Sire De Grugy: 'The whole racing world acknowledged us - it was special'

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: Sire De Grugy

A bank account is not most people’s idea of a 50th birthday present, but for Steve Preston this unconventional gift started him on an emotional journey that few will ever experience.

The gesture came from his three sons, who were hoping to push Preston into buying a racehorse, and it would produce a story that even the best novelist would struggle to pen – the career of Sire De Grugy.

The popular chestnut was sourced for Preston by Gary Moore in France and the discovery of the subsequent Grade 1 winner would start a strong partnership between the pair.

“Jamie [Moore] went over and the report was very positive,” says Preston. “He jumped six or eight fences and he caught almost a furlong up on some of the other horses; Jamie was waxing lyrical.”

Speaking of France, Moore says: “I sat on seven horses that day, he was the cheapest one and was actually lame, but he was a lot better than the others.”

The opportunity was initially passed up, with Gary believing a €50,000 price-tag was too high for a potentially fragile horse, but Preston couldn’t ignore the chance, making a decision that would change his life.

He says: “About a week went by and we [the wider owner group] didn’t want to miss out on a big opportunity, so I phoned Gary back and said ‘just go for it, go and get him for €50,000 and let’s do it'.”

And so the story began.

Sire De Grugy first hit the racetrack in November 2010, when he finished second in a bumper at Sandown, despite pulling Jamie’s arms out throughout.

His hurdling debut came three weeks later, where he once again finished second, this time to subsequent Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth at Kempton. He got off the mark at Fakenham on his second outing over hurdles and swiftly followed up at Folkestone before landing the Dovecote at Kempton, the first of his eight Graded successes.

Sire De Grugy on his way to winning the Dovecote at Kempton in 2011Credit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Chasing was always going to be the name of the game for Sire De Grugy, but he was kept over hurdles at the start of the 2012-13 season. That bore plenty of fruit, including a fourth-place finish behind Zarkandar in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury and a third in the Imperial Cup at Sandown.

His long-awaited novice chase season began in October 2012 at Kempton, where he won without breaking a sweat, before a close second to Captain Conan in the Arkle trial at Cheltenham a month later.

His second chase victory came just nine days later at Lingfield before a first Grade 1 outing in the Maghull Novices' Chase where he finished fourth to Special Tiara His penultimate start of the season brought a 27-length win at Stratford and that victory opened the door to the Celebration Chase six days later, the race in which he really announced his presence.

Preston says: “That was my most memorable race. He wasn’t fancied and was up against the Champion Chase winner Finian’s Rainbow, and we thought ‘this is a bit silly, we’re out of our depth here’.

Sire De Grugy and Finian's Rainbow are in the air together over the last in the 2013 Celebration Chase at SandownCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

“He took on Finian’s Rainbow over the second-last and went past him, and all I could say was ‘wow, this is unbelievable’. We were expecting to have a high-quality handicapper until that race.

“Once he started winning consistently from that point, that’s when we started dreaming of the Champion Chase. Even Gary Moore wasn’t really sure, he said to me ‘I’d never get a Champion Chase horse’ – we were all looking at each other saying ‘is this really happening?’."

Jamie Moore shared a different view on the Celebration, saying: “I genuinely thought he had a very good chance, even after winning a three-runner race at Stratford six days before. The feeling he gave me that day was unbelievable.”

Sire De Grugy would suffer just one defeat from seven starts during the following season, a campaign in which he won the biggest two-mile chase of them all, the Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

Sire De Grugy streches away from his rivals to win the 2013 Tingle Creek at SandownCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Prior to his date with destiny, he won a pair of Grade 1 races, including his first Tingle Creek. He produced a career-best RPR at Ascot when romping home in the Clarence House for the second of those top-level successes.

That Ascot race is a highlight for his jockey, who says: “The feel I got from him at Ascot was the best I’ve ever had on the back of a racehorse. He was absolutely electric in the way he jumped and travelled.”

Forgetting his favourite tag for the Champion Chase, there was always an air of expectation that he was going to win the race. As they approached the last, commentator Richard Hoiles proclaimed that ‘Sire De Grugy comes to take the Queen Mother Champion Chase, he’s seized the opportunity this season’. That commentary sums his season up eloquently.

Sire De Grugy leads over the last on his way to winning the 2014 Champion Chase at CheltenhamCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Reflecting, Preston says: “In his Champion Chase season, when he won what would now be five Grade 1 races, he was just immense. Every single race he was outstanding, he really had his season in the sunshine.

“On the day we were in disbelief, we were always sceptical and glass half-empty types. Gary said to me ‘we should be a lot shorter than this, we’ve won two Grade 1s easily, and we’re still 3-1, they just don’t like me do they!’

“We just decided that day was our party time, we had all those scarves made and it was just brilliant. The jockeys made a guard of honour for Jamie, which was unbelievable, and the French breeders walked in with him too – it was all just wonderful.

“We got a horse from an obscure French stable, in what is not one of the fashionable trainers, with not the most fashionable jockey and certainly not the most fashionable owners; for all that to combine for a Champion Chase – unbelievable.”

Connections of Sire De Grugy after the 2013 Tingle CreekCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

It was a first Cheltenham Festival winner for Jamie Moore in a race which holds a very central place in his heart. “It was a very special day" he says. "Everything went smoothly in the race and he deserved it."

Sire De Grugy rose to prominence in a frightening era of two-mile chasers, with all-time great Sprinter Sacre at the top of the table. Although recognising his horse's immense talent, Preston humbly notes the good fortune of not bumping into him that season.

“We were perhaps lucky as we managed to zig-zag around Sprinter Sacre because of his injury and avoided the looming threat of Un De Sceaux – it shows that you need to be in the right place at the right time.”

Sire De Grugy would end that breakout season with a nonchalant victory in the Celebration Chase at Sandown, his second win in the race and a fitting coronation for a horse named jump racing's Horse of the Year.

An injury would keep Sire De Grugy off the track until February 2015, where he unseated Jamie Moore in the Game Spirit at Newbury, before gaining his sole win of the season in a Chepstow handicap.

Although he ran with credit when fourth in the 2015 Champion Chase, it was below his best, and he suffered another accident when falling in the Melling Chase to end a somewhat underwhelming campaign.

Further doubts were raised after he blundered badly early in the Haldon Gold Cup on his 2015-16 reappearance and he headed to the Tingle Creek with a cloud hanging over his head.

Sire De Grugy and Special Tiara have a coming together in the 2015 Tingle CreekCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Sire De Grugy, back at his favourite track, was first past the post in a highly controversial contest in which he broadsided Special Tiara over the second-last. Although he kept the race, winning his final Grade 1, Preston was not always confident of that fact.

He says: “At the time I didn’t notice, when the klaxon went I was confused, but after seeing the replay I went ‘oh my God’. Jamie nearly fell out from the impact of it and just about righted himself after the clash.

“The fact they couldn’t blame Jamie obviously helped, they said the horse moved on his own volition, so they left the result alone.”

His next start came at Kempton in the Desert Orchid, where he locked horns with Sprinter Sacre in one of the most memorable races of his career. “That was always going to be the clash of the titans,” says Preston.

“I must admit, we were thinking he had much more in his locker than we had. If it wasn’t for the last fence he would have won, but to have run him as close as we did was unbelievable.”

Sire De Grugy (left) jumps the last with Sprinter Sacre before going to down to a narrow defeat in the 2015 Desert Orchid Chase at KemptonCredit: Edward Whitaker

Sire De Grugy would go down swinging against another great in the form of Un De Sceaux in the Clarence House on his next start, before a pair of below-par efforts in the Champion Chase and Celebration Chase signalled a changing of the guard.

His 2016-17 season saw him run four times in the autumn, gaining what would be his final career victory off a mark of 160 in an Ascot handicap in November. The most memorable race of that season, however, was a rematch with Un De Sceaux in the Tingle Creek.

The pair took each other on approaching the second-last and were locked together up the Sandown straight, with Un De Sceaux edging ahead in the final strides to win a classic.

His unseat in the Desert Orchid at Kempton in December would prove to be his final run of that campaign, and three below-par outings a year later would show Preston that it was time to call an end to his spellbinding career.

“Towards the end of his career he became more savvy,” says Preston. “I remember Jamie saying to me ‘he knows he’s going to get fed tonight, he knows he has a warm box to go home to and is starting to realise he doesn’t need to bust a gut because that will always be the same for him’.

“His final start came at Cheltenham where he finished mid-division. When Jamie got off, we just looked at each other and shrugged. We knew he’d had enough, he was too clever.

“We said straightaway to Jamie, who was literally in love with the horse, ‘he’s yours, you keep him’, and we still see him to this day.”

Reminiscing on Sire De Grugy, Jamie Moore adds: “He’s keen, forward-going and very powerful. He’s still in the yard now, you see all the other horses come and go, and he’s still the most powerful one we’ve got by a country mile.

“I see him every day at home and love the horse to bits, he’s part of the family, my kids jump him in the little arena and my wife takes him out riding too.”

For both jockey and owner, the Sire De Grugy story was something special, and Preston concludes: “He gave us so many memories and we became icons for a while, everybody was following us with our silly red and blue scarves.

“The whole racing world acknowledged us for that fleeting period, it was special and probably unrepeatable.”

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