Paul Carberry: 'I jumped up on to the rafters. It tended to be all very strait-laced in those days, but I changed that'
David Jennings catches up with the jockey 25 years on from a famous Irish triumph
Paul Carberry is giving a running commentary of the 1999 Grand National, the day Bobbyjo became the first Irish winner of the world's most famous jumps race for 24 years from a whopping 14lb out of the handicap. You join us just after jumping Becher's for the final time.
Carberry is creeping away on Bobbyjo, picking them off one by one, when Norman Williamson, on General Wolfe, lets out a roar: "Would you relax and take your time, you're a long way from home. I wouldn't be kicking on now, if I were you."
Telling Carberry, of all people, to take his time? Is that not like telling David Attenborough how to talk about wildlife in the Sahara? You don't usually need to tell a priest how to say his prayers but this was one of those rare occasions when the ultimate hold-up merchant needed a sermon from someone on the virtue of patience.
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Published on 12 April 2024inInterviews
Last updated 09:21, 13 April 2024
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- 'There's a time to be serious because it's a multi-million-pound business - but you've got to have a laugh'
- 'All of us who ply our trade training horses are dreamers - to put so much into it you must have a dream'
- 'There was a moment of rage - but he's a magnificent horse and it suits me that he's passed under the radar'
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