Ryan Mania: "A Grade One is the only thing left for me to achieve"

It's taken nearly four years, but out of the darkness which surrounded the tragic demise of Midnight Shadow, Ryan Mania can see the light again.

Every jump jockey dreams of winning Grade One races. So few actually achieve it. Yet in the shape of unbeaten Triumph Hurdle hope Minella Study, the brightest star of up-and-coming trainer Adam Nicol’s Seahouses set-up, Mania is daring to dream once more.

Merely finding a horse capable of competing at the highest level is challenge enough for riders without the backing of a major stable. Let alone beating the Townends, Bowens, De Boinvilles and Kennedys on the stages where they are equipped with the most potent firepower. 

Back in the autumn of 2021, however, Mania believed he’d finally found that horse. 

Midnight Shadow scaled the highest peak of his career with victory over Protektorat in the Paddy Power Gold Cup in November 2021. 

It was a scintillating performance that prompted Mania and trainer Sue Smith to map out a route for a tilt at the Ascot Chase early in 2022.

As a Grade Two winner over hurdles and as a novice chaser, Mania was convinced Midnight Shadow had everything required to make the step up to the top level.  The Sky Bet Chase was earmarked as a springboard to Berkshire. Sadly, though, he never made it after sustaining a fatal injury at the water jump on a dreadful day at Doncaster. 

It’s one the Scot still hasn’t been able to fully erase from his mind.

“How do you get over things like that? I don’t know if you ever do,” Mania recalls wistfully. “It was awful. Absolutely horrendous. I still think about it now. 

“I don’t know if I’ll ever come to terms with it, to be honest with you, especially as he was such an honest horse.

“I thought he was tailor-made for the Ascot Chase. He just felt so good that season. 

“Two-mile-five around Ascot would have suited him perfectly, particularly in a race which can cut up into a small field and, because of its proximity to Cheltenham, is sometimes weaker than you’d expect for a Grade One. It was gutting.”

Galashiels-born Mania has achieved so much more in a career punctuated by a five-year, self-imposed hiatus due to weight issues than perhaps even he thought possible.

He landed the Grand National on his very first ride in the great race on 66-1 outsider Auroras Encore back in 2013. 

Secured a cherished Cheltenham Festival triumph aboard Vintage Clouds in the 2021 Ultima Chase following his return to the sport. 

Tasted success in the Eider and Rehearsal Chases, plus the Rendlesham and Morebattle Hurdles.

Having recently turned 37, Mania knows opportunities to win a Grade One and tick off the glaring omission from his professional bucket list won’t come around too often now. 

He added: “The way I look at it, getting a Grade One is the only thing realistically left for me to achieve. 

“I’ve won the Grand National and ridden a Cheltenham Festival winner. Although, to be fair, I wouldn’t mind getting another with a crowd next time! 

“It was the Covid year when I won on Vintage Clouds, so I didn’t get to experience what it’s like walking back in front of a packed and noisy Festival crowd. I’d love to do that.

“I was never going to be Champion Jockey and I definitely won’t be now, but I know I’ve got the ability to ride a Grade One winner. 

“For jockeys in my position, getting on a horse that’s good enough to win one is the hardest part.”

That is where Minella Study and his new link-up this season with Northumberland-based Nicol comes in. 

The winner of a Tipperary maiden hurdle in July for John Nallen, the four-year-old Study Of Man gelding has added victories at Wetherby in the Listed Wensleydale Hurdle and at Cheltenham’s December meeting in two starts since switching to Nicol, and new owners Malcolm and Carol Humble. 

That latest authoritative, six-and-a-half-length victory at Jump racing's HQ established Minella Study as a bone-fide contender for the Triumph, for which he earned quotes ranging from 14-1 to 25-1.

The Scottish Triumph Trial at Musselburgh on January 31 is likely to be next up for Minella Study. 

However, Mania won’t be at all concerned should Nicol skip a trip to Scotland and go straight to the Triumph without another run

Mania said: “We don’t know yet if Minella Study is up to winning a Grade One, but with what he’s done so far, he’s definitely earned his chance at trying to win one.

“He’s three from three over hurdles, he’s already been to Cheltenham and won on the New Course, and he has experience from the Flat in Ireland.

“He’s still very unfurnished and not your typical juvenile hurdler, but he’s got some engine. 

“Whatever happens this year, Adam’s going to look after him. He’s going to be an even better horse next season.”