From Somalia to Sandown: Midnight owner hoping for the full Monty

As excuses go for missing your horse run, Jordan Wylie's reason for being absent when Midnight Monty contested the Royal Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown last month will surely take some beating.

You might get any price on JP McManus or Rich Ricci running 10k in Somalia, but that is exactly what Wylie was up to when the Jamie Snowden-trained eight-year-old went down by four and a half lengths to Rathlin Rose three weeks ago.

A former army pal of Snowden, Wylie is aiming to raise funds for children in war-torn countries and has a half-marathon planned in Iraq and the full 26.2 miles in Afghanistan later in the year.

Before all that, however, he will be at Sandown on Friday cheering on Midnight Monty, who will be ridden in the Grand Military Gold Cup by Harry Wallace, like Wylie and Snowden an ex-member of the King's Royal Hussars.

"Jamie was my troop leader and we were sat on Salisbury Plain for a training exercise in the early hours of the morning," says Wylie.

"Cold and wet, I said to him, 'Boss, surely there's more to life than sitting in a trench getting wet through?' And he said, 'Yeah, one day I'm going to be a racehorse trainer.'

"The rest of the lads and I thought it was hilarious, thinking he was on another planet, so I said if ever I could afford a horse in the future I'd come to him."

Fast forward 15 or so years and thanks to becoming a successful maritime safety expert who acted as an adviser for the Tom Hanks movie Captain Phillips, Wylie was able to take the plunge in a syndicate made up of those he and Snowden served with.

Alanjou came first, followed by Ardkilly Witness, who was second in the Sandown race in 2016 before unseating 12 months ago.

"What's interesting is we're trying to be the first winners where the owners, trainer and jockey all served in the same regiment," adds the 34-year-old.

"When Midnight Monty ran last time I was trying to get a stream of the race in Mogadishu, but it just wasn't happening.

"The Royal Artillery would have been nice to win because we're the cavalry and we'd have liked to spoil the Royal Artillery party as it's a different corps, but the Grand Military is the big one we all want to win. That's our Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National rolled into one."

Wylie has detailed his time in conflict-hit regions in the book Citadel, although it was another captivating title that interested Snowden during training exercises.

"I was Jamie's second-in-command on a tank one day and my job was to support him with whatever he needed," recalls the Blackpool native.

"He'd be doing the map reading and telling the driver where to go and I'd just be checking my map to make sure we were on the same page, but I can remember many times thinking, 'We're not going the right way here'. I'd look over at Jamie and he'd have the map, but he'd also have the Racing Post folded in between, checking the form."

While the Snowden camp have high hopes of Midnight Monty, David Pipe and his team are just as hopeful of his old rival Rathlin Rose, who completed the double 12 months ago and now aims for the 'double double', ridden once again by amputee Captain Guy Disney.

Pipe said: "It's probably a tougher race than last year, and a slightly tougher race than the Royal Artillery, but I don't see why he couldn't do the double again.

"Guy gets on very well with him and he seems in very good form. He loves the track and he shouldn't mind the ground."

A field of 11 also includes the unexposed Nicky Henderson-trained novice Baden, who will wear first-time cheekpieces.

Racegoers will see former Bet365 Gold Cup winner Monkerhostin and the Queen's Cheltenham Festival second Barbers Shop parading in the paddock before racing.

Both exemplify the special bond that exists between man and horse, and soldier and horse in particular, as well as highlighting the similarities and shared challenges faced by military personnel and racehorses. They share close connections with the military and Sandown Park, and are also wonderful ambassadors for the Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) charity.

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