Spillane's Tower

That yard belongs to James Joseph Mangan, a trainer who runs a modest string of ten horses and makes no secret of the fact he's winding down. But with Spillane's Tower in his care, he has something worth shouting about. Mangan spoke after the Cheltenham win with obvious emotion — "it means everything to the yard" — and the gratitude he expressed toward owner J.P. McManus for placing such a quality horse with a small operation said everything about what that result meant. Winning Class 1 races with ten horses in training is not supposed to happen. Spillane's Tower makes it happen.

There are two things you need to understand about getting the best out of this horse. First, the ground. On wet or muddy ground he wins 2 from 4 races — 50%. On very wet, heavy ground that rises to 2 from 3, or 67%. Mangan is clear-eyed about it: he won't take Spillane's Tower to Cheltenham unless there's juice in the ground, and he means it. "The horse comes first," he said. That's not the kind of thing every trainer says, and it's rarer still that they act on it. Second, he needs something to chase. He's not a front-runner — he gets upsides his rivals and that's enough, but he can't make his own pace. At Cheltenham in January, it was a rival's willingness to set a strong gallop that unlocked the performance.

His partnership with jockey Mark Walsh has been quietly excellent: together they've won 4 of 11 races, a win rate of 36%. His spiritual home, though, is Punchestown, where he has won 3 of 7 races. After one win there, Mangan called it the best race he'd ever been involved in. "You couldn't get any better," he said. For a trainer on the way down, with ten horses and one very good one, that's probably the point.