Coole Cody: 'He's like an old prize-fighter who puts on a show for everybody'

Fans' Favourites is a weekly feature in the Racing Post Weekender in which we in which we talk to those closest to racing's most popular horses and find out why they tug on our heartstrings. This week's subject: Coole Cody

Tiger Woods and Augusta, Ronnie O'Sullivan and the Crucible, Lionel Messi and wherever there are goalposts and a football: some partnerships are destined for greatness. Coole Cody and Cheltenham is undoubtedly one of them now.

Thirteen starts at the home of jump racing have yielded four wins and two seconds, and it could have been more. Three of those successes have come in the track's most prestigious handicaps during the season, the Paddy Power Gold Cup, Racing Post Gold Cup and Festival Plate – the latter two remarkably coming this campaign.

While he may not be the Grade 1 icon who regularly graces Prestbury Park, his sheer bravery in a battle, white-knuckle jumping style and willingness to never lose in a dogfight has endeared him to the adoring public.

However, none are more astounded by his Cheltenham feats than trainer Evan Williams, especially given a horse of Coole Cody's size and stature should not even be able to handle the track, let alone make it his playground.

"It's strange because there's no way he can enjoy it! He jumps right and doesn't jump well at times," Williams concedes. "Even at the festival he went through the last ditch at the top of the hill but came out quicker than he went into it, he actually gained momentum.

"It's either him who's mad, Wedgey [Adam Wedge, jockey] who's mad or a combination of madness with both of them. It doesn't make sense, he does everything wrong around there but enjoys it. Horses for courses is the oldest saying in the book."

What also makes little sense is how the £5,200 purchase at the 2016 Ascot July Sales has defied his age and odds since switching to Williams' care from Michael Blake in August 2020.

Even after getting off the mark for his new trainer in a mediocre summer novice chase at Newton Abbot that month, he could not envisage the journey the now 11-year-old would take him and owner Wayne Clifford on.

"He came to us in fantastic condition, we had the thought that he might be a late developer," Williams says. "He came to us just to see if we could just revitalise him a little bit and if he had only gone on to win a few novice chases, we'd have been very happy with that.

"We never thought that would happen. We were delighted he could win just a summer novice chase at Newton Abbot, let alone that."

Coole Cody surges clear from the front again to win the Paddy Power Gold CupCredit: Edward Whitaker

Two second-place finishes in novice chases – one back at the Devon track and at Cheltenham's Showcase meeting – set up an ambitious tilt at that season's Paddy Power Gold Cup. It would be a race where an audacious plan was beautifully hatched and the loveable Coole Cody we know now was born, even if his fans were not able to witness it due to Covid restrictions.

With his regular rider Wedge sidelined, Tom O'Brien stepped into the saddle and delivered a front-running ride to perfection. He skipped through the mud and driving rain to a three-and-a-quarter-length success.

He recalls: "The one thing we started to realise was how tough he is – he really wanted to get into a battle. Wedgey had ridden him a few times before and said to me he wanted to ride him in a big handicap so that he could get him into a fight.

"Tom rode him exactly as aggressively as Wedgey wanted him to do. I'd say we found out how to ride him then, he was a horse who is very tough. It was a very exaggerated way of riding him, but Cody seemed to really enjoy that.

"It was luck really, you need a lot of luck already and it's been instrumental. It's been nothing to do with me – Wedgey said he wanted to try to do what he did. Sometimes you fluke these things and the pieces of the jigsaw come together."

Coole Cody would not win again that season but still put up some brave performances in defeat, including when fourth at the 2021 festival, but a disappointing end to the campaign left the Glamorgan handler wondering if the limit had been reached in his advancing years.

However, where a trainer may not be able to tell, a jockey's wisdom steps in. Thankfully for Williams that came from his daughter Isabel, who reassured her father that Coole Cody's fire in the belly was still there after finishing second over hurdles at his beloved track in October.

Williams says: "It was a strange one really as when he came in from grass last season, if I'm being brutal, I was thinking to myself what can I do with a horse at his age who has already achieved what he has done the season before?

"It's a little thing about the jockeys though, Isabel said he blew up a couple of times and would've beaten them had he not done so. I thought it was just jockey talk and he couldn't have done so as I thought I had him pretty fit, but she was adamant he'd improve a good deal. Lord she was right."

She was right indeed and it became more evident when he turned into the home straight cantering in front in his Paddy Power Gold Cup defence in November, but he then found himself sprawled on the deck at the second-last fence.

It did not take Coole Cody long to rise from his low however – just little less than a month actually – as he roared to a two-length success in the Racing Post Gold Cup in December. It was a success the usually reserved Williams freely admits he had been half-expecting.

Coole Cody and Adam Wedge soar over the final fence for Cheltenham Gold Cup gloryCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"Wedgey was convinced he would've won [in the Paddy Power], and when we went back to take on Midnight Shadow we were pretty confident he could beat him," Williams recalls.

He adds: "It's staggering that's there's plenty of life left in this fella. It was a remarkable performance then, truly remarkable, to come back and storm up the hill at his age, especially after some bruising battles.

"Wedgey was very confident, sometimes you get to know the boys that ride, and I knew that he was very confident that day. Although he had fallen before, he had schooled very well and his work was great.

"I don't think there wasn't any guarantee in Wedgey's mind that he'd take a good bit of beating that day. It meant an awful lot to have everyone there and get redemption for falling."

The redemption was conquered and all Coole Cody had left to do was make the festival his own to complete a rare and remarkable treble by scoring at the track's flagship meetings during his career.

But even Williams, Wedge or Clifford did not know what to expect when he turned up for the Festival Plate in March off the back of two no-shows at his favourite track and a lofty handicap mark.

When Coole Cody looked down and out, the old warrior pulled out the stops to defy the odds once again. In this case the literal odds – he was sent off at 22-1 – were against him.

Having ploughed through the fourth-last as well as headed by favourite Imperial Alcazar, his shot at festival glory looked doomed.

However, roared on by Williams, Clifford, their families and a sellout 70,000 crowd, the veteran would not go down on his sword and turbo-charged back past his rivals and up the hill he adores so much to an astounding six-and-a-half-length success.

Very rarely does an outsider get cheered home so loudly by the Cheltenham faithful unless they are special, but they knew he had that gift, much to their joy.

Painting a picture so clearly on last month's momentous day, Williams says: "It was mad. I'd never planned or envisaged he could do that as he got older, but the only thing was he was in great old order. I honestly do not know how he done it, how he fought back.

"It goes to show it's a strange old game sometimes, you can put all the thought processes in, but the reality is he's a very tough horse who adores the track.

"It's just magical really, it was such a long time since we had a festival winner – our first one was in 2008. Sometimes you really do see why you do the job, fairytales do come true. For a character of a horse like him to do it the way he does it was strange really, in a good way.

"It's a mad old job sometimes. It's bonkers!"

Adam Wedge drives out Coole Cody for a remarkable success at the Cheltenham FestivalCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Mad is a word those closely attached with Coole Cody associate with him, whether that be the support he has garnered, his edge-of-the-seat racing style or the way he acts at home.

Williams knows if he is not angry – as he happily describes Coole Cody – then something is amiss.

"He has to be very mad because the way he takes off at those fences doesn't half leave your heart in your mouth sometimes!" he jokes.

"He's a very strong lad and you wouldn't be a horse for a little person, he can be a little bit nasty sometimes. Out in the paddock he's a Christian, but he can be a bit of a devil when it comes to rugging him up. You have to be on guard for him to be a little bit vicious, but once he gets into his routine he loves his job."

What has also become mad for Williams is the outpouring of support he gets he continues to be graced with about his star.

Rarely a day goes by on or off the track, whether it be a quiet Wednesday at Ffos Las or a big-race Saturday across the country, the first thing he will get asked is not how he is, but how his new stable star is instead.

He adds: "It's mad, and this is the bit that astounds me. We focus plenty of times on the negatives in racing, but the positives like the following Coole Cody has is quite brilliant. It's mad how many people do actually follow him, at Cheltenham especially.

"When the crowd is asking about him, it was completely overwhelming at times of just how popular he is. It's fantastic for the sport and shows it to be in such a brilliant light. It just goes to show that's exactly what racing fans love.

"Cheltenham is Cheltenham, you can dress everything up as you want but if you get a horse who keeps going there with the handicapper putting him up, but the horse doesn't care and gets on with the job. He isn't the best jumper in the world but he gets from A to B in his own particular way, but he always bounces back again."

Coole Cody's army of fans will not have to wait much longer for their celebrity to grace the hallowed Cheltenham turf once again, with the Grade 2 Silver Trophy on Wednesday earmarked as his next port of call.

Whether he wins or not, or again in his career, does not matter for Williams. The old boy has earned his keep to become not only a fan, but family favourite and make a season marred with tragedy filled with happy and everlasting memories.

Williams says: "We'd lost Silver Streak and Star Gate, so you do have big lows during the season, but to get an old boy like that to win like that at the festival was fantastic.

"I get a good deal of enjoyment training every horse, but with these brave ones and seeing a horse put his head down for you, that's when you get great enjoyment. That will to win to me is what the game's all about. He's like an old prize-fighter who puts on a show for everybody.

"He's an old pro now, but most importantly he is the ultimate."

Read more from our Fans' Favourites series:

Monet's Garden: 'There's only one thing you'll see of him – his backend!'

Martha's Son: 'Put him on a racetrack and he'd find three more gears'

Desert Orchid: 'People thought it was an act of lunacy to run over three miles'

Denman: 'He could pick you up and chuck you out the box or take your arm off'

Looks Like Trouble: 'When he started to deliver he was damn-near invincible'

Racing Post Live is your ultimate racing watchalong every Saturday and during major festivals. Our experts offer uninterrupted tips, analysis and reactions to the ITV action. Subscribe to the Racing Post YouTube channel here and never miss a minute