Owner dedicates Grand Military triumph to fallen soldier killed serving in Iraq
An ex-soldier dedicated a famous racing success to a fallen colleague after fulfilling a long-held ambition.
Jordan Wylie said he had been trying to win the Grand Military Gold Cup, a handicap chase in which only serving military amateur riders are eligible to ride, for ten years.
With another former serviceman, trainer Jamie Snowden who won the Sandown race four times as an amateur jockey, he bought Farceur Du Large from Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud for the mission.
And the 11-1 chance scored emphatically over favourite Rose Of Arcadia, under jubilant jockey Major Will Kellard, in the Sandown feature on Friday.
“My heart is still pumping,” Wylie told RacingTV. “I’ve done some quite extreme things in my life but I feel like I’m about to jumpi out of a plane. My heart is beating out of my chest.
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“Ten years we’ve waited for that day and what a moment. Great ride by Will. We targeted this race specifically. We bought Farceur Du Large from Gigginstown for this race. Credit to Jamie, the master plan came together in the end.
“Will stuck to the plan - it’s not a cliche - but with military precision. I’m over the moon for all of us, for our racing club and all the regiments who got involved.”
He added: “I would like to dedicate that to a friend who we lost in Iraq, Lance Corporal Alan Brackenbury, a great friend of mine, because he loved his horses as well. It's a really special moment.”
Kellard is a serving cavalry officer, based in Aldershot while Snowden is an ex-cavalry office and Wylie a former cavalry soldier. Brackenbury, from East Riding in Yorkshire, died in 2005 while serving with the King’s Royal Hussars. He was 21.
According to the Ministry of Defence, he died instantly when his patrol was attacked by a roadside bomb as it drove to a meeting with the Iraqi Border Police. The explosion injured four other soldiers.
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