Ginger McCain & Michael Jarvis

By Alan Conway

While racing fans look towards Paris on Sunday week and the Prix De L’Arc de Triomphe, this week we as a community have been deeply saddened by the twin losses of Ginger McCain and Michael Jarvis.

The passing of Ginger McCain closes the book on one of the most roller-coaster careers that any man could have had. A second hand car salesman and a taxi driver on the side, McCain kept his small string of horses behind the showrooms of his car lot, including the most famous of them all Red Rum.

From that base McCain and Red Rum rewrote Grand National history, and some claim even the great race itself. McCain brought Red Rum to Aintree for five Grand Nationals. He won three and finished second in the other two. A remarkable feat.

In 2004 McCain rolled back the years when he saddled Amberleigh House to land his fourth National. That day Ginger wasn’t the only one with a tear in his eye.

Beyond the horses Ginger will be fondly remembered for his larger than life personality. Not one to suffer fools, Ginger called things as he saw them.

While he may not have been the most successful trainer in the world, he was without doubt a brilliant trainer. To do what he did with Red Rum was brilliance and while he might have told you where to go, Ginger McCain was and will forever be a racing legend.

A trainer in a different sphere to McCain, Michael Jarvis has also left his own indelible mark on horse racing. Jarvis, a trainer since 1968, was a trainer of the highest consistency and class. Indeed in all of the tributes that have been made about Jarvis, that word class was always mentioned.

He was universally liked on and off the course and you knew that when he sent a horse to one of the big races, it wouldn’t be too far away from the winning circle.

While Ginger was before my time, my personal recollection of Michael Jarvis was his handling of the very talented and highly volatile Group 1 winner Rakti. The ex-Italian trained horse arrived to Jarvis’s Newmarket yard with a huge reputation, along with a hot headed temperament.

Many a trainer couldn’t have guided and nursed Rakti to give of his best. Jarvis was able to and was rewarded with a string of Group 1 successes that his skill deserved.

Along with Rakti, the Arc winner Carroll House and classic winners Ameerat and Eswarah, were some of the high class horses that passed through the hands of Michael Jarvis.

While it is indeed sad that two richly talented people have left us, let us remember the good times they gave us. Memories are just that, images that we can look back on and remember with a glow in our heart and smiles on our faces. For that reason alone Ginger McCain and Michel Jarvis will both live forever.

By Alan Conway