Istabraq & Limestone Lad
When we were Kings
Born within two months of one another and living long, happy lives until their deaths this year, aged 32, Istabraq and Limestone Lad came from very different worlds but shared many battles and became by ratings and achievement, among the greatest hurdlers that ever lived
Photos: Healy Racing • Words: Seb Vance
Punchestown Champion Hurdle, Punchestown, April 1999, the memory lives long. Limestone Lad leads, as he usually does. This is different though, up in grade, a Grade 1 race, the Punchestown Champion Hurdle, AP McCoy on board and racing over two miles on good ground. Premier League.
James Bowe’s horse has earned his shot though. You could run in handicaps all your life, but why would you? Limestone Lad had run in three of them in the space of 15 days, Leopardstown in early March, Naas in the middle of March, Leopardstown again in late March, and he had won all three. Add those to the three handicaps that he had won before Christmas, and the one that he had won in February. That’s seven wins in handicap hurdles in the space of exactly four months, and that’s remarkable.
The handicapper said that he had improved by 50lb since November. A Grade 1 race was the obvious move.
He was stalked by Istabraq this time though, and that was new. While Limestone Lad was busy being rated 99 and winning 0-132 handicaps at Naas and at Navan, Istabraq was winning the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle and the December Festival Hurdle and the Irish Champion Hurdle. Two days after Limestone Lad won a handicap hurdle at Naas the previous month off a mark of 137, Istabraq won the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Istabraq creeps forward, as he usually does, Charlie Swan motionless on his back, as he usually is. Limestone Lad comes under a ride at the third-last flight, but not even McCoy, on his only time in the saddle, can conjure a defence to Istabraq’s class. JP McManus’ horse breezes past at the second-last flight and eases his way to victory. Limestone Lad cedes the runner-up spot too to Decoupage, but sticks to his task bravely to finish third. It’s another sublime performance by Istabraq, but it’s an admirable performance too by Limestone Lad on his first go in a Grade 1 race.
These two were never likely to meet, their paths pointing in disparate directions from the start. They could never converge.
Istabraq was bred to win a Derby, a three-parts brother to Derby winner Secreto, by the peerless Sadler’s Wells, sire of Galileo and Montjeu and High Chaparral and Salsabil. He was owned and bred by Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum and he was trained in Newmarket by John Gosden, along with Presenting and Flemensfirth and Shantou and Benny The Dip.
“Swan stops riding, stands up in the irons, accepts defeat, and Limestone Lad powers away to win by five and a half lengths in the end in one of the great matches of the modern hurdling era”
Limestone Lad was bred to win a bumper, a full-brother to Miss Lime, winner of two bumpers and a novices’ hurdle, by Aristocracy, sire of Lord Transcend and Light On The Broom and Art Prince and Imperial Vintage. He was owned by James Bowe and he was trained in Gathabawn by James and his son Michael, along with 60 cattle and 150 sheep.
Istabraq made his racecourse debut as a two-year-old in a seven-furlong maiden at Doncaster at the back-end of the 1994 flat season, and he finished eighth. He won his maiden in August 1995 under Willie Carson on his fourth run as a three-year-old, a Class 4 contest run over a mile and six furlongs at Salisbury, and he won a handicap the following month at Ayr off a flat handicap mark of 75, ridden to victory by Pat Eddery.
He didn’t win again in three more runs as a three-year-old, and he was beaten in his only run at four in June 1996. After that, he went to the sales.
John Durkan was assistant trainer to Gosden at the time, and he always liked Istabraq. He saw the fight in him, the courage, the tenacity. He told JP McManus that hurdles would bring out the best in him, that you wouldn’t see the depth of his talent until he got into a battle. Signed for by Durkan’s father-in-law Timmy Hyde for 38,000 guineas at the 1996 July Sale, the intention was that Durkan would train the son of Sadler’s Wells. It was only a couple of months later that he was diagnosed with leukaemia. He recommended that Aidan O’Brien train the horse, the intention being that John would take him over as soon as he had recovered. Sadly, that never came to pass, but Istabraq is synonymous with John Durkan, the person who spotted his innate talent always remembered every time Istabraq raced.
Istabraq made his debut over hurdles at Punchestown in November 1996, his first run for Aidan O’Brien and JP McManus and, sent off the 6/4 second favourite behind Noble Thyne, he ran a big race to go down by just a head to Paddy Mullins’ horse. After that, he just won. Every time he raced as a novice, he won. The Royal Bond Hurdle at Fairyhouse, the Deloitte and Touche Hurdle at Leopardstown, the Royal and SunAlliance Hurdle at Cheltenham, the Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown - he won them all.
He continued winning the following season too. The Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, the December Festival Hurdle, the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown. Then he went back to Cheltenham and won his first Champion Hurdle. He wasn’t beaten again until he went to Aintree in April 1998 and, in the Aintree Hurdle, over two and a half miles and on soft ground that blunted his speed, he went down by a head to Pridwell, who was the beneficiary of a masterful ride from AP McCoy.
John James McManus Memorial Hurdle, Tipperary, October 1999, and Limestone Lad is bowling along in front again. Istabraq is making his seasonal debut, his first run since he beat Decoupage and Limestone Lad in that Punchestown Champion Hurdle the previous April. Limestone Lad has already had a run this season, he was impressive in beating Notcomplainingbut in the Ravensdale Hurdle at Dundalk 11 days ago. Paul Carberry kicks the Aristocracy gelding on as they round the home turn, tries to make his race fitness tell, tries to draw the finish out of Istabraq.
Not easy.
Istabraq and Charlie Swan greeted with delirium, as was the case on each of the four occasions he scored at the Cheltenham Festival
Limestone Lad (Paul Carberry) claiming the Lismullen Hurdle in November 2002, the 31st of an astounding 35 career triumphs, the final five arriving in a remarkable eight weeks
Istabraq closes the gap easily under a motionless Charlie Swan. He joins his toiling rival at the final flight and he clears away on the run-in. By the time he reaches the winning line, he has put seven lengths between them.
That’s two-nil in their private duel.
“Istabraq was bred to win a Derby… Limestone Lad was bred to win a bumper”
Limestone Lad made his racecourse debut in a bumper at Naas in February 1997 with Michael Bowe in the saddle and, sent off at 20/1, he finished ninth, miles behind the winner. He won his first bumper on his fifth attempt, in a lady riders’ race run on heavy ground at Limerick’s Christmas Festival in 1997 when, sent to the front a half a mile from home by his rider Aileen Sloane Lee, he stayed on well to come away from his rivals.
He won another bumper at Naas too the following February, a second win in his eighth bumper, before making his debut over hurdles at Navan three weeks later. And, as with bumpers, it took him five goes before he got off the mark, in a maiden at Clonmel in April 1998, when he made all the running and came home nine lengths clear of his rivals.
Limestone Lad was busy and he was sound. At his happiest when he was racing, said Michael Bowe. The evidence bears testimony to his (assistant) trainer’s view. Limestone Lad raced 13 times in the 1997/98 national hunt season, his first full season racing, seven times in bumpers and six times over hurdles. He raced at least once every month between November and May inclusive, twice most months and three times in December, on all types of ground between good and heavy, and he thrived. And his best performance was in winning that maiden hurdle at Clonmel, on his 12th run in five months and his second run in nine days.
The following season was his breakout season though. It started fairly innocuously with victory in that handicap hurdle at Naas in November 1998 off a handicap rating of 99, but it rolled on from there. His record through that campaign reads like a piece of binary code, if binary code was written in 1s and 2s instead of 1s and 0s: 111212111, culminating in that big run to finish third behind Istabraq in the 1999 Punchestown Champion Hurdle.
Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, Fairyhouse, November 1999, and Limestone Lad is into his racing rhythm quickly, 10 or 12 lengths clear by the time he jumps the third flight of hurdles and races up past the stands with a circuit to go.
Down the back straight, and Limestone Lad is about 20 lengths clear, as Istabraq moves away from Nomadic and Master Beveled and into a clear second. Over the fourth-last flight and still the gap is about 20 lengths.
“He’s going to have to work,” says Tony O’Hehir in commentary.
The five-furlong marker goes past and Istabraq closes a little. About 12 or 14 lengths between the two old rivals as they jump the third-last flight.
Around the home turn and Shane McGovern crouches lower on Limestone Lad, asks him for a little bit more. Charlie Swan is squeezing Istabraq along in behind and, if he is closing at all, he’s closing gradually. Into the straight and onto the second-last, and the gap is definitely getting narrower. Limestone Lad gets in a little tight to the obstacle, Istabraq takes it in his stride and suddenly, as McGovern steals an anxious peek behind on the leader, the gap is down to five or six lengths.
They rise to the final flight and the gap is just four lengths. This one has an air of inevitability about it. Istabraq closes to three lengths as they start off up the run-in, no more hurdles to jump. Two lengths. Limestone Lad digs deep on the far side, sticks his neck out and stalls the diminishing margin. Halfway up the run-in and the gap is still two lengths. Istabraq is not getting any closer. A few strides later, and Limestone Lad is moving away again. Swan stops riding, stands up in the irons, accepts defeat, and Limestone Lad powers away to win by five and a half lengths in the end in one of the great matches of the modern hurdling era.
These two lit up the hurdling scene of the late 1990s and early 2000s. While Istabraq took the score in their private duel to 3-1 when he won the Irish Champion Hurdle the following January, Limestone Lad went on to win the Christmas Hurdle and the Boyne Hurdle later that season. He won four of his six chases the following season too, before reverting to hurdles in 2001 and winning another Morgiana Hurdle and another Hatton’s Grace Hurdle and a Champion Stayers’ Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival.
By the end of his racing career, the Bowes’ horse had won the Morgiana Hurdle three times (a record equalled only by Hurricane Fly, though State Man was heavily fancied to join them at the time of going to press), the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle three times (no horse has won it more), the Christmas Hurdle twice, and the Boyne Hurdle twice.
Istabraq won the Champion Hurdle three times, of course, joining fellow hurdling legends Hatton’s Grace, Sir Ken, Persian War and See You Then as three-time winners, and he probably would have been out on his own with four had Foot and Mouth not intervened in 2001. No horse has won the Champion Hurdle three times since Istabraq completed his hat-trick in 2000.
JP McManus’ horse also won the Irish Champion Hurdle four times, the December Festival Hurdle four times and the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle twice.
Born within two months of each other in 1992, it was never likely that their respective careers would intertwine, but they did, and racing was the beneficiary. It was sad but fitting too that these two stars of the hurdling scene should both leave us within four months of each other, both well into their 30s.
The memories live long.