Hennessy Gold Cup Memories: Trabolgan

Trabolgan (left) jumps the last alongside L'Ami at Newbury.

The Hennessy Gold Cup is, for many, the pre-Christmas highlight of the National Hunt season. Matt Gardner takes a trip down memory lane in the latest instalment of our new series...

Every year, without fail, my parents attend Newbury's Hennessy Gold Cup meeting and they have been privy to some fantastic performances in recent years, not just from the likes of Denman and Diamond Harry in the big race itself but also from Big Buck's, who has sauntered to success in each of the last three renewals of the Long Distance Hurdle. 

The natural port of call when looking back at the Hennessy Roll of Honour would be to focus on Denman and his triumphs in both 2007 and 2009, with particular emphasis being on his latter success as he defied a BHA mark of 174 to beat What A Friend by three and a half lengths, achieving a career-best Timeform performance rating of 181 in the process. However, a horse whose victory in this race resonates particularly strongly in my mind is that of Trabolgan in 2005 as he defeated L'Ami by two and a half lengths, with something to spare, on just his fifth start over fences. His effort was by no means the best in the recent history of this race, his performance rating of 161 being someway short of what both Denman and Suny Bay (170 in 1997) achieved, but the verve with which my family returned from Newbury, convinced that they had seen a future star of the National Hunt game, captured my imagination. 

Regrettably time proved their prediction to be incorrect but that was not for lack of talent on the horse's part, as we must now embark on a tale of non-fulfilment. Such stories are commonplace in the world of sport as many young hopes and aspirations are quashed, brought about by a variety of reasons, and it is well worth revisiting a number of such cases. 

Freddy Adu
Freddy Ad-who? I hear you asking, but jog your memory and it will all come flooding back. "The footballing wonderkid" and "the next Pele" were just some of the titles bandied about when the 14-year-old Adu burst on to the scene, and it seemed only a matter of time before he graced the Turf at the Bernabeu or the Nou Camp. Things haven't exactly gone to plan for Freddy, now 23, and he openly admits that too many promotional appearances and interviews detracted from his football. Numerous loan spells at a range of European clubs failed to stick and he now plies his trade at Philadelphia Union, in danger of being left on the footballing rubbish pile.

Mark Lewis-Francis
Declared the future of British athletics as a youngster, Lewis-Francis went from World Junior champion in 2000 to running 9.97 at the World Championships the following year. Lamentably he has largely been in decline ever since, and seems destined to be remembered for leading home the men's 4x100m team in the 2004 Olympics, where he held off American Maurice Greene on the final leg to take gold, rather than any individual achievement.

Sergio Garcia
Perhaps a surprising inclusion on this list but, on balance, warranted as Garcia has long since had the talent to be one of the dominant forces in Golf. Temperament, lack of self-belief ("I'm not good enough... the conclusion is I need to play for second or third place" is a quote that followed his third round collapse in the 2011 Masters) and endless woes with the putter are seemingly at the heart of his problems and, for all that he has gained a total of 23 professional wins, he is yet to grasp that elusive Major success.

That just goes to show how familiar and rife sporting non-fulfilment is, and the woes of Sergio Garcia give evidence to the notion that you don't have to be washed up or out of the game to be tarred with the same brush. The story of Trabolgan, whose career over hurdles did not scale the heights that might have been expected due to a knee injury in February of 2004 curtailing his first season over timber, tackles the issue from a slightly different angle as it was ultimately injury that prevented him demonstrating the full range of his obvious ability. 

It took until November of 2004 for trainer Nicky Henderson to get Trabolgan back on the track, in a beginners' chase at Lingfield, but it was worth the wait as he looked to retain all of his ability. He went on to finish second in the Feltham Chase at Kempton, a more than respectable effort as he went down by just a short-head to Ollie Magern, and was seemingly unsuited by the heavy ground when filling the same position in a Haydock novices' chase, but he got right back on track with an impressive success in what was an admittedly weak renewal of the Royal & Sunalliance Chase. 

It was his Hennessy win however, on the back of an eight-month break after the Cheltenham Festival, which really marked him down as a serious contender for the top staying chases of that season. Originally due to carry 11st, all those above him in the weights, including Celestial Gold, Our Vic and Forget The Past, were withdrawn at the overnight stage which burdened Trabolgan with the top weight of 11st 12lb, and he became the first horse since Burrough Hill Lad in 1984 to carry a weight greater than 11st to success. He will also go down as Mick Fitzgerald's only triumph in the race, unless he makes a sensational return to the saddle in the future, and at the time of writing he is Nicky Henderson's sole success story also.  

A problem with Trabolgan's near-fore tendon was discovered shortly after the Hennessy but at the time it was hoped that he would return as good as ever in the 2006/07 season. In reality connections and admirers alike had to wait until December of 2008, a three-year interlude, before witnessing him take to the track again. He offered glimpses of encouragement throughout the five races of his comeback, likely to have won a veterans chase at Doncaster but for unseating four fences from home, but the sad truth was that he would never again get the chance to prove himself at the highest level. 

Perhaps he would not have been good enough to stamp his authority on the staying chase division, even if blessed with an injury free passage through his career, but the frustrating fragment of this saga is that we will never know. Trabolgan may have been one that got away, but we will forever be left with the memory of him crossing the winning line on that November day at Newbury. 

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