Recalling a tremendous but tragic chaser 25 years after his glorious spring

The Ascot Chase – set to take place at the Berkshire track this Saturday – is far from the oldest Grade 1 fixture in the calendar, having only been inaugurated in 1995, but it quickly established itself as one of the best races over an intermediate distance and has a glittering roll of honour; surprisingly so, considering its proximity to the Cheltenham Festival.

Future Queen Mother Champion Chase hero Martha’s Son took the first ever running, in its original guise of the Comet Chase, and subsequent renewals fell to such storied names as Sound Man, Teeton Mill, Monet’s Garden, Kauto Star and Cue Card.

Whenever I think of the race, though, the first horse that springs to mind is the wonderful One Man. He went down all guns blazing when second to Strong Promise in a thrilling battle for the 1997 edition, only to turn the tables on that rival in spectacular style 12 months later.

That Ascot victory set in motion a tremendous but ultimately tragic spring for one of the most popular chasers of the decade, who had drawn comparisons with that other gallant grey Desert Orchid when winning a host of top chases including the Hennessy Gold Cup and King George VI twice in the same calendar year.

One Man put up his customary display of bold front-running and extravagant jumping to land the Champion Chase when dropped in trip on his next start, and was led around the Cheltenham winner’s enclosure to loud cheers and rapturous applause. He was doing the same in the Melling Chase at Aintree a month later, until he crashed sideways through the ninth fence and broke a leg, leading to him being put down.

Jockey Brian Harding reportedly returned to the weighing room in tears, while owner John Hales was so distraught he had to be helped into the first aid room. Trainer Gordon Richards, who was ill at the time and had made his first trip to the races in a month, was so upset he went home straight after speaking to the other connections. The news cast a pall over the whole Grand National meeting of 1998.

I thought I’d mark the 25th anniversary of One Man’s Ascot Chase and Champion Chase heroics, but also his sad demise, in the only way I can using the medium of Good Morning Bloodstock: by producing a portrait of his pedigree.

One Man was the most notable offspring of Remainder Man, an unfashionably bred son of Connaught who was bought as a yearling for 5,800gns and sent out by Reg Hollinshead to finish second to Roland Gardens in the 2,000 Guineas and third behind Shirley Heights and Hawaiian Sound in the Derby, before coming back at four to win the Ormonde Stakes.

He hailed from the first crop conceived by his sire after his move from Britain to Sean Kinsella’s Knockhouse Stud in County Kilkenny, then riding the crest of a wave with Roselier. In fact, the dual Ascot Chase hero Monet’s Garden, another great grey trained by Gordon Richards’ son Nicky, was by French Champion Hurdle winner Roselier out of Remainder Man’s daughter Royal Remainder.

Besides One Man and Royal Remainder, Remainder Man’s most significant contributions to National Hunt racing were Grade 1 winners Johnny Setaside and Thats My Man, Champion Chase third Lord Dorcet and talented handicap chasers Glinger and Lively Knight.

Remainder Man’s earlier stint as a Flat sire yielded one black-type winner in the shape of Moorgate Man, who gave no clue to his sire’s future prowess as a source of jumpers when finding only Sure Blade too good in the Coventry Stakes and defeating Bold Arrangement to win the Seaton Delaval Stakes at Newcastle.

One Man was bred by Hugh Holohan of Grangeduff Stud in County Tipperary, which also gave the world Irish Grand National heroine Ebony Jane and the smart chaser Master H. He was the first foal out of Steal On, an unraced daughter of General Ironside, also sire of Victor Chandler Chase winner Blitzkrieg and the dams of Racing Post Trophy scorers Farmer Jack and Gunther McBride.

Steal On also produced the once-promising novice chaser Steel Blade and the unraced mare One Edge, who became dam of Listed Cheltenham bumper winner One Term and granddam of Punchestown Stayers’ Hurdle victor One Track Mind. She was a half-sister to Michael Byrne’s useful National Hunt filly Amy Fairy, who became the granddam of multiple Grade 1 winner Bellshill, and to fair point-to-pointer Try Your Case, who produced Drinmore Novice Chase second Be My Leader and the dam of Welsh Grand National scorer Secret Reprieve.

Steal On was in turn out of the Menelek mare Copp On, a full-sister to Jim Dreaper’s Powers Gold Cup winner Persian Wanderer and a half-sister to Joint Master, the winning dam of Arthur Moore’s back-to-back Thyestes Chase scorer Wylde Hide.

Copp On and co were meanwhile out of Stroll On, a Vulgan half-sister to Royal Alliance, the dam of Moore’s legendary jumper Royal Bond, and Matchboard, a 16-time winner from whom the Parkhill family developed one of the finest families in National Hunt racing, which includes Champion Hurdle-winning brothers Morley Street and Granville Again, and more recent Grade 1 winners City Island, Ferny Hollow and Fury Road. Another Ascot Chase winner, Hand Inn Hand, happens to be a scion of that dynasty.

Seeing as One Man’s maternal pedigree was so steeped in success, it’s no surprise he turned out to be such a star. But can it really be 25 years since we said that sad farewell to him? The cruel way in which time keeps accelerating as we get older suggests it shouldn’t be, but then some aspects of his career really do rather belong in another era.

I’m thinking of his fearless campaigns, running six times in each of his last two seasons, coming back for more after apparent disappointments and switching between handicaps and Graded races on his way through the ranks, and the far wider variety in stables who could field credible contenders in the top events.

Most of all, though, I’m put in mind of the sharp professionalisation of the point-to-point scene in Ireland. Considering the fierce competition to get young horses to win between the flags now, in order to sell them for huge money at big race-day auctions, it was with a smile that I read how One Man came to cross the Irish Sea.

One Man on his way to winning the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in 1998

Richard Dunwoody’s book The Horses Of My Life relates how renowned judge Tom Costello – whose County Clare base served as a conveyor belt of talented jumpers, including Best Mate and Florida Pearl to name just two – would send his long-time ally Arthur Stephenson a lorry filled with horses to cast his eye over. Stephenson, who had bought from Costello his Cheltenham Gold Cup winner The Thinker, would sort through them and send back the ones he didn’t want.

Luckily he decided to keep One Man, who had been bought from the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale for just Ir4,000gns and would have gone close on his sole start in a point-to-point at Friarstown only for his jockey to run out by going the wrong side of the finishing post.

Stephenson died at the end of the same year in which he acquired One Man, and the horse was bought as a three-time novice hurdle winner by Gordon Richards for 68,000gns at a dispersal of the late trainer’s stock in 1993. The rest was glorious turf history.

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Must-read story

“We’ve certainly had nothing running at the Cheltenham Festival, although I rode the odd one in the four-miler at the hunter chase evening,” says Pertemps Final hopeful Glimpse Of Gala’s breeder Christopher Marriott in an interview.

Pedigree pick

It’s doubtful whether any of the form horses in the second division of the seven-furlong maiden at Kempton this evening (6.30) are stars, so it might pay to follow one of the newcomers. Abbadia, a three-year-old filly trained by George Boughey for breeders Kildaragh Stud, looks worth chancing in particular.

She is a Mastercraftsman half-sister to smart seven-furlong horse Tuscan out of the multiple Listed-placed Shamardal mare Orcia. The dam is herself a half-sister to Nottinghamshire Oaks winner Mutatis Mutandis (also by Mastercraftsman) and two other classy middle-distance performers in Distant Memories and Mohedian Lady, and she hails from a superb Citadel Stud family that has produced top-notchers like Hathrah, Most Improved and last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine Meditate.

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