Her job with the Nottinghamshire fire service involves monitoring and improving the physical fitness of 1,000 crew members and administrative staff within the county.It is not a position which makes this 25-year-old Yorkshire lass, daughter of the former West Bromwich Albion and Wales footballer Dick Krzywicki, universally popular. Tara Krzywicki has her work cut out in tomorrow’s Great North Cross-Country at Durham, where she faces a world-class field including the Olympic 10,000 metres champion, Fernanda Ribeiro, and the world 10,000m champion and silver medallist respectively, Gete Wami and Paula Radcliffe.
But Krzywicki copes on a regular basis with a task at least as daunting. Tara Krzywicki has her work cut out in tomorrow’s Great North Cross-Country at Durham, where she faces a world-class field including the Olympic 10,000 metres champion, Fernanda Ribeiro, and the world 10,000m champion and silver medallist respectively, Gete Wami and Paula Radcliffe. Not for a moment, though, did any of us believe that will be the last we will hear of Limestone Lad.. The mud irritation that caused him to miss his last engagement – surely the equine equivalent of a fish with a water allergy – has cleared up. And even if Istabraq reasserts his authority over the shorter two-mile trip, it is clear that Limestone Lad’s career is going to be played out in the public glare, with all the attendant pressures that fame and expectation bring.On the day of my visit, Oblivion TV, who provide racing coverage for Irish Television, were there with a camera crew as “the Lad” showed his voracious appetite for work with an early morning climb up Gathabawn Hill which rises 1,000ft directly behind the Bowe’s family home.The camera tracked the gelding as he disappeared into the mist and all we were left with was the echo of hoofbeats descending the hill.

To plan any longer than that is tempting fate”.With that in mind, Limestone Lad has been kept on the go and Sunday’s race will be his ninth of the season. He’s a family pet.”Not withstanding the sincerity of the sentiments, Limestone Lad is a family pet more akin to the 10ft alligator in the bath than the spaniel lounging in front of the fire.Michael has been hospitalised twice by the “pet”, getting his head stitched from a well-aimed butt and his jaw-bone broken when losing a battle with a flying hind leg.With ne’er a nod to Harold Wilson, Michael trenchantly asserts that “a week is a long time in the life of a racehorse. Ever the pragmatists, they are refusing to be swept away with the euphoria. “We met Istabraq on our terms, two and a half miles in heavy going, and I always thought that if we were fit enough we would give Le Coudray a good run, so I wouldn’t get too carried away.”Aidan O’Brien concurs: “Istabraq is very well and I would imagine two miles in Leopardstown will be in his favour, but Limestone Lad has come on too.”As for selling him it’s not even an option the Bowes would consider. “He was born here on the farm and he’s been reared here,” Michael says.

“He’s the first thing I see every morning and the last thing every night. “We gave him time to mature and it’s paid off,” Michael says “He’s a very tough horse, but we were never hard on him We never thought he’d be that good. He’s made a fool of me more than once and we are amazed at his improvement.”They pertinently point out that if they had sold him on to some big outfit – and they have had many serious offers – his new handler would have been credited with the training miracle. “He is a relentless galloper with, so far, impeccable jumping and he has matured into something very special.”It is here that his owners and trainers, the father and son team of Jim and Michael Bowe, readily concur. Oddly enough it is the man responsible for this rating, the Irish National Hunt Handicapper, Noel O’Brien, who subscribes most to the movie scenario “He’s a phenomenon. He’s a cross between National Velvet and Phar Lap [the indomitable Australian legend and also the subject of a film],” O’Brien says. Our only chance was for him to come back to us.” In fact, such was Limestone Lad’s dominance that their only chance was to wait for him to come around again.That is the scene that has been played out at Fairyhouse, Navan and Leopardstown in recent weeks to the extent that Limestone Lad now has the second highest handicap rating in Britain and Ireland, a mere 7lb behind Istabraq.Since November, Limestone Lad has risen an unprecedented and jaw-dropping 4st 8lb to a handicap mark of 174.