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Two years off the track and on various occasions we wondered whether we would ever be back with Oscara Dara,

Hopes had been building over the preceding months as Oscara seemed to be enjoying his new home at Neil Mulholland’s Conkwell Grange yard and so it was that we finally arrived at Worcester for a novice chase.

On previous form Oscara Dara was comfortably better than his rivals, but not many horses win after an 800 plus day layoff so we made the trip in hope more than confidence.  Sarah was unable to come along, so the ownership group was myself, accompanied by sister Cath and Tony Garton.  We arrived at Worcester in plenty of time to walk the track, but were told that this was not possible without permission from the clerk of the course.  Ironic that you can walk Aintree, Cheltenham, Kempton etc but not Worcester!  We decided to not to bother trying to find the clerk and headed to Owners and Trainers for a drink.

It was not long before we were meeting up with Neil and preparations were underway for our race.  To keep Oscara calm, Neil saddled him over at the racecourse stables and he arrived late to take his place in the paddock.

Noel Fehily was our jockey on this occasion and he had schooled Oscara Dara well at Conkwell, so was very familiar with his ride.  Noel wanted to sit handy and Neil suggested that he needed to be on the inside down the home straight and on the outer down the back to get the best ground conditions.

The race got underway and Noel executed the race plan to perfection.  Aside from a sketchy jump at the first, Oscara Dara jumped nicely and looked to always be going well.  As the field turned for home, Oscara was in 2nd and travelling nicely with Noel still holding onto him.  Approaching the last, Noel started to look urgent for the first time and jumped the last right behind the leader.  On the run-in, Noel gave Oscara Dara the hurry up and the response was good with OD bolting to the front and winning the race easing down.

The emotions were a mix of relief and excitement as we made our way down and met Neil in the paddock.  Unfortunately as we were waiting to welcome Oscara back in, Noel jumped off which was a sure sign that there was a problem.

It quickly became clear the OD had lost a shoe, but unfortunately it also looked like that might not be the only issue and unfortunately it became clear in the following days that this was indeed the case and that this return to the track was only going to be a swansong to what was a brilliant career.