It is Cheltenham week, so you’ll not be shocked to listen to this narrative includes a jockey speaking animatedly a couple of flying machine.
There may be, nonetheless, a real and noteworthy distinction to the standard tone. Sean Flanagan is aware of all about top-quality horses that float up the gallops however he additionally is aware of what it takes to get airborne: aside from being one of many weighing room’s most revered riders, he’s additionally a professional pilot.
So right here we’re, on a wet day in Thurles, one among Eire’s provincial racecourses, discussing nice adventures and large concepts. The venue for the assembly is heavy with symbolism, which we’ll focus on additional sooner or later, however earlier than that we will prepare for take-off.
‘I’ve a two-seater aircraft and I take off within the discipline behind my home, simply exterior Kells close to Dublin,’ says Flanagan, with a nonchalance that makes it sound like he’s leaping on a bicycle. ‘I’ve all the time thought exterior the field and I received a gift, approach again after I was 16, for a flying lesson.
‘I by no means received it out of my head. Quick ahead a number of years and I used to be in poor health one night, up in the course of the evening. I used to be sitting up on the pc and a flying lesson commercial popped up.
‘So I stated to myself: “Ah, it will put me in good kind!”; one lesson a month turned two and away we went!
‘I fly myself across the nation to conferences. I might fly 100 hours a 12 months, give or take. It’s simply good; I’ve landed in loads of the racecourses. I’ve finished Roscommon, Naas, Cork; Gowran Park, Killarney… we’re getting by way of a number of of them.’
Had he not had a lot gear to hold with him this week, Flanagan, a father of three who additionally owns the jockeys’ valeting enterprise, would have taken his personal direct path to Cheltenham and he has even flown a six-seater plane to present a few of his colleagues lifts previously.
Sean Flanagan wins the Champion Chase on Marine Nationale at Cheltenham final 12 months
Someday sooner or later, when he hangs up his saddle, he might even graduate to flying passenger planes. There could be extra exams to move however, at 37, he is able to begin his research — a jockey’s profession is finite — and the concept of changing into a captain intrigues him.
‘I flew to Cheltenham two years in the past,’ he confirms. ‘I flew to Aintree 12 months in the past. That was class. Liverpool is so useful, up and over the water, journey your horse and again residence within the night in an hour.
‘I rode at Ayr final season and that was simply improbable, flying into there. The surroundings was unreal.
‘If I’m going to Donegal, that’s some of the scenic landings on this planet. You’re simply up there, watching the world go by. You will be in an actual dangerous temper, in dangerous kind, however then you might be up there and it simply calms you down. It’s a privilege, like, a complete escape from racing.’
Privilege is a marvellous phrase and you may see he means it. Flanagan ought to have been getting ready in the present day for his spin on an equine aeroplane however Marine Nationale was dominated of the Queen Mom Champion Chase, the race he received 12 months in the past, with a freak harm.
There are nonetheless good alternatives for him on the cardboard: Vanillier is quietly fancied to run nicely within the Cross Nation Chase, whereas Launch The Beast is well-tuned up for a great crack on the fiendishly aggressive Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase.
However jockeys put in these painstaking yards, day after day, to have an affiliation with a horse that may take them to a distinct realm.
So typically you hear concerning the horses lining up and the joy they bring about that it’s virtually putting to listen to concerning the ones that aren’t a part of the forged checklist. ‘I received a cellphone name at 9am final Tuesday morning from Barry (Connell, Marine Nationale’s coach) and, jeez, it was onerous,’ he says with a grimace.
Flanagan leads the sphere on Sober Glory in Tuesday’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, finally received by Previous Park Star
‘I used to be on my approach right down to Naas to journey a favorite and he was dominated out, too, after I received there. Then I fell off my different journey! These are the times you keep in mind!
‘All you are able to do is transfer on. The harm to Marine is nothing severe and he’ll run at Punchestown. You’ve seen him within the flesh, haven’t you? He’s attractive. He’s a champion, each inch of him. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime horse, I’ve spent 20 years searching for one nearly as good as him.
‘My children are at an age now when they’re questioning why I’m away so typically however they form of perceive that it’s for a horse like him.
‘It will have been an ideal race with Majborough however we had final 12 months, didn’t we? I’ll always remember that day, because it was such a surreal rollercoaster of feelings. You attain the highest of the straight and also you assume: “Wow, I’ve simply received the Champion Chase” however then all of it hits you…’
What made final 12 months’s Champion Chase so exceptionally poignant was the very fact Marine Nationale’s former rider, Michael O’Sullivan, had died a month earlier, following a fall at Thurles. A effective younger man, with a lot to present, his passing had a profound impact.
‘We’re standing 50 yards from the place the accident occurred,’ Flanagan says quietly. ‘I used to be one of many 4 riders who had the prospect of being there with Michael, as I fell alongside him. I used to be the primary one to fall at that fence within the incident in that race.
‘Michael spoke to me loads after I’d received the job with Barry and I received to know him so nicely within the construct as much as that. It was a really robust time. After all, I’m disenchanted to not be driving Marine Nationale however you already know what’s vital in life.’
