Greatest Racehorses: Baracouda

Pedigree Details

Sire: Alesso (USA)

Dam: Peche Aubar (Fr)

Dam’s Sire: Zino

Breeder: R Dupuis

Foaled: 29 Apr 1995

Race Record & Fact file

Races (over hurdles): 27

Wins: 18

Owner: Roger Barby until February 2001, then J.P. McManus

Trainer: Francois Doumen

Baracouda Profile

British racing fans were well accustomed to Francois Doumen by the time Baracouda ever set foot on these shores – the trainer had already won the King George VI Chase four times and the Cheltenham Gold Cup – but Baracouda was to achieve a higher rating than even his illustrious stablemate The Fellow. His tendency to idle once hitting the front meant he was often held up in exaggerated fashion and played late, something that would add to the drama of some of his most memorable races, but he was a most consistent performer, finishing out of the first two just twice in 27 starts over hurdles (on his first and final racecourse outings). At his peak he was one of the very best staying hurdlers to have ever raced on British soil.

2000/01 season

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. He was made to work much harder to land the National Spirit Hurdle at Fontwell on his next start back down in trip and was robbed of the chance to run at his first Cheltenham Festival by the foot-and-mouth outbreak that claimed that year’s Festival. Instead, he returned to Auteuil to take a Grade 3, giving away plenty of weight, before making it five wins in a row when taking the one-off Stayers’ Hurdle replacement contest staged on Sandown’s end-of-season card in April, typically travelling strongly before leading at the last to beat fellow six-year-olds Carlovent and Behrajan comfortably.

Major races won

• Long Walk Hurdle, Ascot
• National Spirit Hurdle, Fontwell
  
• Bonusprint Distance Championship Hurdle, Sandown

2001/02 season

The following season saw Baracouda campaigned more sparingly and exclusively in Britain, beginning with a facile success in the Ascot Hurdle, giving 8 lb and a nine-length beating to Hors La Loi, a horse who would go on to Champion Hurdle success just four months later. A return trip to Berkshire in December saw Baracouda record his second Long Walk Hurdle victory in bloodless fashion, meting out a 24-length drubbing to inferior rivals.

Baracouda’s Cheltenham trial came in the Grade 2 Rendlesham Hurdle in late-February, which in those days was held at Kempton and in 2002 reverted to a conditions race having been run as a limited handicap for several years. Giving away weight all round in a very messy affair, Baracouda again led at the last before idling somewhat, something that was to become a trait of his. Even if he had yet to repeat the form of his first foray onto British shores the previous season, victory in a good-quality Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham saw him confirm himself the season’s best hurdler and earn the Timeform accolade of Champion Jumper as he made it nine wins in succession. The margin was only a neck over Irish raider Bannow Bay but the pair of them were 13 lengths clear of the rest in a soundly-run race that suited the winner well.

Major races won

• Pricewaterhousecoopers Ascot Hurdle, Ascot
• Long Walk Hurdle, Ascot
• Rendlesham Hurdle, Kempton
• Stayers’ Hurdle, Cheltenham

2002/03 season

The following autumn Baracouda again reappeared in the Ascot Hurdle as he attempted to make it 10 wins in a row. Starting at 5/2-on against three opponents, it turned out to be an extraordinary race as Mr Cool – in receipt of 8 lb (though some 25 lb inferior to Baracouda on pre-race ratings) – posed plenty of problems, not least due to the giant lead he was afforded, which still comprised some 40 lengths when the field took the seventh of the 11 hurdles. Baracouda and Carlovent had reduced the margin to 20 lengths rounding the final turn and, leaving Carlovent behind, Baracouda was still 11 lengths down at the last before coming with a wet sail in the heavy ground to head Mr Cool just before the post.

The betting again indicated things should be a cakewalk for Baracouda in attempting to win the Long Walk Hurdle for a third successive occasion on his next start, but he was to meet defeat for the first time in over two years. AP McCoy had got a pretty good idea of how Baracouda might be beaten in the Ascot Hurdle, and although his mount in the Long Walk, Deano’s Beeno, hadn’t shown anything like his best for well over a year, he was a top-class performer in his prime and was very much on a going day.

McCoy managed to extend his advantage to at least 10 lengths on the run down to Swinley Bottom with Baracouda a further 10 lengths behind the second-placed horse. Although he had managed to eliminate the deficit on the run-in, his finishing effort expired late on and he went down by a length. His jockey Thierry Doumen blamed himself for coming a bit too early to challenge the winner but the horse still lost little in defeat in Timeform’s eyes against a rival who ran right up to best under ideal conditions.

Some observers began to question Baracouda’s stomach for the fight after the Ascot defeat, but that season’s Stayers’ Hurdle seemed likely to suit him a lot better than the two races at Ascot. Most importantly, he would not have to lead the chase himself, he could follow others as they did the donkey work in closing down the tough Limestone Lad.

Ireland’s most popular horse had been in excellent form, taking his tally to five for the season when easily seeing off Boss Doyle and Bannow Bay at the Leopardstown Christmas meeting. Although he went to Cheltenham after a narrow defeat back over two miles in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle, the first clash between the French and Irish champions – something that had been in the offing for at least two years – was eagerly anticipated, the pair of them sent off 9/4 joint-favourites.

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.

Major races won

• Pricewaterhousecoopers Ascot Hurdle, Ascot
• Stayers’ Hurdle, Cheltenham

2003/04 season

There was talk of Baracouda going chasing in the autumn of 2003 but that plan was shelved and he reappeared in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury with a highly satisfactory performance, comfortably defeating old rival Deano’s Beeno having been kept much handier than had been the case in the 2002 Long Walk.

A return to Ascot saw him land the Long Walk for a third time, producing a virtuoso performance as he put 30 lengths between himself and both Mr Cool and Deano’s Beeno, the two horses who had troubled him so greatly the season before, his performance up there with some of the very best of his career (incidentally his SP that day of 7/2-on was the shortest he was ever sent off).

It’s unusual for top hurdlers in the modern era, particularly at staying trips, to tackle open handicap company but in February of 2004 both the first two in the previous year’s Stayers’ Hurdle took in a handicap en route to the Festival. In Baracouda’s case the rest of the field at Sandown was out of the weights and in the case of Iris’s Gift just one other horse (running off 10st 1lb) was in the handicap proper. Baracouda looked set to defy a mark of 170 in style at the last only to idle quite badly and he needed to be ridden out forcefully.

Iris’s Gift had missed a major chunk of the season prior to returning in a Pertemps qualifier at Haydock the week after Baracouda’s success at Sandown and did enough in finishing second to think he was at least as good as the season before, setting up another showdown between the pair at Cheltenham the following month. On the day the market very much favoured the reigning champion, Baracouda sent off at 11/8-on to record a hat-trick in the race. However, despite producing a performance that would have been good enough to prevail in a normal year, he had to give best to the younger legs of Iris’s Gift, getting just about upsides but unable to ever force his head in front after they pulled clear on the long run to the final flight. The pair confirmed their status as two of the best hurdlers of recent times in drawing 13 lengths clear of Crystal d’Ainay in third with the same margin again back to fourth-placed Solerina.

Major races won

• Long Distance Hurdle, Newbury
• Long Walk Hurdle, Ascot
  

2004/05 season

He might have lost his staying crown and been approaching his tenth birthday but Baracouda wasn’t done with yet. Ridden by AP McCoy for the first time, he won a second successive Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury on his reappearance, seeing off Crystal d’Ainay by three-quarters of a length after performing his old trick of idling in front on the run-in.

With Ascot under redevelopment, the Long Walk was switched to Windsor in 2004 but neither that nor a messy race prevented Baracouda winning the race for a fourth time (and a seventh Grade 1 of his career), scoring with far greater superiority than the result indicated, stumbling after the last when holding a narrow advantage before recovering and still finding time for his customary late idle, again beating Crystal d’Ainay by three-quarters of a length.

Punters had seen enough in those two wins to send him off a strong favourite in his bid to regain the Stayers’ Hurdle and he looked the likely winner into the straight, seemingly going best and poised to challenge, but he didn’t really pick up quite as expected when shaken up and was ultimately beaten three lengths by Inglis Drever, very much the new kid on the staying block but a horse that would go on to rule the division, winning a further two renewals (in 2007 and 2008). The obvious conclusion was that Baracouda was past his best by this stage, even if he was still able to run to a very smart level.

Major races won

• Long Distance Hurdle, Newbury
• Long Walk Hurdle, Windsor

2005/06 season

This was to prove Baracouda’s final – and lightest – campaign, running just twice. The Long Distance Hurdle saw him get closer to Inglis Drever than in their first encounter, going down by a length and a quarter with old rival Crystal d’Ainay a further three lengths back in third. However, no other outing prior to a swansong in the Stayers’ Hurdle suggested all hadn’t gone to plan, and with fifth the best he could achieve behind My Way de Solzen, it was clear his talents were on the wane and time was called on his career. That final start was the first time in 26 starts for Doumen that he failed to finish in the first two, spanning just under six years, a remarkable level of consistency, particularly considering 20 of those races involved travelling to England.

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