Tiger Roll Loses Swan Song to Stablemate Delta Work

Don't say you weren't told, Gordon.

This was the conversation we had early last week with trainer Gordon Elliott, which appeared in Sunday's Racing Post.  

"Tell me this, Gordon, what on earth are you doing running Delta Work in the Cross Country (Glenfarclas Chase)?"

"Why not?"

"What happens if he wins the bloody thing?"

"Sure I'll have a winner, it'll be great. I want to train winners and I have to do the best for all my owners. It's winners I want."

"Are you telling me if Delta Work wins and Tiger Roll is second, depriving him of a sixth festival win and a glorious retirement party, you will be happy?"

"I'll be happy, but I'll be disappointed as well."

And, lo and behold, there he was, soaked to his skin, standing in the winner's enclosure at Cheltenham March 16, disappointed after the dual Grand National hero was denied a historic sixth Cheltenham festival win by his own stablemate on his farewell appearance in the Glenfarclas Chase.

Michael O'Leary was disappointed too and, for the first time in his life, he didn't really know what to say. The tears that reddened his eyes told us more than words ever could. 

"I'm disappointed. I don't know what to say, I'm going to shoot Jack Kennedy when I see him!" he said, his voice already beginning to quiver. 

"On ground that doesn't suit him and that's a Gold Cup horse that's after beating him, and only just beaten him, after over three miles on ground he wouldn't have liked and, ultimately... I'm sorry, I'm actually upset. I would have loved to see him win it."

Well, Michael, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you are the reason he didn't win it. 

"If I could have controlled it, I would have."

But, you could? You didn't have to run Delta Work? 

"You have to throw as many darts as you can at the dart board here and hope something sticks. But, look, everybody here will get to celebrate Tiger today. This will be the last time they see him running on a racetrack and what a warrior he is. He's a legend."

A legend indeed and he departed like a legend. Back at his happiest hunting ground, flicking over Aintree-style fences, gobbling up the cheese wedges and skipping over the stuffed hurdles, he loved every single second of it. If he hated the ground he had a funny way of showing it. 

By the time they got to the 25th obstacle, another railed hedge, Davy Russell couldn't wait any longer.

Easysland, his conqueror in 2020, took him as far as he could. The champagne was starting to be shaken; let's get this party started.

But, just as the final few words of the fairytale were being penned, Delta Work and Kennedy appeared out of the gloom to spoil all our fun. Tiger Roll did his very best to fight him off, he rallied once, twice, three times, but the younger and classier legs prevailed. 

Thanks a million, Jack. 

Not since Top Cees won the Coral Cup in 1998 has a festival victory been booed from the grandstand, but such is the admiration among fans for Tiger Roll, there were sneers, jeers, and a chorus of boos after Delta Work defeated the Cheltenham legend by three-quarters of a length.

"I'd say a lot of people will hate me now but it doesn't really bother me," said the winning rider. "I thought I was always going to get there. To be honest, I thought the ground had gone for Tiger Roll and I was surprised at how well he was going, but I suppose it was in the back of my head that he might not get up the hill as good as my lad on that ground. I actually expected to pick him up a bit easier, but my lad just ground him down in the end. He's after getting a new lease of life.

"I was schooling Delta Work here the other morning and I said to my brother afterwards that I'm going to be the most hated man in Cheltenham on Wednesday evening. I was right. He's been very disappointing all season, but the switch to this cross-country racing rejuvenated him. I'm delighted."

Well I'm glad someone was. 

Elliott was an emotional wreck afterwards. He looked as though he had gone the distance with Mike Tyson but somehow came out of the bout winning. 

"To be honest, I'm not going to tell you a lie, I was shouting for Tiger coming down to the last."

Are you regretting running Delta Work now? 

"No. If I was here today and the ground went that soft and I didn't have Delta Work running I would have been absolutely puking. The wrong horse won and it would have been a dream come through if Tiger had won but he did us proud and Tiger Roll made the race what it was. I wanted Tiger to win, I really did but, look, Delta Work won and it was a great race."

It was a great race, a fabulous one, which tugged on our heartstrings every step of the way. That is what Tiger Roll has done for his entire career. He has turned us all into soppy messes.

Too small, too slight, too slow. Successful staying chasers without size and scope are about as rare as candlelit dinners between O'Leary and Martin Greenwood. 

Tiger Roll was always a bit of a weirdo, though. He never stuck to scripts or did the things he was supposed to do. If he did, the "little rat of a thing" as O'Leary once infamously described him, would be long forgotten by now. 

But, the truth is, Tiger Roll will never be forgotten. Not in our lifetime. Not ever. He will take up quite a few chapters of the history books and stay there too. You don't win at five different Cheltenham Festivals, land back-to-back Grand Nationals, and not be remembered for a very, very long time. 

Farewell, Tiger. Thanks for the memories.