Memory of ‘brilliant’ Dawn Run never ends for Jonjo O’Neill

It is 40 years since Sir Peter O’Sullevan uttered the immortal line ‘the mare’s beginning to get up’, as Dawn Run stormed to Cheltenham Festival history. And for her jockey Jonjo O’Neill, every visit to Prestbury Park serves as a reminder of his association with one of racing’s all-time greats.

Widely regarded as the greatest National Hunt racemare of them all, she is the only horse to achieve the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup double, winning the hurdling showpiece in 1984 before returning two years later to claim the blue riband in a truly memorable finish.

O’Neill, who also won the Gold Cup as a trainer with Synchronised in 2012, rode on both occasions and with the benefit of time, he now has a better appreciation for Dawn Run’s accomplishments.

He told the Press Association: “Dawn Run was brilliant really and to win the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup was a fair feat, she was unique.

“You probably don’t appreciate it at the time and it’s only as time goes on you realise just what you achieved. At the time you’re just doing what you’re paid to do and trying your best.”

It is not just racing historians who have the conclusion of the 1986 Gold Cup etched in their minds, as O’Sullevan’s tones perfectly illustrated the late surge for glory of Paddy Mullins’ pride of Ireland.

For O’Neill, no footage can replicate the lived experience of a moment engrained in racing history, and from brief despair came a glimpse of destiny as Wayward Lad’s stamina ebbed away with the winning post approaching.

O’Neill continued: “Halfway between the second-last and the last I began to think I would get there.

“She would always run sweeter for Tony (Mullins) than she did for me. I would find her a hard ride, whereas Tony would sit up on her and she would float away like a butterfly – he had the magic touch I think.

“It was a pleasure to be involved with her and I think Paddy did a great job training her because I would say she wasn’t the easiest and Paddy knew her so well. Now you have Willie (Mullins) doing the same things at Cheltenham, he’s the magic man isn’t he.”

Dawn Run’s victory was one of the defining moments in O’Neill’s decorated career in the saddle but things could have been different if she had not unshipped the aforementioned Tony Mullins – son of the great mare’s trainer – in her Gold Cup reconnaissance mission.

At the request of owner Charmian Hill, family loyalty was jettisoned in favour of her Champion Hurdle-winning pilot returning to the plate and while Mullins was disappointed, there is no bitterness at missing out on that moment of racing history.

“Naturally I was disappointed to miss out on the Gold Cup, but I was so young and naive at the time that I actually believed another one would come along. It’s only now, 40 years later, I realise she was a once in a century horse.

“You think ‘it’s OK, I’ll just win a Gold Cup another year’, but I just didn’t know how rare a Dawn Run was.”

For Mullins, it is Dawn Run’s achievements across the spectrum of distance and over both fences and hurdles which sets her apart from those placed upon a similar pedestal in the sport.

He added: “Arkle was a people’s horse and a phenomenal horse but I just believe as great as he was, other horses have achieved similar, whereas Dawn Run achieved things no other horse has ever done.

“She could go up and down in distance and nothing would ever touch her. When she won at Punchestown in what they called ‘the match’ against Buck House, that was back at two miles with no mares’ allowance or anything. At all stages of life she could do it all, as a hurdler or a chaser.

“She was a big, tough mare and one thing that always makes me smile is when they call her the darling Irish mare, because she was actually a tough mare to handle. She knew what she wanted and you wouldn’t put a child on her. She was an intelligent mare who was assured of herself.”

Dawn Run was the trailblazer for the all-conquering Mullins family, with her trainer’s son Willie on the cusp of his own piece of Gold Cup history as one more win will see him join Tom Dreaper as the leading handler in the race.

Mullins added: “Willie is going to be remembered as the greatest National Hunt trainer to have ever lived and he’s just been doing it repeatedly for so long now, not just at Cheltenham but both in Britain and Ireland.

“To have such a record is unreal, Dawn Run is great as I had my part with her and I get to talk about her, but Willie will be someone that people will still be talking about in 100 years – there might even be statues of both one day.”