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

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: Martha's Son

This year’s Queen Mother Champion Chase promises to be an epic showdown between closely matched top-class rivals and it was exactly the same 25 years ago in one of the most memorable editions of the great race.

The previous two Champion heroes were in the six-runner line-up, along with past or future winners of high-calibre races such as the Tingle Creek and what is now the Ascot Chase, but victory went to the hugely popular Martha’s Son, who was making his long-awaited Cheltenham debut at the age of ten after a protracted absence through injury. It was a fairytale ending to a story that had started brightly before taking some darker twists.

Trained by Captain Tim Forster, Martha’s Son first established himself as one of the leading players in a great era for two-mile chasers with a stellar 1994-95 campaign that took him from 130-rated handicapper to the top level in a five-race winning streak.

Along the way he started great rivalries with Viking Flagship and Deep Sensation, beating both of those Champion Chase winners with a significant weight advantage in the Victor Chandler Chase (then a handicap) before confirming his arrival in the elite just three weeks later with victory in the Grade 1 Comet Chase (now the Ascot Chase) over 2m3½f.

At that stage Martha’s Son was unbeaten in nine starts over fences but his winning run was brought to an end on his final outing of the season in one of the great races of that vintage era. Having swerved the Cheltenham Festival, Forster sent him for the 2m4f Melling Chase at Aintree against Viking Flagship and Deep Sensation, who crossed swords again after their one-two in the Champion Chase three weeks earlier.

Rodney Farrant, who rode Martha’s Son in 11 of his 15 chases and knew him better than anyone, remembers that battle well. No quarter was asked or given between three tenacious fighters who relished a scrap, whether it was a test of speed over two miles or a trial of strength over the longer trip.

“The three of us came to the last together and touched down all on a five-pence piece, but I came out just on the wrong side of a close finish. Many people have said to me it was one of the races of the decade,” recalls Farrant, now a work-rider at Jamie Snowden’s Lambourn yard. Victory went to Viking Flagship by a short head from Deep Sensation, with Martha’s Son just a length back in third.

All-time classic: Martha's Son (left), Viking Flagship (centre) and Deep Sensation jump the last in the 1995 Melling Chase

That was a small setback for Martha’s Son compared with what was to follow. Having been beaten a neck by the classy Travado in the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon on his reappearance the next season, Martha’s Son was being prepared for an audacious tilt at the King George VI Chase when he suffered a serious leg injury. For a long time it seemed that he might never be seen again, or at least not in the same form that had made him one of the most exciting and popular chasers around.

One of the reasons for the acclaim that greeted the rise of Martha’s Son was that he epitomised the old-fashioned jump racing folk hero. His trainer was a grand traditionalist, the ride was entrusted to a young jockey who had served his time as the stable conditional, and owner-breeder Michael Ward-Thomas had struck lucky from a starting point that did not generate much hope.

By Idiots Delight out of a far from blue-blooded mare called Lady Martha, Martha’s Son was foaled in May 1987. “My father wasn’t a big owner and didn’t pay a great deal of money for his horses,” says Anthony Ward-Thomas, the late owner-breeder’s son. “He loved National Hunt racing but he wasn’t a horseman and was no expert in the field, and he was slightly late in the day to come to do the breeding.

“I don’t think he was looking at that breeding partnership as holding out any great promise and it was a surprise to everybody that Martha’s Son turned out so good.”

Even after Martha’s Son won a novice hurdle at Stratford as a 25-1 shot on his debut just after Christmas 1991, the famously pessimistic Forster told the owner-breeder: “I will never, as long as I train, win a steeplechase with this horse. He will never jump fences.”

It was a resoundingly downbeat assessment given that the Forster ethos was built on producing chasers, not hurdlers. In one of the trainer’s most famous sayings, he declared: “One day I’m going to stand for Parliament and, if I get in, my first Bill will be to abolish Flat racing and my second to do away with hurdlers.”

Forster had good reason for early doubts about Martha’s Son’s jumping ability, given that he did not get far off the ground. Farrant recalls: “The only quirk he had, if there was one, was his jumping style. He wasn’t a dodgy jumper, it was just that he was very quick and low over his fences. He sort of hurdled them.”

Eventually, after much work at home, Martha’s Son was ready for his chasing debut under Farrant, then a 5lb claimer, at Nottingham in December 1993. “I did most of the schooling on him at home, hurdles and fences, and rode him out most days,” he says. “One of the great things about the Captain was that if you rode a horse at home you’d stay on him, even though I was only a conditional at the time.”

He adds: “That race at Nottingham was a damn good one. I remember Graham McCourt rode Rodeo Star [the odds-on favourite] and he told me afterwards he couldn’t believe he’d been beaten because he’d never gone up the straight so fast in his life. We knew Martha’s was a good horse anyway and that confirmed it.”

Martha’s Son climbed the ranks under Forster’s typically careful handling, always reserving his best for the racecourse and showing little at home. “You could have put a six-year-old on him at home because he was so quiet,” says Farrant. “He wouldn’t pull up the gallops, he would never run away with anyone, he wouldn’t even pick up the bridle. He’d never do anything flashy in a piece of work, but put him on a racetrack and he’d find three more gears that you wouldn’t think were there at home.”

Finally, after 15 months off the track, the exciting chaser with the extra gears and the exhilarating jumping style returned to action in February 1997. The Champion Chase was only 18 days away when he took on old rival Viking Flagship in the Emblem Chase at Kempton, but disaster struck almost immediately.

With Farrant nursing a broken collarbone, the ride went to Norman Williamson but the partnership got no further than the second fence. As a prep race, it was a non-event. With time running out, the only option left was a racecourse awayday.

“We gave him a school around Bangor after racing a week before the Champion Chase,” recalls Farrant. “We did a circuit at a good gallop and he jumped fantastic. That put him A1 for Cheltenham.”

Martha's Son (left) with trainer Tim Forster and stablemate Maamur after the pre-festival racecourse gallop at BangorCredit: Phil Smith (racingpost.com/photos)

Even so, with the ground coming up quick at the festival, there was fierce debate right up to the night before the Champion Chase about whether Martha’s Son was going to run. The safe option had been taken two years earlier with the decision to go to Aintree instead but this time Ward-Thomas and joint-owner Paddy Hartigan, who both had health issues, rolled the dice. “We had to run,” Ward-Thomas said later. “None of us may be around next year.”

The field brought together the cream of the two-milers. The 5-2 favourite was Strong Promise, fresh from victory over One Man in the Comet Chase; next in the betting at 3-1 were Viking Flagship, the 1994 and 1995 winner, and Klairon Davis, who had taken his crown in 1996; then there was 6-1 shot Ask Tom, the Victor Chandler winner, and Martha’s Son was 9-1. The only runner without a serious chance was 50-1 outsider Lord Dorcet.

Farrant takes up the story. “You couldn’t go into the race with enormous optimism, given what had gone on with his season off and what had happened at Kempton. You just didn’t know if he was back to his best after the injury.

“I dropped him out at the back as usual. Although he wouldn’t pick up the bridle at home he’d always want to get on with it a bit in his races and take a tug, so if you jumped him off too handy the worry was that he’d run a bit free. I remember I winged the first couple up the straight and I was always travelling great. He jumped fantastically that day, as you have to if you’re going to win a Champion Chase.

Fierce rivals: Martha's Son (left) and Viking Flagship eyeball to eyeball in the 1997 Queen Mother Champion ChaseCredit: Phil Cole

“He jumped the fence well at the top of the hill and then I tried to sneak up Ossie’s inner [Jamie Osborne on Lord Dorcet] but Ossie did me a massive favour by shutting the door on me. So I had to take a tiny tug on Martha’s and as I did that he grabbed hold of the bridle with me. He came right back on the steel and then he was running away going down the hill.

“He got a bit close to the second-last before we turned in, but apart from that he was no problem at all. I was going to come around the outside after we turned in but I got the split between Viking Flagship and Ask Tom going to the last and it was perfect for me.

“It was just drive, drive at the last and thankfully the stride was there for me. Once I landed over the fence I knew within five or six strides that I was going to win. He wasn’t stopping and, if anything, it was the further the better for him going up the hill.”

At the line Martha’s Son was two and a half lengths clear of Ask Tom, with half a length back to Viking Flagship in third and another length to Klairon Davis in fourth. Forster, in typical style, admitted he hadn’t expected the winner to get round. “I was sure he’d clip the top of one and turn over,” he said.

Rodney Farrant celebrates on Martha's Son after winning the Queen Mother Champion ChaseCredit: Phil Cole

It was an immensely popular success, as Anthony Ward-Thomas soon discovered. “It was quite freakish because you became well known in the National Hunt fraternity for weeks afterwards,” he says. “People would come up and pat you on the back, and you didn’t even know who they were. I didn’t own him but I didn’t mind taking a few of the plaudits. It was nice, but a bit strange at the same time.”

Ward-Thomas wasn’t at Cheltenham but he was at Aintree three weeks later when Martha’s Son completed a famous double, avenging his Melling Chase defeat from two years before. This time, with Carl Llewellyn taking over from the injured Farrant, Martha’s Son scored by five lengths from Strong Promise, with Viking Flagship and Ask Tom well beaten in third and fourth.

With a Racing Post Rating of 178, it was the best performance of his career. “The defining factor with Martha’s Son was that fifth or sixth gear he would find and that was true in the Aintree race,” says Ward-Thomas.

The owners’ idea of seizing the moment was rewarded by that glorious spring double. Little more than a year later, Hartigan died, aged 64. “He never stopped saying how incredibly lucky he was to have a horse like that,” said Forster at his funeral. “I remember the day he took me aside and said, ‘Tim, I just want you to know that Martha’s Son has given me the happiest moments of my life’.”

Forster, who retired from training in May 1998, died in April the following year. He was 65. Just over a month later, Martha’s Son – whose career had ended in further serious injury after one more race – was put down at the age of 12 owing to complications from his injuries.

Tim Forster with Martha's Son after the 1997 Queen Mother Champion ChaseCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Despite those early disparaging remarks about Martha’s Son, Forster grew to love him. “He’s the kindest horse you could have,” he said. “A child of five could ride him. If you walked across the yard he would follow you like a dog. You could even tie him up in Ludlow while you did your shopping.”

As for his ability on the track, Forster said: “He’s the best I’ve ever had. He’s got two speeds. One is totally switched off and relaxed. The other is when you press the button and he fires away. He’s a child’s pony at home and a tiger on the racecourse.”

Anthony Ward-Thomas, whose father died in 2004 at the age of 78, in turn pays his own tribute. “The quality of the horse was absolutely undeniable,” he says, “and the Captain was the right man to have him. Everyone loved the way he did his job and the way he cared for his horses. He was one of a kind.”

That last remark is a fitting description not only for Forster but for Martha’s Son too.

Read more from our Fans' Favourites series:

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

Arrogate: 'He'd give any horse ever a race - he was that good'

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

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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