Hunt Ball: 'He was the only horse the handicapper couldn't stop'

Fans' Favourites is a weekly feature in the Racing Post Weekender in which we talk to those closest to racing's most popular horses and find out why they tug on our heartstrings. This week's subject: Hunt Ball

A dairy farmer with no filter, a rookie trainer and one of the brightest talents in the weighing room team up for one of the unlikeliest Cheltenham Festival successes in recent memory with a horse nobody wanted. It sounds like the perfect movie script to pitch to a film director obsessed with racing.

“It’s a bit like the Seabiscuit story, isn’t it? I don’t know why someone hasn’t made a film about him,” says Anthony Knott, who went from milking cows at his Dorset farm to becoming racing’s most colourful owner because of one horse.

That horse was Hunt Ball – who went from winning a lowly contest at Folkestone to dominating his opposition at jump racing’s pinnacle meeting in the space of just three and a half months. His whopping 88lb rise up the handicap is a feat that has not been matched since, and one that is unlikely to be.

His story may not have become a lucrative Hollywood blockbuster like his rags-to-riches American counterpart, but luckily it played out on racecourses across the country for his large legion of fans in late 2011 and early 2012.

It was the hard-working grafters giving the big boys one hell of a beating in a fairytale racing may never see again, and for Knott it is one he still refuses to let sink in.

“The people really got behind him, we always told people to lump on and more or less all the time it paid off, you still can’t quite believe it and get your head around it,” he says. “There was no horse in history that got nearer to going up nearly 100lb in one season than him. What a fantastic racehorse Hunt Ball was, he was the only horse the handicapper couldn’t stop.

“I’m talking to you and still can’t grasp we had to even think about going to the places where we did. Christ, we actually went to the festival and won, didn’t we?”

It was no ordinary victory either, Hunt Ball turned the now-defunct novice handicap chase that closed the opening day’s proceedings into a procession. Under a welter weight of 12 stone, and up against 19 rivals, he put up a demolition job worthy of Grade 1 glory, storming up the famous hill to score by an impressive eight lengths.

Knott, who was not afraid to tell his mates to ‘lump on’ each time Hunt Ball ran, had the cash down again that day, but the emotional sentiment of becoming a Cheltenham Festival-winning owner – something now only the elite boys seem to be able to do – blew the financial pleasure out of the water.

'A kid in a candy shop': Anthony Knott goes wild after Hunt Ball's Cheltenham Festival successCredit: Edward Whitaker

Recalling his star’s greatest triumph, he says: “The day went so quickly. The worst part was we had to wait so long for the race. But once we got to put the saddle on him it broke the tension. When you’re walking into the parade ring, the reality hits.

“He was a quiet horse and never danced on his toes, so we knew he was about to run a big race. It was important for him to get on the front end, so when we had the false start, I was stood by the winning post and my whole body went to ice. It was only for those couple of minutes when they turned again, but reality really did hit then.

“When they did start he was right where we wanted him to be and he took off. I just couldn’t believe it.

“The crowd were phenomenal, and the noise was horrendous in a good way – it was far better than the Gold Cup cheer!

“It all came together for that moment, which will be difficult to ever do again. But it’s like going to the moon, I’d never want to do it again.”

Time would prove such an experience would not reoccur, but that remarkable festival win was not even a pipe dream when Knott bought the son of Winged Love just so Keiran Burke – who rode a winner at the 2011 Cheltenham Festival but was forced to retire due to injury months later – could have one of his first runners as a trainer at the Prestbury Park track, irrespective of ability.

Knott recalls: “Keiran rode a winner for me at Cheltenham on a horse I bought to ride myself. When he decided to start training on his own, he had Hunt Ball up there. I knew nothing about the horse and he had no form, it was sheer pot luck. I thought ‘oh christ, what a waste of money that is’.

“I never had any expectations as he was a horse that ticked all the wrong boxes before he even started, but Keiran got to work with him and aimed him at the race at Folkestone.

“He’d been working well with Holmwood Legend, who was rated 100lb higher than he was. From out of nowhere, we went there with high expectations.”

The market reflected the confidence behind their new recruit, and sent off the 6-4 favourite off a meagre mark of 69 on a dreary November day, Hunt Ball stayed on well to get the better of the Tony McCoy-ridden Free Speech to record a cosy success in a 2m5f novice handicap chase. This was the day the remarkable rise began.

Knott says: “He was 10-1 on the day at Folkestone and we backed him into 6-4, and I remember saying to Aidan [Coleman, jockey] to keep tabs on Free Speech then kick into him on the last bend. We took AP McCoy on at his own game that day.

“We thought that was the end of it really, but Aidan came back and said he’d win another race.”

Two more wins at Fontwell and Folkestone followed in December as he flew up the weights but, running off a mark in excess of 100 for the first time, he was turned over as 9-4 favourite at Plumpton on January 2, 2012.

Knott adds: “He bagged another two wins and we couldn’t envisage defeat, but reality kicked in at Plumpton and getting back to the car I was thinking how the hell did we get beat.

“But we saved up some more money and got going again, then he never stopped. From feeling deflated we were back on track very quickly. The more money we earned, the more we shovelled on as if defeat was out of the question.”

Two's a crowd: Anthony Knott rides tandem with Nick Scholfield after Hunt Ball wins at WincantonCredit: Matthew Webb

Defeats were certainly out of the question as Hunt Ball was about to embark on a winning run that would take him to jump racing’s pantheon. As the victories kept coming, so too did the cash, and so too did the colourful antics of the owner, antics that would propel them to stardom.

Three weeks after that Plumpton reverse, Hunt Ball returned to winning ways when landing a 2m5f handicap chase at Wincanton, after which Knott remarkably joined Scholfield on the back of his pride and joy on the way back to the winner’s enclosure.

While the celebrations were rather muted in contrast to that memorable Cheltenham Festival win, his interview with Racing TV’s Lydia Hislop saw Knott enter racing folklore as he proudly proclaimed “bugger the cows!” in reference to his day job as a dairy farmer.

It is an interview the Dorset locals still bring up with Knott as he walks the streets today, and one he most certainly does not regret.

“I say what I mean and I did get rid of the cows,” he insists. “I got myself a pension policy and could afford to take it easier because of Hunt Ball.

“It [riding back in with Scholfield] was a silly thing for us to do, but we did and it paid off. The more we won, the more we celebrated, why bother stopping? I just think racing has lost that a little bit.

“I built some houses, and I said to Nick if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.

“It was just a joke for myself and the rest of us, but Nick had all the pressure on him. He absorbed it perfectly and is such an underestimated jockey. He never got enough praise for what he did, what with all the pressure he had on his shoulders.

“I’m doing a couple of barn conversions at the moment and one of the lorry boys shouted at me ‘Hunt Ball! Hunt Ball!’ because I went to The Dolphin in Wincanton and told everyone to back it, he was there. I thought ‘oh ****, good job it won!’”

Hunt Ball (left, Nick Scholfield) comes to claim his moment of glory at the 2012 Cheltenham FestivalCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Another win at Wincanton and victory under Barry Geraghty at Kempton followed before the Cheltenham Festival success, meaning Hunt Ball had won six out of seven since that initial Folkestone success.

The 2011-12 season was not over after Cheltenham, though, as connections decided to give Hunt Ball his chance at Grade 1 glory in the Bowl at Aintree.

Sent off at just 6-1, he could not rise to the occasion one final time as he wilted into third, three and a quarter lengths behind 50-1 winner Follow The Plan.

Knott did not care one jot –it was a remarkable effort, and a fitting end to a remarkable season.

He recalls: “To go up to Liverpool and run so well was immense. He looked like he was going to win, but Nick said his long season caught up with him.”

Hopes were so high for the next campaign that Knott and his allies ‘lumped on’ for their pride and joy to win the King George VI Chase. However, with every great rise comes a similar fall, and the 2012-13 season proved saw the Hunt Ball fairytale come an acrimonious conclusion.

A solitary win at Taunton that season was the highlight as Hunt Ball was unable to sustain the legacy he had built, and one more stunt – this time a hefty fine for having bookmaker Paddy Power’s name painted onto the horse’s hindquarters for his second appearance at the festival in 2013 – proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for the relationship between Knott and Burke.

A month later the trainer asked Knott to take Hunt Ball away from his yard, and that summer he was shipped out for a fruitless spell in America before returning to Britain to land three low-level novice hurdle wins after joining Nicky Henderson.

More than seven years have now passed since the sad split, but there is no animosity for Knott, just sheer joy about the journey two sheer underdogs of the sport embarked on with British racing’s greatest improver.

Knott says: “He peaked, but it’s like a rubber band – you can only stretch it so far and with his meteoric rise he’d been stretched to the limit.

“It had taken its toll and he was up in grade, but he’d been there and done it and had nothing to prove.

“Only Keiran had the golden touch with him by galloping him at the beach.

“Going up a gallop, I’d nearly run faster myself. It was a bit like Red Rum in a funny sort of way as when we took him to the beach, you could never pull him up. In reality though, I was just a passenger. It was a real team effort to get him ready for each day he raced.

“Wow, that’s all I can say about what happened. Just wow.”"

'The roar he got was immense'

Nick Scholfield was the regular rider of Hunt Ball. Here the jockey recalls his first Cheltenham Festival victory on the popular performer . . .

There are a lot of days that stand out when you're riding, but Cheltenham was the best. Hunt Ball's confidence, his jumping, everything was assured.

Every race you went into I had confidence in what he was doing, he was such a straightforward horse who jumped immaculately. If you could pick a horse to ride it would be him, he was an absolute gentleman.

We were in the paddock before Cheltenham and I'd obviously not had a festival winner in my career. Anthony said to me: "you're on the best horse, don't get brought down and you'll win".

I pulled him out and sent him for home level with my rivals, but I didn't realise how wide the winning margin was. He powered up the hill as good as any horse has ever done at Cheltenham, especially carrying what he did that day.

Nick Scholfield and Hunt Ball soar over a fence on their way to their famous Cheltenham Festival successCredit: Edward Whitaker

Sometimes for the last race at Cheltenham the people begin to trickle out to try to beat the traffic, but the crowd was fantastic. The stands were packed and the roar he got was immense.

You could never second guess what Anthony was going to do! When I was at the top of the hill he was already there. He walked all the way down back with us. He was so passionate about the horse. He believed in the horse so much, it was a remarkable day.

I had raced with Kieran as a jockey and he hadn't had a Cheltenham winner before, to do it with a smaller trainer in such a story means you probably wouldn't have rang me! It was so memorable. Racing is all about good stories when it's at its best and I feel honoured to be part of such a big one.

I went five or six years without a winner at the festival, but just to get as many wins as I did on him, and for what he did that season overall too, was remarkable. Horses that like that don't come along that often so you have to appreciate them when they do.

Read more from our Fans' Favourites series:

Silviniaco Conti: 'His jumping never let him down - he was absolutely class'

Secretariat: 'He was something else – I'm still waiting to see one as good'

Lady Bowthorpe: 'Even on Newmarket Heath, people know who she is'

Quiet Reflection: 'It poured down but we didn't care as she destroyed them'

Alpha Delphini: 'I asked them to stick me 50 quid each-way on that morning

Canford Cliffs: 'He was one of the best racehorses in the last 50 years'

Taghrooda: 'She turned towards the stands and everyone was going absolutely mad'

Kingman: 'There are some in the camp who think he'd have beaten Frankel'

Tropics: 'I saw something that day I hadn't seen much – he worked like a train'

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