Legends of Racing

To have one life in racing is a blessing and to have two is remarkable. Corkman Jonjo O’Neill is now almost as famous for his training feats as his success in the saddle.

When you have partnered Dawn Run and Sea Pigeon to glory that would usually be the top line on your CV but such is the success that Jonjo O’Neill has had as a trainer in recent times, he may well put Albertas Run or Don’t Push It as his greatest achievement these days.

O’Neill was a hugely popular and successful jockey in the 1970s and 80s. He piloted over 900 winners in 16 years but it is for two legendary horses he is best remembered.

Star of both the Flat and National Hunt, Jonjo was aboard Sea Pigeon when he won the prestigious Ebor Handicap on the Flat in 1979 and then he pushed him to Champion Hurdle success at Cheltenham in 1980, an astonishing double for rider and horse. That feat alone would ensure Jonjo's place in history. Then Dawn Run came into his life.

Winning with the famous mare wasn’t easy, as Jonjo relates. “The major threat to her chances were the fences – her jumping could be dreadful," he said. "She was a big, long-striding mare, who was fantastic at flying a hurdle and could be brilliant if she met a fence right. However, she hadn’t a clue how to adjust herself when she was wrong and just took a chance."

Despite this rather major drawback not only did the pair win the Champion Hurdle, but she became the first horse to add the Gold Cup to that title in 1986, winning a thriller at Cheltenham.

“It was an amazing feeling," said O'Neill of the win. "The noise of the crowd was incredible – a fitting reception for the first horse to win the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup. It was bedlam, glorious chaos and a moment in time I’ll never forget – how could you?”

Jonjo retired at the end of that season and subsequently began his training career, but he was diagnosed with cancer and had to battle and beat that before beginning act two of his life in racing.

He had his first winner in 1990 and after a decade based in Cumbria, he made the move to the impressive Jackdaws Castle in 2001. Since then, with the support of a lot of JP McManus’s horses, he has gone from strength to strength.

Since the move he has saddled 14 winners at the Cheltenham Festival, including such stars as Albertas Run and Wichita Lineman but the biggest race of all, the Grand National at Aintree had eluded him all his life.

In seven attempts as a rider he never even finished the course but Don’t Push It set off as favourite with Tony McCoy aboard as the Antrim man tried to end his own bad luck in the race.

Finally, for Jonjo and AP, the hoodoo was broken and the most famous race in the world of National Hunt was theirs.

For Jonjo O'Neill it was just another chapter in his remarkable racing life.