When Latalomne had the Champion Chase at his mercy – twice

In terms of race-defining falls at the Cheltenham Festival, recent memory will immediately conjure up Annie Power’s final-flight sprawl of 2015 or Constitution Hill and State Man hitting the turf in that utterly chaotic Champion Hurdle of 12 months ago.

But before them there was Latalomne. The apple of Brian Ellison’s eye, the daring chestnut could but for his nemesis of Cheltenham’s second-last fence have rewritten history in the Champion Chase.

“Don’t mention Latalomne,” quipped Malton-based Ellison, when asked about heartbreak at the Cheltenham Festival.

“I don’t know if he would have won either of them, but he was still there with a chance. But you’ve got to jump them and they’ve moved that fence now!”

A son of Zilzal with a trademark blaze, the intrepid northern raider had already racked up a course and distance success before being sent off a sporting 14-1 in 2002 for a race where Flagship Uberalles was a warm order to finally land the two-mile chasing showpiece.

To watch the final salvos will show Richard Johnson driving home the 7-4 favourite for a commanding success – to rewind the tape to the top of the hill would tell a different tale, however.

It was at that point Ellison began to warm to the idea of springing an almighty upset as Vinnie Keane and a willing Latalomne had all but Cenkos begging for mercy as they freewheeled their way down country and over the third-last.

But that notorious second-last obstacle reared its head, as the pride of Malton breasted the birch and turned a somersault before crashing into the Cotswolds dirt.

“He won by nearly 20 lengths there earlier that season so I don’t know what happened, it wasn’t like he didn’t handle going down the hill,” explained Ellison.

“I’m not really one for getting excited and during a race I’m always looking round to see what’s going well and any dangers and everything.

“At the open ditch at the top of the hill he put in a fantastic jump which took him to the front and then I started to think we had a live chance.

“But they were trapping down to it and he just didn’t get high enough.”

If 2002 was not chastening enough, unfinished business with Prestbury Park meant Latalomne, Keane and Ellison returned for another crack at the cream of the two-mile chasing division a year later and a field that this time included not only some familiar faces but the coming force of Moscow Flyer.

Jessica Harrington’s star would of course become one of the giants of his era, but it could have been all so different had Latalomne not suffered the cruelest of fates once more two from home.

Latalomne was again holding a narrow lead when coming to grief, joined on the turf by Martin Pipe’s Seebald, leaving Barry Geraghty clear for a proverbial lap of honour up the Cheltenham hill.

“The next year it was a bit of a soft fall. Two of them fell either side of Moscow Flyer,” added Ellison.

“Vinnie felt he was going better the second year and he thought he was cantering, but Moscow Flyer was a good horse wasn’t he and it was a Champion Chase.

“There was obviously real disappointment that he fell both times, but then you are used to setbacks in this game.”

Despite his trials and tribulations on racing’s biggest stage and Ellison’s dual-purpose operation going on to enjoy great success under both codes, two decades on it is still that audacious spring-heeled chestnut who commands tender affection from his old handler.

Elison said: “Definitly Red was probably the best jumper I had and I guess the best thing I’ve done since is Onesmoothoperator going and winning twice in Australia, but Latalomne would be right up there.

“He won the Thirsk Hunt Cup for us and got loose going down to the start, ran a full circuit, and still won. He was then good over hurdles and then again over fences and you never know, he could have looked even better if he had stood up in those races.

“He was a very good horse on his day and we took him to Southwell before the Champion Chase for a piece of work. He gave a horse rated 80-odd two stone and obliterated him, he was a top horse.”