AFTER a hugely disappointed week Sir Alex Ferguson found a Friend in the last place he would have expected – Liverpool.
His Manchester United were beaten and overtaken by Chelsea in the Premier League title race, then the Old Trafford side then crashed out of Europe at the hands of the ‘Germans’ Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.
Ferguson has had few worse weeks in his career. But he found solace on Merseyside after What A Friend (5-2), who he co-owns with Ged Mason, landed the feature race the totesport Bowl on the opening day of the John Smith’s Grand National meeting.
Under Ruby Walsh, the Paul Nicholls-trained seven-year-old stalked the front-running Nacarat and Carruthers (10-1). And once he challenged the leaders coming to the final two fences of the 3m1f Grade One contest, he battled to win by three and a quarter lengths from the latter. Cheltenham Gold Cup hero and 11-8 favourite Imperial Commander unseated Paddy Brennan at the 14th fence after never looking happy and making a number of mistakes.
While some of the Liverpool crowd were hardly ‘friendly’ to the manager of their arch rivals, with chants of ‘the Germans’ ‘Robben’ and ‘that’s the only silverware you’ll win this season’ Ferguson found some comfort from his travails.
And now connections are already looking ahead to next season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup, for which What A Friend is a best-priced 20-1 with Skybet and half that with some firms.
Ferguson said: “I’m really pleased. “We knew the form of Carruthers because we’ve run against him in the past, so I was quite happy, but the other fella (Nacarat) gave me a fright.
“The plan for Ruby was sit just behind Nacarat off the pace and that is the nature of Nacarat and Carruthers - they lead all the time. So Ruby had to take the lead off them. He is the perfect man to judge that type of race.”
He added: “It is great to win a race. There are a lot of owners that don’t have winners. I have been very fortunate I have had a lot of winners. When you win a big win it is always special so to win a race of this magnitude and class is great. I was pleased for Ged my partner. It has been great.
“We will hopefully go for the Gold Cup next year. He is a young horse, seven years of age and eight next year. It is the right time to go for the Gold Cup.
“There was an opportunity to go for it this season, but Paul was right. It is a young horse and there’s no need beating it up. The Gold Cup is a tough race as you saw Imperial Commander. He was never going well, I don’t think he was ever going to win the race and that is because he had such a hard race in the Gold Cup.
“We were fresh and we deserved the result. Next year he will be stronger, more mature and he is improving. it’s fantastic and I was so excited.
“It’s great. It is a racing nation. People get elated whether they back or own a horse. That is the great thing about racing and I have had some great results for my personal satisfaction. It gives me a release and gets me away from my normal job That’s the beauty of the racing game. Every fence you’re jumping yourself, that’s the beauty of it.”
Commenting on his team’s exit from Europe, he added: “Life is like that. Every day is a different day. It doesn’t compensate for last night. You get bad results, unfairly last night. We have had great results from a bit of luck ourselves in the past. You can’t look on that as the defining moment in my career. We will move on and we will be better for it. We are always better for a bad result.
“You have your disappointments and no-one died last night. That’s the important thing and you move on.”
Nicholls added: “That makes me feel better now. We set out for this race today.
“He’s a bit like Big Buck’s. When he hits the front he pulls up a little bit.
“He’s always been a bit green, but he's only a baby. He is only seven and he’s won two Grade Ones now.
“The best is yet to come from him next year, we feel.”
