A “bargain buy” racehorse who cost just £100 gave 20-year-old jump jockey Beau Morgan the biggest win of his career at Aintree racecourse on Saturday (6 December).
The conditional jockey and Twig had been embroiled in an epic tussle with 9/2 favourite Mr Vango (Jack Tudor) up the run-in for the 3¾-mile William Hill Half A Mill Becher Handicap Chase over the Grand National fences and Beau had his fingers firmly crossed as he waited for judges to reveal the outcome of the photo finish.
“Twig is one of those horses that if you hit the front too soon, he will slam on the brakes,” explained Beau, who also had to survive a “nerve-racking” stewards’ enquiry before the final result was announced. “He dug deep today and I owe everything to him.”
Beau Morgan and Twig celebrate success in the 2025 Becher Chase at Aintree over the Grand National fences.
Beau Morgan and Twig provide family with an emotional success
Twig is trained by Ben Pauling, assisted by Beau’s brother Luca Morgan and owned by their mother Georgia, who was stuck at home with a broken leg. But their father Arron called his son’s success a “dream come true”.
“To see Beau come across the line was emotional,” he said. “I turned away thinking, ‘Is this true?’ I’m so proud of the boys.”
Ben Pauling described Twig as “an absolute hero of a horse” for the Morgans, but he had an inauspicious start to his racing career. He was “lapped” in his first two races for his previous owner-breeders and was bought by the Morgans for £100 five years ago for Beau to go point-to-pointing on.
The pair won seven times before returning under Rules, finishing 10th in this year’s Grand National, and this success at Aintree came off the back of a win in the veterans’ chase at Sandown last month.
“He has run a blinder,” said Ben Pauling. “Beau has given him a lovely ride. He has jumped for fun and got lonely in front.”
Mr Vango is Grand National-bound
Although Twig won’t be aimed at another Grand National, it’s all systems go for runner-up Mr Vango, as long as the going is on the soft side in April.
“He loved the fences,” said trainer Sara Bradstock. “He is quite bright as he worked out quickly that he didn’t have to jump them too big. He is a big, slow old horse with an engine and attitude. Give us another furlong and we win it. He is a real old hero.”
You can read the full report from Aintree and Il Etait Temps’ epic success in the Betfair Tingle Creek in this week’s Horse & Hound, in shops Thursday, 11 December..
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