Following the sad death of staying hurdle great Baracouda, Timeform look back on three of his most important victories.
Long Walk Hurdle, Ascot, December 2000
Having been transferred into the care of Francois Doumen early in 2000, Baracouda quickly proved himself a talented novice with a pair of wins at Auteuil in the spring/summer of that year. He soon emerged as one of the leading prospects on either side of the Channel when finishing a close second in the Grade 1 Prix d’Automne in November on his first start over three miles before going one better in a Grade 2 event back over around two and a half miles later that month.
However, even that level of form failed to prepare observers for the emphatic way he was to announce himself in Britain the following month when running away with the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot.
Still a novice, the form he showed in giving a 14-length beating to Deano’s Beeno, Britain’s best staying hurdler at the time, put him among the best novice hurdlers in Timeform’s history. Only Alderbrook (174p), Golden Cygnet (176) and Constitution Hill (177p) have earned a higher rating as a novice than the figure of 172 registered by Baracouda.
Stayers' Hurdle, Cheltenham, March 2002
The outbreak of Foot And Mouth disease caused the cancellation of the Cheltenham Festival in 2001, but victory in a good-quality Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham the following year saw Baracouda confirm himself as the season’s best hurdler and earn the accolade of Timeform's Champion Jumper.
Dropped right out in a soundly-run race that suited him well, Baracouda wasn't asked to make up his ground until after the second-last but he was delivered with a well-judged challenge to jump into a share of the lead at the final flight.
Typically, Baracouda didn't do a great deal once in front, but he was always maintaining a slight advantage and passed the post with a neck to spare over Irish raider Bannow Bay, with the pair of them 13 lengths clear, to extend his winning sequence to nine.
Stayers' Hurdle, Cheltenham, March 2003
The first clash between Limestone Lad, the Irish champion, and Baracouda, the French champion, had been eagerly anticipated and the pair were sent off 9/4 joint-favourites in the 2003 Stayers' Hurdle.
The tough front-runner Limestone Lad duly set a strong pace that gradually stretched the field and had nearly all his rivals off the bridle more than a mile from home, but Baracouda was all the while creeping closer, and he had moved into third at the second-last on the heels of the leaders.
The prize was still up for grabs entering the straight, with the unbeaten novice Iris’s Gift in there as well – three outstanding stayers fighting it out instead of two.
At the final flight all three were in the air together, with Baracouda holding a slight lead from Iris’s Gift and Limestone Lad three-quarters of a length behind them. The reigning champion had played his hand a bit earlier than expected but, having wrested the advantage, he never looked like relinquishing it and passed the post to the good by three-quarters of a length over Iris’s Gift, with Limestone Lad five lengths back in third.
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