Beckett puts his faith in an unlikely hero

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Ralph Beckett says he learnt from Martin Pipe the secret of getting horses fit. But on Saturday he will try to win the historic Northumberland Plate with a horse troubled by arthritis who has only ever galloped once.

It looks a gamble but the race, known as the Pitmens' Derby, is the richest two-mile handicap this side of the Melbourne Cup.

Beckett's unlikely hero is a brittle horse called Order who has somehow played himself onto a hat-trick of wins and into a position of quiet promise for his £120,000 engagement at Newcastle.

"It was after he won at Hamilton, that I thought, mmmm, the Northumberland Plate," says Beckett, who trains the five-year-old in Lambourn.

"I would love to say he's been a joy to train. Really, he's a day-to-day proposition. His joints collapsed as a yearling because he was so weak-boned.

"The owner, Mr Oldrey, didn't have the heart to put him down so we rested him and brought him back as a three-year-old just before the trainer Mr Walwyn retired.

"He's only had one racecourse gallop in his life. It's the only bit of work he has ever done except in his races."

David Oldrey and Peter Walwyn feature large in the Beckett story.

Oldrey is the Jockey Club stalwart and patrician owner-breeder who has done so much to help establish Beckett. Walwyn, former champion trainer and conditioner of the great Grundy, retired in 1999 allowing Beckett to assume the reins at Windsor House Stables.

Order's two wins in three runs on the Flat have amazed connections and seemed something of a last resort after the maximum permissible five runs in bumpers - races run on the Flat under jump racing's auspices, of which the eventful first ended with victory.

Beckett recalls: "Before the race he dropped Glenn Tormey four times, three times at the start and once in the paddock. He is a bit of a lunatic but is as tough as they come. None of us ever thought he would go in the starting stalls."

For a trainer only halfway through his second season Beckett is surprisingly laid-back. He did the international circuit schooling of famous trainers usually reserved for the well-connected. When asked of his family background he does not say that grandfather Lord Grimthorpe won the 1947 Cheltenham Gold Cup with Fortina but that his cousin is Teddy Beckett, racing manager to Khalid Abdullah.

Nonetheless, he pays ready tribute to his assistant trainer Tom Dascombe, the former jump jockey with whom he worked at Pipe's stables, and to Richard Painter as both have done a lot to help Order to the heights already attained.

Not that either should envy the boss too much. The trainer's lot can be a solitary one. "It is sort of a constant battle of mental gymnastics," Beckett says. "I do love it and I'm blessed in having taken over an existing yard.

"Mr Oldrey is my biggest supporter and it is an honour to train for him."

Though raised at Bawtry, near Doncaster, Beckett's trip north on Saturday will be a first as he has never saddled a runner at Newcastle. Rivals this weekend include last year's winner Bay Of Islands and two specially prepared from the jumping ranks, Brother Joe and Guard Duty.

Beckett said: "Order is an improver, he's remarkable really, and depending how the race is run if he can just sit off the pace, maybe fourth of fifth turning in, he'll be right there.

"I said to someone once, 'He's a lunatic and a cripple, but I wish I had 25 like him'."

 

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