If this is to be the end of the Tiger Roll story - and as much as you never know with owners Michael and Eddie O’Leary, it surely will be - then what a story it has been.
Five Cheltenham Festival wins have made the Tiger a National Hunt legend, two Grand National triumphs, a horse that is, among his generation, uniquely transcendent.
But ahead of his final racecourse outing in Wednesday’s Cross Country Chase, it remains clear that the tale of Tiger Roll is about more than the successes. Indeed, it is what has come in between them that has contributed almost as much, fallibility as well as raw ability making the 12-year-old the most popular horse in training.
An apparent willingness to turn his best on and off has conferred upon Gordon Elliott’s charge a certain loveable, enigmatic personality and left him with form figures that say just as much.
In a 44-race career, Tiger Roll has won only 13 times, but more than half of those have come across the two most prestigious meetings in the sport, two of them in the most famous race of all.
There have been good performances among the other 29 starts, but also plenty of almost laughably abject ones, particularly in recent years, when the retirement that is set to begin on Wednesday evening occasionally looked like it could not come soon enough. Since his Triumph Hurdle win as a juvenile eight years ago, there have been blowouts, disappointments and even entire seasons spent in the wilderness. Somehow, he has always found his way back.
In an era when the best horses are prone to racking up winning streaks against inferior opposition in small-field races, there is a vulnerability, perceived at least, to the diminutive Tiger that only adds to his legend.
Many of his marquee wins have felt improbable, even when the bookmakers have suggested otherwise and, somewhat ironically, the only time he was sent off an odds-on favourite at the Festival, he was beaten.
Even long established as a superstar of the game, going into his last dance he somehow retains the spirit of an underdog, despite being owned and trained by some of the most powerful connections in the sport, Gigginstown House Stud and Elliott, respectively.
That the end comes here, at Prestbury Park, rather than in a bid to emulate Red Rum with a third National at Aintree next month, is both fitting and a shame.
The O’Leary brothers own the Gigginstown operation and have been at war with the British handicapper pretty much from the moment Tiger Roll sauntered up the run-in to his second National three years ago - and given they said he had no chance on account of his mark in that race, you could probably push the origins of the quarrel back even further.
In truth, the whole thing has grown more than a little tedious. The O’Learys have toed a dangerous line in depicting handicapping as a welfare issue and stepped over it when they labelled Martin Greenwood’s opinion “idiotic” last month. They do, however, in boy-who-cried-wolf fashion, probably have a decent argument that Tiger Roll, now aged 12 and having produced one decent performance in the last three seasons, has not been shown the same leniency as other ageing horses seemingly on the downgrade.
The result is that he was scratched from the National field well ahead of time, a disappointment but one that does at least shift due focus to this week and in all truth the more likely stage for what would be a fairytale ending: only one horse, Willie Mullins’ wondermare Quevega, has ever won at six Festivals before.
Given Rachael Blackmore’s historic escapades at both Cheltenham and Aintree last year took place in front of empty crowds, it was perhaps Tiger Roll’s second National in 2019 that gave racing its last truly euphoric day in the sun, ahead of a tempestuous three years that have been plagued by the pandemic and littered with damaging scandals.
A sixth Festival win at Cheltenham on Wednesday and the little legend would end his magnificent career delivering another.
Five races that tell the Tiger Roll story
2014 Triumph Hurdle
Having been bought by Gigginstown for £80,000 in January, Tiger Roll was sent to Gordon Elliott and landed the first of his five Festival wins.
2017 National Hunt Chase
Tiger Roll was almost sold following a period of desperate form and fitness problems but Elliott and work rider Keith Donoghue worked wonders to get him back and he returned to the Festival winners’ enclosure three years later to reignite his career.
2018 Grand National
Having won his first Cross Country Chase at the Festival the previous month, Tiger Roll made his National bow under Davy Russell and held on to beat Pleasant Company by a head in an epic finish.
2019 Grand National
The 2019 season saw the Tiger at his very peak, bolting up by 22 lengths in the Cross Country having even landed a surprise Grade 2 win over hurdles earlier in the campaign. Even so, what he did at Aintree was remarkable, becoming the first horse to win back-to-back Nationals since Red Rum.
2021 Cross Country Chase
Tiger Roll was hammered by Easysland at the 2020 Festival and retirement seemed to be calling after two lifeless runs at the start of the new campaign. But he defied expectations again, roaring back to form to land a fifth Cheltenham win by 18 lengths.
