'I was meant to be making it, but they went a right gallop and Bonanza Boy just couldn't keep up' RACING POST CHASE LEGENDS 1989 The Racing Post Chase has seen some remarkable displays. In the first of a series building up to Saturday's big race, James Willoughby recalls an unlikely victory.

Byline: James Willoughby 

AFTER three fences of the 1989 Racing Post Chase, Peter Scudamore was in fear. Not for his safety or that of his mount Bonanza Boy, but of facing Martin Pipe.

"I was meant to be making it," he remembers. "But they went a right gallop and Bonanza Boy just couldn't keep up. I thought of coming back and having to look at Martin Pipe's face if I got beat."

Of course, Scudamore wasn't really to blame for little Bonanza Boy's sloth. A fearsome gallop set by Cuddy Dale, pursued by Gainsay, Delius, Bob Tisdall, Nupsala and Seagram had exposed the 1988 Welsh National winner's lack of pace.

Taken off his feet, Bonanza Boy presented more than the usual set of problems for a jockey in a similar position. His lack of size meant that Scudamore couldn't ask him to stand off the fences and jump his way back into the contest. No, he would have to sit tight.

Listening to Scudamore's train of thought makes it easy to understand why he was such a good rider.

"Kempton wasn't the ideal track for Bonanza Boy, but it was still a little surprising he got into such a poor position.

"When something like that happens, it is all about staying in the moment; you can't just worry about the opposition. You have to concentrate harder and harder on each second of your own journey through the race.

"I thought there was a chance they were going too fast, but that wasn't the focus. I tried to shut out peripheral vision, to look for the next fence and make sure we were right at it. You had to let Bonanza Boy get in deep because of his size, and that isn't easy when you are struggling to stay in touch.

"Bonanza Boy was an extremely brave horse and he would stand off as far as he could, but in that situation it was about managing expectation.

Races always follow a fast-early, slow-late pattern, so knowing that always gives you a chance if you can stay in rhythm."

By the 12th fence, nearly two miles into the contest, the leaders did exactly what Scudamore was hoping.

They hit the wall. Bob Tisdall had gone, Delius had gone, Cuddy Dale was beginning to tire.

Off the pace, Aherlow and Aquilifer couldn't cope and Bishops Yarn, the joint-favourite with Delius, just couldn't get his jumping together, despite having far more scope than Bonanza Boy to work with.

Approaching the 14th, Gainsay was moving well towards the lead and Ballyhane could also be seen as a threat. Bonanza Boy, meanwhile, was picking up horses one by one, but then made his only serious mistake which slowed his momentum.

Scudamore stayed true to his mindset. "Even when you are on a stayer who is making ground, you need to remember he is still getting tired himself," he says. "Again, you take each fraction of a second on its own, try to find the right combination of coercion and persuasion.

"Rounding the home turn, we were motoring. We got a great run up the inside and I started to believe we might win. But Gainsay took some pegging back and we didn't get him until well up the run-in."

Such an experience must be particularly enervating for a jockey.

Scudamore had not just had to use his full physical powers, but think and plot his way through the race from a situation that had soon become somewhat out of his control.

As a result, he says he recalls much more the reaction when getting back to the winner's enclosure than the journey there atop his brave mount.

Modestly, he says that relief was his overriding emotion.

"There was always a lot of pressure riding for Martin Pipe on any occasion. But not for negative reasons at all.

"It was all very special to me.

People didn't understand it, and they still don't. He was so focused on winning, they didn't realise what great fun he was and still is.

"But the pressure was always there because I didn't want to let him down. I knew exactly how good a trainer he was; I knew what he was achieving was very special. And I desperately didn't want to let him down.

"Through it all, however, he never made it anything less than fun. That is what I remember being so great about him, aside from all his brilliant achievements.

"Bonanza Boy's owners George and Angie Malde were great supporters of racing and they really deserved every great day he brought them. That was certainly one great day."

CAPTION(S):

Peter Scudamore returns exhausted aboard Bonanza Boy; below, how the Racing Post reported the feat on Monday, February 27, 1989 GERRY CRANHAM