National Jockey Day: Barry Geraghty on Riverside Theatre

Joe Rendall
19 November 2014

Timeform's Joe Rendall nominates a brilliant ride by Barry Geraghty

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In celebration of the inaugural National Jockey Day on Saturday, Timeform's Joe Rendall remembers Barry Geraghty's superb ride in the 2012 Ryanair Chase.

"It netted Connor Murphy a cool £1 million pay-out as the final leg of an an ante-post accumulator, but for the rest of us the chance to witness it was good enough..."

In truth when asked to choose my favourite ride to celebrate the inaugural National Jockey's Day on Saturday, I was torn. The one that immediately sprang to mind was Ruby Walsh on Champagne Fever in the 2013 Supreme Novices' Hurdle. Put simply, it was the best tactical ride I have ever seen. However, when casting around for a suitable nomination I wanted to look for a ride of greater significance, with a greater story even.

I have no doubt that if you asked Connor Murphy, now a trainer based in the US and fresh from having his first runner at the Breeders' Cup the same question, he would agree with my final choice. The ride in question is Barry Geraghty's one on Riverside Theatre in the 2012 Ryanair Chase. It netted Connor Murphy a cool £1 million pay-out as the final leg of an an ante-post accumulator, but for the rest of us the chance to witness it was good enough. McCoy's best rides are often accompanied with the cliché that 'no-one else could have won on that'. The same could be said of Geraghty's master class aboard Riverside Theatre. No-one else, including Ruby and A.P., could have steered him home in the manner Barry did that day.

Riverside Theatre made mistakes early on, travelled in snatches and was the first off the bridle and it required every bit of his jockey's urgings to get him home in front on a day when the horse clearly wasn't at his best. It required just as much strength as McCoy's famous finish on Wichita Lineman, but it had finesse too, a quality which I think Barry Geraghty possesses more than any other jumps jockey around. There is no pocket talking here, in fact the opposite is true as I saw my bet on Albertas Run fail by the narrowest of margins, but even those who had lost on the race could admit they'd witnessed one of the great Cheltenham finishes won by one of the great Festival rides.