On the most recent episode of the Unbridled podcast, former Gold Cup successful jockey Bryan Cooper displays on the highs and lows of his profession, battles with Paddy Brennan and his departure from the weighing room.
“I fell out of affection with it in 2013 when issues weren’t going properly however I used to be fortunate sufficient I obtained again to an excellent degree, using for giant trainers with one other Competition winner.
“I was riding in all the big races, albeit not first strings, but was still picking up very good spares. To be blatantly honest, I lost my bottle.”
He added: “The injuries took their toll and I wasn’t enjoying riding horses, I was worrying about falling and getting hurt again. I couldn’t get up out of bed, go racing and think about that.
“I used to be doing it for therefore lengthy and it is like anybody with a playing or drink dependancy – you’ll be able to solely put it at bay for therefore lengthy till it will definitely all comes crashing down and sadly it got here crashing down on the morning of Cheltenham.”
Cooper retired within the wake of the 2023 Cheltenham Competition, opting to not take up his rides on the second day of the Cotswolds showpiece. He hung up his boots aged 30 with 39 Grade One winners to his identify, together with 9 on the Cheltenham Competition.
A rider since 2008, Cooper actually arrived on the scene within the 2010/11 season when he received the Irish champion conditional jockeys’ title. His first Grade One adopted a season later, aboard Benefficent within the Deloitte Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown. In March 2013 his three winners on the Cheltenham Competition actually put his identify up in lights, earlier than he managed a fifth-placed end aboard Uncommon Bob within the Grand Nationwide.
After getting back from a damaged femur, he was appointed Gordon Elliott’s secure jockey in January 2014, changing Davy Russell on many of the Gigginstown operation’s flagship horses in each Britain and Eire thereafter.
At these conferences, Cooper turned no stranger to battles with Unbridled co-host Paddy Brennan – a feud that will later come to a head within the 2015 King George VI Chase at Kempton.
A fiery rivalry with Brennan
Cooper remembers: “There was a lot of beef there. We shared the same valet, Bagsy, and I was probably the only other Irish person with Bagsy. I was always plonked beside Paddy at Cheltenham. I was quite young but he was revved. I came over a few times and I’d never seen anyone as revved.”
He added: “I suppose I was a bit calm and relaxed and maybe that was winding him up and I should have been respected him a bit better. We had our ins and outs on the track, he’s nailed me a couple of times on the rail and I got him back a few times – it was going on for years.”
In defence, Brennan stated: “I suppose in my position, when a lad would walk around the with a swagger in the weighing room, I’d think, ‘I’m going to put manners on this lad’.”
The King George of 2015 noticed Brennan’s Cue Card face the good Don Cossack – Cooper’s mount.
Brennan stated: “All we were missing that day was hurls. From the minute we jumped off, he was in and out a bit. I went by the stands with a circuit to go and I got upside Don Cossack and he started screaming like a baby on my inner.”
Interjecting, Cooper stated: “And he nailed me, he absolutely nailed me. I was walking back up the track and Paddy went down to parade Cue Card up. If I’d had a hurl I would have ran over and knocked him off the horse, I was so thick [with anger].”
Cue Card and Paddy Brennan, winners of the 2015 King George
Cooper would finally have the final chuckle, using Don Cossack to glory within the 2016 renewal of the Cheltenham Gold Cup after Brennan suffered a fall aboard Cue Card within the house straight.
When requested if one of the best horse actually received on the day by host Matt Chapman, Cooper insisted: “Yeah, honest to God. I didn’t even give him a slap behind the saddle, and you don’t win a Gold Cup like that. I was going so well even at the fourth last I took the back three out of him, got him into pop and he nodded at the back of it.
“I had a lot horse. He lashed straight again onto the bridle and I stored out as a result of there was a contemporary patch of floor three off the rail and Paddy and Cue Card’s head appeared within the center earlier than he fell. The horse truly latched on and half went to run away with me down the hill. There isn’t any doubt in my thoughts, I might have received. I used to be in entrance prior to I wished, I might have beloved if Paddy had stood up as a result of it will have been lots simpler to win.”
Harm and retirement
Throughout his profession Cooper was no stranger to the remedy desk, struggling a plethora of accidents together with a fractured pelvis and collapsed lung.
Remembering a fall at Cheltenham which noticed him break his leg, Cooper remembers: “It was horrific. I went to Gloucester first for surgery and then they sent me to Bristol. I was meant to have my own room but I didn’t and the guy next to me was going down for the same surgery prior to me, and he’d lost his leg. I was going down for the same surgery and he was there just before I went down: ‘You’re next, you’re going to lose yours as well.’
“Fortunately I did not and got here again up with it, however that was extraordinarily robust. I discovered the rehab robust however gratifying however I am unable to run anymore in any respect, which could be very irritating.”
Frequent battles with injury sewed seeds of doubt within Cooper, who says he would often wake up and not want to go racing.
“I used to be capable of put it at bay after I obtained to the races for a sure time frame nevertheless it simply began getting worse – I suppose if you’re getting falls, getting up and saying, ‘no I am not doing this anymore’. It very not often got here into my head throughout a race. On the latter half I might need backed out of issues whereas earlier than I would not have, nevertheless it was the run-up I discovered the hardest.
“From the very minute declarations came out until I got into the car to come home, I dreaded going racing. I liked being in the weighing room and having the craic with the lads but I didn’t want to be going out with them. I did it for a period of time but the reason why I was open about it – I could have come out with a story of how I’m not getting opportunities – but there’s no point in lying. I had to admit it. I couldn’t think of anything worse that going around Leopardstown in a Handicap hurdle with 24 runners around you this weekend.”
Reflecting on his determination to retire from the saddle, Cooper stated: “I’m very content, it’s going to be two years in March and I’ve never been as happy in my life. I still struggle to find that bit of a thrill like you get – as Paddy knows – walking into Cheltenham as a winner or walking down the chute – that’s a bit irreplaceable. I’m enjoying trying to find that next bit of a thrill that gives me that adrenaline again.”
“I ride out at home whenever I’m down there, I have a lot of young stock of my own. Flat, Jumps, anything I can make a few quid on I’ll have them down at home. It’s quite hard to buy property in Ireland. I have my own house in Kildare but no land so I’m very lucky to have the homeplace with Dad and ride out as much as I can.”
Watch Unbridled in full on the At The Races YouTube channel
