Manorbier's neck victory in a lowly selling race on the all-weather at Wolverhampton last Thursday probably won more money for punters in the Darwen and Blackburn area than any horse since Red Rum. By 4.10 everybody was on it. And those who weren't are still kicking themselves for missing out. This is the story of The Coup and how patience paid off big style for owners Jim Hughes and Terry Whalley - told by journalist HAROLD HEYS who went along for the ride...

JIM HUGHES, landlord of Uncle Jack's pub in Lower Darwen, pulled off some shrewd betting coups over the years he was head lad with Billy Carr who trained at Dunscar on the Darwen side of Bolton. They took the bookies for thousands with some real 'skinners'.

One thing that Jim learnt from old Billy was patience. You couldn't expect to land a hefty gamble without waiting...and waiting to pounce. Sometimes Billy Carr would run up a string of 'duck eggs' with an old campaigner whose high starting prices reflected its chances. Not just for three or four races; occasionally for three or four years.

And then, suddenly, the money would be on and the horse would skate home.

He was the master tactician but, as he grew older, Jim Hughes began to play more of a part in the training operations and the coolly-executed coups.

"Secrecy and patience were they keywords," recalled Jim. "No one else knew when a horse was expected to go in. There wasn't so much as a whisper. The stable was watertight."

Patience? Three or four years of running down the field was nothing; Billy would wait for ever. Back in the 60's they had a real 'dark 'un' running at Catterick; it had been down the field in so many races everyone wondered why it was still in training.

Jim's instructions to the little lightweight jockey summed up the confidence behind the horse: "Right, son. Just don't fall off."

"That's all he had to do. It was just a steering job," laughed Jim.

Another veteran had diminutive apprentices as his partner and a string of noughts to his name before peerless Lester Piggott got the surprise ride - and flew home a heavily-backed favourite.

At Wolverhampton on Thursday it was just like the old days. And if old Billy Carr ever made it to heaven he would surely have looked on with an approving twinkle in his eye.

Patience was certainly the keyword with Manorbier.

And if the secrecy which surrounded the coup rather fell apart in the closing hours well at least a lot of local punters joined in the fun and picked up a few quid.

The Manorbier Coup began last autumn...

OCTOBER: Jim Hughes and Terry Whalley, production director of Apeks Marine Equipment, Blackburn, had had some great wins with veteran stayer Good Hand and a couple of disappointments during the Flat season with two-year-olds Uncle Exact and Jacques Reply. They were looking for something to do a job with and Manorbier, sent to the Doncaster sales by trainer David Arbuthnot, looked a likely candidate.

The horse had good juvenile form but hadn't run as a three-year-old and looked unlikely to race again.

Said Jim: "It was scrawny and looked terrible. But it was a big chestnut and I just had a feeling about it." They picked it up for washers - just £500.

NOVEMBER: Manorbier went to Kevin Ryan's stable at Thirsk - where legendary Sir Noel Murless first made his name - and the young trainer wasn't impressed.

He'd seen all sorts during his time as head lad with Jack Berry and Manorbier wasn't well up the list. Jim insisted on an immediate scan - an overall X-ray. It cost a lot of money but it clearly showed that the horse's pelvis was "out".

He must have been in constant pain and it was little wonder that his muscles had wasted, leaving him looking more like a battered old riding school hack than a racehorse.

An experienced specialist vet managed to put it right and Manorbier took on a new lease of life.

DECEMBER: Light exercise and walking was the first step towards getting the four-year-old sprinter fighting fit.

Slowly the horse began to relax and enjoy life trotting and cantering round the fields. "All of a sudden it turned the corner," said Jim.

"One minute it was still feeling very sorry for itself; the next it was tearing round like a bat out of hell." It was then that Jim and Terry began to think of a hefty sting operation early in the new year. Trainer Kevin was thrilled with Manorbier's progress and they began to make plans...

JANUARY: By now Manorbier was fighting fit and enjoying life. But there's a big difference between fighting fit and race fit!

The team had to find a race for him which would bring him on and perhaps remind him what his job was; after all he hadn't run in a race for nearly 18 months.

A 6f race on the all-weather track at Southwell was chosen for his comeback and young Irish jockey Fergal Lynch took the ride.

Manorbier wasn't expected to make any sort of showing, especially from his outside draw and so it proved. Slowly away and running wide, the chestnut finished last.

But his owners and trainers were very pleased that he had come through the race unscathed.

FEBRUARY: Kevin Ryan really began to go to work on Manorbier. Top jockey Kevin Darley was called in to ride the horse in trials and in one of them he came out 20lbs better than the useful French Grit.

He was getting back to somewhere approaching his best two-year-old form.

"Hold him up," advised Darley. "He's a chaser; he wants to chase other horses. Don't let him get in front too early."

Lynch rode him in home gallops and confirmed Darley's view. Two races were earmarked for the coup - a handicap at Wolverhampton last Tuesday, and the seller two days later.

They plumped for the seller. And when the 11 runners were declared it looked cut and dried. Nifty Norman would start favourite and Manorbier could be out with the washing at 25-1.

Of course it didn't quite work out like that. Jim and Terry got plenty of cash on as far away as Scotland, Ireland, Gibraltar and the Canary Islands hoping that the starting price wouldn't take a battering as money began to trickle back to the course. Manorbier opened, fleetingly, at 10-1 and Jim and Terry and a few pals - myself included - steamed in again, forcing the price down to 5-1.

By the off everybody back in East Lancs had wind of the gamble and local bookies were inundated with bets.

Manorbier, sporting the blue and white halves of Blackburn Rovers, broke badly from the stalls, made a move coming into the short straight - and finished like an express train for a narrow, but comfortable, neck victory. Fergal Lynch had timed it to perfection.

Said Darwen bookie Steve Doran: "We all caught a cold on this one. I laid early 10-1 to several hefty bets before the penny dropped.

"I knew Ryan trained it, but I didn't realise it was one of Jimmy's. I'm still kicking myself - and so are the rest of the lads. It cost us thousands. It was like Grand National day. Everybody wanted a bet." On the Friday morning Jim woke up with a head the size of Birkenhead. It had been some party back at Uncle Jack's pub.

"What a coup," he managed to grin through the haze. "Just like old times."

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