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

Fans' Favourites is a weekly feature in the Racing Post Weekender 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: Looks Like Trouble

Every successful athlete can point to the moment when things began to change for them and their career was elevated to the next level.

For Richard Johnson, it was landing the 2000 Cheltenham Gold Cup aboard his old friend Looks Like Trouble as a fresh-faced 22-year-old but the former jockey admits he was a bit fortunate to get the ride.

Johnson rode regularly for trainer Noel Chance but was only called up after Looks Like Trouble's owner Tim Collins fell out with regular jockey Norman Williamson and the rest, as they say, is history as they beat future King George winner Florida Pearl at the festival.

And the dominoes simply fell from there. Johnson became stable jockey to Philip Hobbs, won a catalogue of big races, was crowned champion four times and even became Chance's son-in-law.

"Looks Like Trouble had a massive influence on my career," says the retired jockey. "It was obviously so exciting but I never appreciated what it represented. It probably propelled me to getting the job with Philip Hobbs and getting rides on the top horses in the biggest races.

"I only picked the ride up shortly before the race but it took me to the next level and it was great to do it for my future father-in-law."

It took Johnson 18 years to win his second Gold Cup, when Native River dug deep to defeat Might Bite in 2018, bookending a lengthy career in which the jockey rode more than 3,500 winners. So how does Looks Like Trouble's victory compare to his second success?

"It's equal to winning with Native River," adds Johnson. "They were at different stages of my career. I'd never really had a chance to ride a true Gold Cup horse and it suddenly happened really quickly, while I'd ridden Native River for years and appreciated it all a lot more."

Richard Johnson with Looks Like Trouble after winning the 2000 Gold CupCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Looks Like Trouble's win was also a landmark moment for Chance and the trainer ranks him ahead of his other Gold Cup winner, Mr Mulligan (1997), in a high-quality list of the best he ever trained.

"He's top of the list," says Chance, who retired from the training ranks in 2013. "It takes a fair horse to win the three Grade 1s he won. The thing is he wasn't a slow horse – he wasn't a plodder.

"You need to be a stout stayer to win the Gold Cup but at home he showed so much pace. We had a couple of half-decent two-mile horses and they couldn't get by him. He just found an extra gear."

Chance began training privately in Britain from 1995 for Michael Worcester but was forced to frantically find a new owner for Looks Like Trouble after Worcester decided to step back from the sport.

"In my early days, I was a private trainer and Looks Like Trouble belonged to him," says Chance. "He owned Mr Mulligan but one day he figured he'd reached the pinnacle – little did he know he had another Gold Cup winner waiting in the wings – and got out.

"I worked hard to try to find a new owner for him. He showed us a bit at home but it took time for him to grow into his frame and to come to himself. When he finally did, he was almost unbeaten."

Things did not go entirely to plan for Looks Like Trouble in the early stages of his career. He was winless in three starts over hurdles but chasing was always his game and he won two handicaps in novice company at Doncaster and Sandown before taking a huge step up.

He was aimed at the 1999 Royal & SunAlliance Novice Chase, now known as the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase. It was his first start in Graded company, let alone in a Grade 1 at the Cheltenham Festival, but there were no signs of inexperience as he won by 30 lengths.

"The head of handicapping at the time, Phil Smith, said it might have been a bit of wishful thinking to go for the race based on what Looks Like Trouble had done," says Chance. "However, I said it was going to be a good day out regardless and then he went and won the race.

"I knew he couldn't finish outside the first three. There was a huge Irish hotpot who fell at the last and Brough Scott implied we were a lucky winner during the post-race interview but I'd have none of it. I knew he was capable of staying, as he then showed in the Gold Cup.

"I always thought he had the potential to be a good horse. I told Tim from the outset he could very easily win the Reynoldstown at Ascot, which was a stepping stone for the festival race. He showed plenty and after he started to really deliver, he was damn-near invincible."

Noel Chance: retired trainer of Looks Like TroubleCredit: Edward Whitaker

He appeared almost invincible when winning the Gold Cup by five lengths from Florida Pearl – the previous year's winner See More Business was fourth – despite making a mistake on the first circuit.

Johnson once described the moment his mount blundered the tenth fence as him waving to his family in the stands, and says: "He was a great jumper but coming down the hill on the first circuit, we got it wrong. There was a miscommunication and he made a bad mistake but it was early enough in the race for him to get back on track.

"The top horses have a unique ability to travel and jump, and find everything a lot easier than other horses. He just made my job so easy and I felt like I was almost a passenger when riding him. He wasn't always the soundest horse but Noel got him there perfectly.

"You think about things more as you get older and I just viewed it as a good ride on the day. When he won, we celebrated quite hard and it was a long trip to Folkestone the next day. It doesn't really matter how young you are, you still just try to embrace it all and enjoy it.

"I feel sorry for those jockeys who won big races without crowds. The atmosphere at Cheltenham is unique – you get swept away."

Richard Johnson: landed the Gold Cup with Native River in 2018Credit: Michael Steele (Getty Images)

It all could have happened so differently and Chance remembers calling up Johnson to offer him the ride after Looks Like Trouble's owner fell out with Norman Williamson, who rode him four times.

"Norman and the owner fell out," says Chance. "I got a call a few days before the race. Richard was attached to one in the Gold Cup but the horse was rerouted, which left him free. I recently saw a photo of Richard after winning and he looked decidedly youthful.

"He rode for us when I first came to Lambourn and he won a big race at Market Rasen. Michael [Worcester] said I should keep him and let him ride all of his horses. We owed him in 2000 as through no fault of his own he didn't ride Mr Mulligan in the 1997 Gold Cup."

His second Gold Cup was no less important to Chance than his first, and there was the added benefit of him having backed his winner.

"That was an important day for me," adds Chance. "I was reading the Racing Post over breakfast after Looks Like Trouble first won at the festival and Victor Chandler had him at 50-1 for the Gold Cup.

"I didn't have an account but another bookmaker, who wasn't quite so forthcoming, got me on at 50-1. He went on to win at Sandown, had a bad day in the King George due to the ground, before landing the Gold Cup at 9-2 – it was memorable in more ways than one."

Looks Like Trouble was not finished there. He won his third Grade 1 in the Champion Chase at Down Royal by 15 lengths the following November – which Chance simply described as "poetry in motion".

He did not run again until 2002, when he won on his reappearance at Wincanton in January by 30 lengths before finishing down the field in the Gold Cup, around 80 lengths behind the winner Best Mate. He made one final start at Ascot in June 2003 before being retired.

"He was starting to feel the pinch," says Chance. "I viewed the race at Wincanton with trepidation and just hoped he got through it okay. His leg went during that race and if I had my time again, I wouldn't have run him there. I would have gone straight for the Gold Cup."

Despite injuries preventing the racing public from seeing Looks Like Trouble more frequently, the talented chaser still made a massive impression, not least because of his role in Johnson's early career.

The bonds between Looks Like Trouble, Johnson and Chance remain intact 22 years after their hugely important Gold Cup victory. The old chaser, who turned 30 this year, lives with the former jockey and his young family, while Chance was tasked with turning out his old friend after coming back over to Britain during the festive period.

It is clear this means a lot to Johnson who, when asked why he felt Looks Like Trouble proved so popular, says: "He was gorgeous to look at. He's imposing and people love horses who keep coming back. He won at two successive festivals, which is no mean feat.

"He's still with us now and we see him every day. He's been such a special horse for me and my family, whether that's 22 years ago or today. To still have him with us at home is absolutely amazing."

Read more from our Fans' Favourites series:

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

Lostintranslation: 'He's completely different – he's back with a vengeance'

One For Arthur: 'For other horses it was a test but for him it was easy'

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

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