Swan Left In Complete Amazement At Aintree Crowd

After Charlie Swan announced his decision to retire from the saddle after twenty years, he was left in 'complete amazement' at the reaction of the Aintree crowd on Saturday following his final winner aboard Patriot Games.

The nine-time Irish champion jockey failed to make his last ride a winning one, finishing third on Like-A-Butterfly in the Martell Cognac Aintree Hurdle, and earlier in the afternoon he took a fall from Take Flite in the first race of the day.

Swan returned to Ireland on Sunday to saddle his first two runners as a full-time trainer at Tramore.

Swan said on Sunday: 'I couldn't believe the reaction of the crowd as I was being led around the parade ring on both my mounts. Everyone was clapping me. It was amazing and it was the same story on the way to the start for the two races. They also clapped me when I got up after my fall in the first race.

'But mind you, there is always one who sees things differently and one chap, who had obviously backed Take Flite, let me know in no uncertain terms that I should have retired on Friday.'

Reflecting on his career, Swan, 35, picked out three days that stand out in his memory as being extra special.

He said: 'Istabraq's third Champion Hurdle was probably the best day of all. But riding my first Cheltenham Festival winner, Trapper John, in the 1990 Stayers Hurdle was a big day and winning the Whitbread on Ushers Island in 1994 also meant a lot as it came three years after the controversial disqualification of Cahervillahow in the same race.'

Swan added: 'I have a lot of other good memories, including my association with Danoli. Winning on him twice at Aintree and once at Cheltenham and winning the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Viking Flagship come easily to mind.'

Speaking of his decision to retire and concentrate on training, Swan said: 'At the start of this season, I began thinking that I might give up after Cheltenham or Aintree. Over the past few weeks, I wasn't getting any buzz from riding moderate horses at the ordinary meetings. I was still enjoying the bigger occasions and I felt that I could go on riding. But I decided I wanted to give training all my time. It has been quite hard trying to mix the two.

'I have 45 horses but there's room for more. I would like to build up to around 60 and get a few more decent horses.'

Swan currently trains eight horses for JP McManus, including Patriot Games. McManus also supplied him with his first winner as a trainer, Fawn Prince, at Bellewstown, four years ago.

Final Assault, trained by his father, Donald, provided the then 16-year-old Swan with his first win at Naas in March 1983. His winners as an apprentice on the Flat included a Group 3 success at Phoenix Park on the John Hayden-trained The Bean Sidhe.

However it was as a jump jockey that he was to excel. His nine Irish titles were won in consecutive seasons from 1989-90 to 1997-98. His decision to stop riding in steeplechases, made after he won on the Tony Martin-trained Any Port at Dundalk in September 1998, effectively ended any chance of further championships.

Other important wins included the 1993 Irish Grand National on Ebony Jane while Life Of A Lord, who supplied him with a second Whitbread Gold Cup success in 1996, also won that year's Galway Place with Swan on board.

However, Martell Grand National success eluded him with Last Of The Brownies (5th) in 1990 being the closest he came in eight attempts. He was placed on Cahervillahow in the 1993 false start Grand National 'that never was'.

His career tally, jumps and Flat combined, amounted to 1,312 winners and he rode more winners over jumps in Ireland (1,188) than any other jockey. He was twice leading rider at the Cheltenham Festival, in 1993 and 1994. He rode a total of 17 winners at the Festival and 10 at the Aintree Grand National meeting.