‘Bolster’ was a superstar, insists Scudamore

By Simon Milham

It is in their DNA. They know a good one when they sit on one. It never leaves you. And David Bridgwater knew.

From the minute he arrived as an unraced and unfurnished three-year-old, having been purchased from German stud Gestut Fahrhof in 2008, ‘Bridgie’ was adamant: “He feels like a real good one”.

The Giant Bolster was never going to cut it on the level, despite his pedigree. Early on, the son of Black Sam Bellamy was too backward. Visually, he wasn’t picture-book, either.

Punters were nonplussed when he did finally make the track as an unfurnished four-year-old in a Stratford bumper in March 2009, sending him off at 66/1. His run was promising enough. Fifth of 14.

Beaten half a length in a bumper on his second start, he was still unfancied for his first start over hurdles the following November, yet he belied his 28/1 odds.

Indeed, The Giant Bolster, who was retired today at the age of 11, was a market leader just twice in a 40-race career, of which all but 14 were in Graded races.

Unconsidered. Unfancied. Unheralded. It was a theme throughout much of his career.

Never judge a book… He could always mix it with the best.

The Giant Bolster went on to run at seven consecutive Cheltenham Festivals, was a 50/1 runner-up to Synchronised in the 2012 Gold Cup and was beaten three-quarters of a length when third to Lord Windermere two years later at odds of 14/1. In between, he finished fourth to Bobs Worth in a decent renewal of chasing’s Blue Riband.

Tom Scudamore, his regular jockey, felt he was always underestimated. He was The Little Engine That Could. Well, almost.

“He gave me some of the best days. He was three lengths away from winning two Gold Cups. Crikey, that takes some doing!” exclaimed Scudamore.

“It takes a hell of an effort to be that close three Gold Cups on the bounce. He was a wonderful horse and was a stone better around Cheltenham than he was anywhere else. People underestimated him. I always felt he never quite got the credit he deserved.

“The day he was fourth behind Bobs Worth and was upsides at the second last with him, Sir Des Champs and Long Run, he was mixing it with the best.

“He was a really special horse and one that gave me some really good days, including winning on him a couple of times around Cheltenham.

“It was always a pleasure to be involved with him. He was one of my favourites. From a jockey’s point of view, you shouldn’t get sentimental about horses, but it is very hard, as he was always one I looked forward to riding.

“Getting him to the Festival seven times was a real achievement by ‘Bridgie’, and ‘The Bolster’ was very straightforward to ride.

“But the thing that probably cost him from winning Gold Cups was that he wasn’t scopey enough.

“He could not really go and stand off his fences the way others could. He put down on me at the second last in the Gold Cup two years running.

“When you really needed him, he’d give everything for you, but just wouldn’t have the scope of the other horses around him. That was the difference.

“Where Synchronised, Lord Windermere and On His Own, the ones that finished in front of him, could jump the fences as if they were on springs, ‘The Bolster’ couldn’t.

“In the Gold Cup, you would literally hang on in there, and when you jumped the water for the last time, he would start to travel and get back at it, and you would hope you were just close enough to be involved.

“He was always an absolute pleasure to ride. He really was just a superstar. He will have a lovey time now in retirement and he deserves it. I could not speak highly enough of him.”

The horse won just five times (he was placed on another nine occasions) and was invariably underrated by the nay-sayers, but his owners still collected a few bob shy of £373,000 in prize money.

Yet he not only became a local hero, trained as he was just a few miles from Jump racing’s HQ, he was a “people’s champion”, according to owner Simon Hunt.

Despite the disappointment of going so close, Hunt says he would not swap the big days for any amount of cash.

“The Giant Bolster has taken us to the pinnacle of National Hunt racing and realised big days we could only dream about,” said Hunt.

“Running in seven consecutive Cheltenham Festivals has been amazing. For a trainer and his team to present a horse in top condition to compete in four consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups is an incredible achievement. I cannot thank David Bridgwater and the team enough – that lad has turned himself inside out for our horse.

“The Gold Cups were amazing, the goose-bumps never go away. I well-up when I talk about and watch them – they were an unbelievable experience. You can’t buy the feeling.”

Hunt and schoolboy pal Gary Lambton had been going racing together since they were 14.

Lambton was about to turn 50 and Hunt wanted to do something special for his mate. He didn’t know just how special his present would be.

As the two pals sat there in the George Hotel in Cheltenham on the evening of January 24, 2014, the reaction was mixture of sheer joy and open-mouthed disbelief when Hunt told Lambton that he was giving him a share in The Giant Bolster, who was running in the Argento Chase the following day.

Name in the racecard as co-owner and proud as punch, The Giant Bolster put the cherry on the cake by landing the Grade 2, beating favourite Rocky Creek by seven lengths.

“Gary couldn’t believe it. He led him in and the reception the horse got that day was phenomenal. The Cheltenham crowd are always very knowledgeable and he was a people’s champion.”

The Argento was to be his final victory and Hunt now says it is time for The Giant Bolster to enjoy life with a new beginning.

“Having bought him as a youngster and knowing him and his quirks so well, he would always tell us when his racing days were over, and while he is fit and well, he can now go on and comfortably do another job and have some more fun,” said Hunt.

“We would like to get him in the Retraining of Racehorses programme, to take him showing. He is such an easy-going horse, you could put him in your living room and you wouldn’t know he was there. He is not a horse who would be happy out in some field all the time.

“He deserves a happy retirement. The Giant Bolster brought a racing dream to life and he is one in a million. He may have not set the Gold standard, but he gave us some golden memories.”