toss have elected to
chase (Afghanistan provided
four of the seven exceptions)
and chasers have prevailed in
21 games, defenders in 11.THE VENUE
There have been 12 games in
Dubai — four involving
Australia (who lost to
England but won their other
three, including the semi-
final against Pakistan) and
two involving New Zealand
(both won, against India and
Scotland). New Zealand‘s win
over Scotland by 16 runs — in
a day-time fixture — is the
only time a team successfully
defended on the ground.