Mark Walsh raises his whip in celebration on Sire Du Berlais
Sire Du Berlais wins the Grade One JRL Group Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree
By Ian Ogg
19:53 · SAT April 15, 2023
Sire Du Berlais wrote another chapter in his remarkable story when winning the Grade One JRL Group Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree.
The Gordon Elliott trained 11 year-old was returned at 33/1 when returning to top form in the Stayers' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival last month and was allowed to be sent off at 8/1 in the three mile heat despite winning the race last season.
Those odds looked on the skinny side in the straight - he was matched at 200/1 on the Betfair Exchange in-running - with the long-term leader and 3/1 favourite Flooring Porter and the easy travelling Marie's Rock appearing to have the race between them but the veteran had drawn alongside the pair by the last.
Marie's Rock stuck to her guns but was no match for the veteran who kept on strongly to win by three and a quarter lengths under Mark Walsh.
"I don't know (how he won). He was never on the bridle at any stage," Walsh told ITV Racing.
"They went a real good gallop up front and just turning into the straight I was just creeping forward and forward and the whole time I thought I might have a little squeak here and once he started passing horses up the straight he just kept going. They went plenty quick enough up front and came back to me.
"He made a mistake at the fourth last and I didn't know, I thought he was getting tired, but I kept rowing away and rowing away on him and once he turned into the straight I could feel him gradually picking them off."
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Elliott said: “Unbelievable. To come back at this age and do it again, we’re absolutely delighted.
“Mark gave him a brilliant ride because he was flat to the boards the whole way and he just kept holing him and holding him and he kept picking up – it was brilliant.
“We didn’t do much with him (since Cheltenham). The girls took him to the beach a couple of times since the last day. We actually haven’t done any galloping really. We’ve just kept him happy.
“I’d say we will put him away now. He won’t go to Punchestown, anyway, I don’t think. He deserves a holiday now. He has been the horse of a lifetime and we’re lucky to have him.
“To be honest, I thought we were in a bit of trouble today, but he just kept picking up.”
A proud owner, JP McManus, said: “He is a wonderful horse. We are lucky to own him. I was thinking the day wasn’t going to be a going day, but in fairness to Mark, that was an exceptional ride – an exceptional ride.
“The horse doesn’t know his age.”
Nicky Henderson had to say of Marie's Rock: “As Nico (de Boinville) said she tried her heart out, but the winner was out the back with Champ, so it was a remarkable performance by him.”
Tom Palin, representing her owners Middleham Park Racing, confirmed that Marie’s Rock will stay over three miles next season, saying: “Well, she stays.
"That was the question we wanted the answer to and she absolutely does, and probably more. She’s run a blinder. There’s no disgrace in finishing second to Sire Du Berlais, the Stayers’ Hurdle winner and the winner of this race last year. He’s a very good stayer and we’ve clearly acquitted ourselves admirably in the staying division, with some very useful horses behind.
“She’ll be campaigned as a three-miler next season. We’ll work back from the Stayers’ and the races pick themselves - she’ll go to Newbury, then the Long Walk and so on. The beauty of it is that now she stays I don’t have to think about it.”
Gavin Cromwell added of Flooring Porter: “It was probably his best run of the season. We haven’t completely decided whether he will go to Punchestown.”
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