kevin blake

Be much easier for everyone if people would copy and paste the actual article instead of the link.

yes frank..i thought it was a good article..it hits home about the pressure the job brings, but the rewards are worth it?

It isn’t easy being Bryan Cooper

There is no such thing as an easy life for a jump jockey. Everyone is familiar with how fundamentally dangerous their pursuit is, but less appreciated are the day-to-day struggles of early mornings, strict weight management and endless driving around the country. All of these things contribute to make it a brutally-tough existence that yields precious little lasting reward for most of them.

Of course, some are worse off than others. It is natural to sympathise with the injury prone, those that struggle with their weight or those that simply don’t ride many winners. However, it is perhaps ill-advised to assume that those that have risen to a lofty position in the jump jockey ranks have it easier than those that are more obviously struggling.

Bryan Cooper is one to consider in this context. While the 24-year-old initially had a relatively clear run of it in terms of injuries after returning from a broken leg so severe that at one stage his doctor considered amputation in 2014, he hasn’t been as fortunate this season.

He suffered a lacerated liver and partially collapsed lung in a fall at the Galway Festival in late-July, broke his arm at Fairyhouse in October and most recently suffered a fractured pelvis at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve that is expected to keep him out of action for six weeks of what is a crucial part of a campaign.

However, Cooper is never likely to get too much sympathy for such setbacks. Injuries are an inevitability for jockeys, but unlike so many others in the weighing room, when he returns from injury he is assured that his high-profile job as the retained rider to Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud will be there for him and he will be straight back riding high-class horses.

That said, while that job is unquestionably one of the best retainers in all of National Hunt racing, it perhaps isn’t appreciated enough just how incredibly difficult and pressurised it must be.

There has arguably never been a large-scale National Hunt racing operation quite like Gigginstown. They have grown into one of the most significant ownership powers in the sport, one that has been crowned the leading owner in Ireland for three of the last four seasons, but what makes them unusual is the ruthless, business-like manner that their racing matters are managed in.

They make no apologies for being a results-based business and anyone that is not doing well enough for them will be removed from the fold. Their ever-evolving roster of trainers is perhaps the most public evidence of this, with their decision to remove their horses from Tony Martin and Sandra Hughes earlier this season being a demonstrative recent example.

While Gigginstown have not been anything like as quick to change their retained rider, the manner in which they deal with their trainers would be impossible for Bryan Cooper to ignore.
O'Leary and Cooper

Photographer Pat Healy captured a great image at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting (above) of Cooper chatting to Michael O’Leary, who was holding two cups of tea at the time.

Cooper’s heart might well have skipped a beat when he saw O’Leary coming in his direction with tea in hand, as almost three years ago to the day O’Leary had infamously invited Davy Russell to join him for a cup of tea before telling him that his seven-year run as Gigginstown’s retained jockey was over.

As far as we are aware, no such conversation took place this time around, but all joking aside, one can only imagine the pressure that Cooper feels in the position that he is in.

For him, it isn’t simply a case of doing his best to win on every horse he rides for Gigginstown, the pressure starts long before he gets the leg up at the racecourse. It is very common for there to be multiple horses representing different trainers in the Gigginstown silks in races from run-of-the-mill maiden hurdles all the way up to the biggest Grade 1 races and they are all there to do the best they can.

This may well be a wonderful thing for Irish National Hunt racing enthusiasts as it ensures far more competitive races than if Gigginstown sought to keep them apart, but it must be a source of immense pressure on Cooper. Rather than just having to worry about riding to the best of his ability, he also has to worry about making high-pressure decisions as to which horse to ride on a near daily basis.

Given the strength and depth of the Gigginstown team, even the best judge is certain to get it wrong on occasion. No matter how much a team player he is, watching horses that he has passed over win big races under other riders must be soul destroying for any competitor, never mind one whose employer is so results-based in his thinking.

The frustration and pressure can only be heightened when those Gigginstown horses that he has opted against go and win a big race under the guidance of a rider such as Jack Kennedy, as was the case in the Lexus Chase last month when Kennedy rode Outlander to victory as Cooper’s choice Valseur Lido languished back in fourth.

That result is only like to have been made harder to stomach given that Kennedy is very much considered a future Champion Jockey in the making and has already forged significant links with Gigginstown.

Any rider in Cooper’s position would be forgiven for looking over their shoulder with such a prodigious riding talent waiting in the wings behind him. With race-riding being a game in which confidence is so important, it would take a sportsman made of stone to be unaffected by such a situation.

The frustration is only likely to grow for Cooper, as he is likely to face another six weeks on the side lines with his fractured pelvis in which time Jack Kennedy will have first choice of the Gigginstown horses, a reality that has already seen Kennedy ride the Gigginstown-owned Death Duty to Grade 1 success at Naas on Sunday.

In a game that the expression “out of sight, out of mind” could well have been coined for, there is never a good time for a jockey to be injured, but missing the next six weeks or so will be especially tough for Cooper. These are the months that pecking orders are established and all-important evidence is gathered in advance of the season and indeed career-defining Cheltenham Festival.

Cooper will inevitably have to make some incredibly tough decisions as to which horses to ride at Cheltenham and not having the benefit of having ridden most of them in their prep races will only make them more difficult. Not to mention the fact that he will only have a few weeks a best to regain the peak fitness and confidence that comes with race-riding in advance of Cheltenham.

While Bryan Cooper may not be the most obvious candidate for sympathy given the struggles that so many less successful jump jockeys deal with every day, it would perhaps be unfair to consider him immune from such empathy due to his lofty position in the sport.

They say one never knows a man’s struggles until walking a mile in their shoes. While Cooper’s shoes may look pristine and desirable on the outside, it wouldn’t surprise if they are often the source of lame steps and sleepless nights.

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    It isn’t easy being Bryan Cooper

   SORRY NO caps LOCK

Blake is a bottom feeder, and an ugly one to boot.

Pre-Fat,
It takes a special kind of coward to insult someone from under a veil of anonymity. Come talk to my face if you have an issue and we'll work it out.

Mordin,
I have been a full-time journalist since 2010. Betting has always and still comes second to that.

Well said Irish Whisper

yes ive read his articles on the atr, always a very good read.

Fair play Kevin.

Pre fat has now been banned, unsurprisingly.

I didnt like Pre Fats comment but I don't agree with him being banned.

Kevin Blake is a good writer and that is an excellent article.
I've seen Kevin Blake on ATR and even the hard to please denizens of the horse forum were impressed,never afraid to oppose a favourite.

Joe, some interesting points there,most owners no matter who want to be rid of their rubbish,Gigginstown are no worse than any other owner in that respect imo.The name of the game is to run your horses as often as possible and win as much as you can. Sentiment is practically non existent in the racing game, having said that some owners look after retired warriors excellently Gigginstown included .

Gigginstown wouldnt know when they had enough eaten in relation to anything to do with horses. They even came out with dropping Valseur Lido back in trip after his defeat in the Lexus. Going for the Ryanair they said even though it would stay 4 miles if it had to.
The name of the game is most certainly not to run your horses as often as possible and win as much as you can. Run your horses as often as they do and very often you dont have a horse at the business end of the season.
As for looking after their warriors, you should tell that to First Lieutenant when he was running in Aghabullogue last Sunday.

Mince, why would you contend that V/lido would stay,if connections deem otherwise ?

I can't have Valseur Lido as a stayer after his finishing effort at Leopardstown. He travelled all over them from the word go at Down Royal too, never had to find anything for pressure. He might have been a stayer for Mullins but he looks different for De Bromhead. We all saw Viconte Du Noyer go from a 2 miler to a 3m3f horse after leaving De Bromhead, makes perfect sense to me that a horse he recruits is suited by a drop in trip. Sub Lieutenant another recruit of his that looks a lot speedier than he did for his previous yard.

Mince, did he not do the exact same thing in the Lexus as last year,came there pulling double then fell when looking all over the winner, this year came there full of running didn't fall,but found nothing.

Wonks, Ruby fell off him after a bad mistake, he was going to bolt in.
This year he was in real trouble by the time he got near the last fence, but it had nothing to do with stamina. The horse needs soft ground and actually excels on heavy. And quite possibly he wasnt right at Christmas either, as some of De Bromheads didnt perform great around the time.
He won in Down Royal over 3m so stamina is no issue .
The issue is that he's not really a top horse, maybe a bit like Djakadam in that he's about half a stone below the real top horses. Saying that hes a solid horse who can be competitive in any Grade 1 chase.

Its irrelevant now anyway as Valseur Lido is finished and wont be in any race at Cheltenham this year or any other year.

im not up to speed ..sorry just hear bout valsur

My belief is that if WM had his way he would have run Valseur in last years Gold Cup rather than the Ryanair