'He was a wonderful horse and it was one of the greatest rides you would ever see' - Rith Dubh dies aged 31

Rith Dubh, on whom the late, great JT McNamara produced one of the all-time great Cheltenham Festival-winning rides in the 2002 National Hunt Chase, has died at the age of 31.

The white-faced son of Black Minstrel won three times in Ireland for Christy Roche before moving across the water to Jackdaws Castle to be trained by Jonjo O'Neill. He won a novice handicap chase at Huntington before finishing second in a novice chase at Kempton the month before the 2002 Cheltenham Festival, which teed him up nicely for a crack at the National Hunt Chase, a race in which he was sent off at 10-1.

That Cheltenham Festival race went down in racing folklore for the pulsating duel he had with Timbera, who was ridden by a young Davy Russell. Rith Dubh resented the whip, so McNamara had to cajole him into contention and then just nursed him to the front. They scored by a head from Timbera and Russell, the pair pulling 13 lengths clear of the remainder.

McNamara had ice in his veins that day and Frank Berry, racing manager for owner JP McManus, remembers the occasion with great fondness.

Berry said: "Rith Dubh passed away during the week. He was a great age at 31 and had a long and happy retirement.

"He was a wonderful horse and the day JT won on him at Cheltenham was one of the greatest rides you would ever see. It was one of the best I've seen anyway. He could never hit the front too soon and JT timed it to perfection that day.

"It was one of those races you will never forget. It was Dessie Hughes's Timbera with Davy Russell and JT on Rith Dubh and they pulled clear up the straight. JT waited and waited and coaxed him home. It was a brilliant ride and he was a wonderful horse."

The Rith Dubh ride: a rare gem providing a fitting memorial to JT McNamara

By Alan Sweetman

In 2002, John Thomas McNamara delivered one of the most subtle rides you'll ever see when he coaxed home the enigmatic Rith Dubh to win the National Hunt Chase.

The passage of years has lent a tragic perspective to this rare gem, but it has stood the test of time as a study in horsemanship. The ride is an object lesson in patience, tactical awareness, technique, strength and the ability to remain calm in the heat of battle.

The character of the National Hunt Chase, the 'four-miler' as it was popularly known, had changed at this time, and the race was no longer being confined to horses starting the season as maidens. That allowed for the participation of Rith Dubh, a ten-year-old who had won a bumper for a small County Limerick yard and two hurdle races for Christy Roche before being transferred by owner JP McManus to Jonjo O'Neill.

Between May 2001 and February 2002, he ran nine times over fences in Britain, winning only once and finishing second on six occasions. Liam Cooper, when asked to account for his riding of Rith Dubh at Sandown in December 2001, gave a succinct summary, telling the stewards Rith Dubh was a "character who failed in the past to respond to more vigorous riding and must be kidded into his races to achieve his best possible placing".

In February, Cooper duly kidded Rith Dubh to a victory over Hussard Collonges, who was conceding 20lb, in a handicap chase at Huntingdon. At Cheltenham the following month the two horses ran in races 35 minutes apart. When Hussard Collonges sprang a 33-1 shock in the Royal & Sun Alliance Chase, the omens looked good for Rith Dubh. It could have sparked one of those famed McManus festival gambles, but the legendary punter was not tempted by a race in which plunges on Jack Of Trumps and Deep Gale left him nursing serious losses in long-ago days when every penny counted. Now he was content to allow Rith Dubh to go off at 10-1 in a field of 26.

JT McNamara in the winner's enclosure after victory on Rith Dubh, owned by JP McManus (left), in 2002Credit: Caroline Norris

McNamara settled Rith Dubh towards the back of the field, never deviating from the inner and letting him coast through the race, expending a bare minimum of energy. If the horse was 'a thinker', he must have thought he was out for a quiet hack in the countryside.

As so often in the four-miler, many of those ridden prominently started to feel the pinch inside the final mile. McNamara began to make up ground, almost imperceptibly at first, going towards the 20th of 25 fences. From there, he crept steadily into a challenging position, as all bar one of the horses ridden forward dropped away.

Now it was a match. McNamara moved alongside the Dessie Hughes-trained Timbera, the mount of Davy Russell. A few months later at Dromahane, the two men would sportingly agree to share the point-to-point riders' title after an absorbing season-long battle, but neither was going to concede here.

Heading to the last, Rith Dubh was still on the bridle, McNamara using all his strength and guile to prevent him from getting to the front too soon. The two horses jumped the final fence almost in unison. As Russell went for his whip on Timbera, McNamara continued to hold on to Rith Dubh, nursing him for longer than seemed feasible and then merely pushing him out with hands and heels.

It was a nail-biting, pulsating finish. Russell shone in defeat, but McNamara's timing was impeccable. Rith Dubh responded for the length of a few crucial strides to win by a neck.

The awful memory of McNamara's final ride at Cheltenham 11 years later still lingers. In glorious counterpoint, Rith Dubh's triumph lives on as a memorial to a gifted rider, the bravest of the brave.

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