Roi Mage still going strong with brilliant Down Royal second

The evergreen Roi Mage proved age to be little but a number with his gallant second at Down Royal against exalted rivals.

The 14-year-old is one of the abiding stars of the National Hunt circuit and made his 65th career start in the Bluegrass Racehorse Cube Chase on Tuesday, a race he won in 2022 and was runner-up in 2023 and 2024.

This year’s renewal required him to be at the peak of his powers as Nick Rockett, the reigning Grand National hero, was entered alongside Gordon Elliott’s five-time Grade One-winner Gerri Colombe.

The latter won, but the Griffin family’s veteran kept him up to his work throughout with a sound round of jumping, finishing ahead of Nick Rockett.

“We were delighted to see how he hit the line,” said James Griffin, assistant to his father Patrick.

“He was very enthusiastic throughout the race and Harry Sexton gave him a lovely ride, he got a great tune out of him.

“Considering he was badly in at the weights he still really performed.

“The ground was lovely and he was quite happy on the front end, which he wasn’t able to do in the Becher Chase (in which he was pulled up) because he was always crowded.

“Gerri Colombe and Nick Rockett didn’t have to run to 160-plus, but they still had to run to every bit of 145 or 150.

“At 14, he’s still putting it up to them and he’s still very enthusiastic and enjoying it. At home he’s in his routine of leading the three and four-year-olds, that keeps him sweet and he doesn’t do any fast work.”

Roi Mage was bred in France and spent the earlier part of his career there before joining Griffin, and through that prior spell and several runs there since he has become a firm favourite with fans over the Channel – a status he shares with British and Irish followers too.

Griffin said: “In France one of the greatest National Hunt trainers, Guillaume Macaire, called him a French legend, so it was nice to see the Irish and UK racing fans acknowledging him too – it was quite touching that they saw what he had seen.

“Even though he didn’t win, he’s such a dude and the horse of a lifetime.

“We’ll look at the cross country races at Punchestown next. We’re so lucky to have him, he is a brilliant racehorse and we will enjoy him for as long as he enjoys it.”