Tag Archive for: Ger Lyons

Red Letter confirms her class in Snow Fairy strike

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Red Letter relished the step up in trip to run out a cosy winner of the Snow Fairy Fillies Stakes at the Curragh.

Trained by Ger Lyons, the Juddmonte-owned three-year-old began her season in the 1000 Guineas having not been too far away in the Fillies’ Mile last year.

While she finished seventh in the Newmarket Classic, she was less than three lengths behind Desert Flower, although she was a beaten even-money favourite on her next start down in Listed company.

Lyons kept her to that level at Killarney last time out when she looked ready for further and so it proved in this nine-furlong Group Three contest.

The Frankel filly looked to have conceded first run to John and Thady Gosden’s Sand Gazelle, but when Gary Carroll pulled the 6-5 favourite out she powered home.

The winning margin was a length and a half and she looks ready to step back up in class.

“That was lovely. As I said to Barry (Mahon, Juddmonte racing manager) she’s crying out for that trip but is probably only ready for it now,” said Lyons.

“You can see it in her physically, she’s only filling her frame.

“We’ll have a look at the Blandford. The ground is very important, she needs ease in the ground.

“We have a lovely horse to look forward to next year. We’ve just had to be so patient with her. You can see the size of her there, she was angular, and she should only be starting now.

“Hopefully she’ll fulfil all of her potential in the next 12 months. She’s a filly to look forward to.

“We’re looking forward to the end of this year, which is Champions Weekend – which is very important to us.

“Obviously the family have their say on her, but we’ve been training her with all of this in mind, the back end and next year. It looks like she’s going to fulfil her potential and thank us for being patient.

“I think she can get a mile and a half no problem.”

Red Letter steps up for Group Three Curragh test

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After getting back to winning ways at Killarney, Red Letter creeps up in distance for the Snow Fairy Fillies Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday.

Ger Lyons’ filly was a high-class juvenile who began her three-year-old campaign as a Classic hope and although unable to land a blow in the 1000 Guineas earlier in the season, her latest efforts have seen her get back on track.

Although narrowly beaten by Jessica Harrington’s reopposing hat-trick seeker Barnavara at Navan in June, Red Letter made a welcome return to the winner’s enclosure in Listed company last month, with connections now keen to test the daughter of Frankel over further in this nine-furlong Group Three.

“She’s in good form, Ger is happy with her and we’ve had rain in Ireland, which will help,” said Barry Mahon, European racing manager for owners Juddmonte.

“We’ve been gung-ho all year to go up in trip and this is our first step on that route, so hopefully it will suit. We were heading for a mile and a quarter and this race appeared, so we said we’d go that way and we’re firmly on route to going a mile and a quarter with her.

“I thought she was game and gutsy to win the last day in Killarney, where she needed every yard of the mile, so we’re hopeful we’ll have a good run from her on Saturday.”

John and Thady Gosden’s York Listed winner Sand Gazelle is an interesting contender, with Daniel Tudhope making the trip to Ireland for just ride, while Dermot Weld won the race with Tarawa 12 months ago and attempts to repeat the dose with Meadow Court Stakes runner-up Azada.

Sand Gazelle is the sole British challenger in the Snow Fairy Stakes
Sand Gazelle is the sole British challenger in the Snow Fairy Stakes (Steven Parson/PA)

Pat Downes, general manager for owner the Aga Khan’s Irish studs, said: “Any rain would certainly help as she enjoys a bit of ease in the ground and she’s in great form, so we’re looking forward to letting her take her chance.

“It was a good run behind One Look last time and the ground that day was probably a shade quicker than ideal for her. If the forecast rain has arrived, it should make the ground lovely for her.”

There is also Group Three action in the Heider Family Stables Round Tower Stakes where Aidan O’Brien looks for a sixth victory in 10 years with course-and-distance winner Mission Control.

In opposition is Adrian Murray’s speedy Ipanema Queen, who showed toughness from the front when a Listed course winner recently and now heads back up in distance with her trainer expecting another bold show.

Ipanema Queen (left) is a dual winner at the Curragh
Ipanema Queen (left) is a dual winner at the Curragh (Niall Carson/PA)

Murray said: “She’s progressing nicely and going forward the whole time and I’m sure she will run a big race.

“I’m more than happy to go back up to six furlongs with her. She’s one that we’re kind of looking at the Breeders’ Cup at the backend of the year with. She’s got a lot of likeable qualities and she’s a nice filly going forward.”

Ballydoyle appear to hold all the aces in the Newtownanner Stud Irish EBF Stakes, with Sugar Island and Moments Of Joy the standout names in a field of seven.

In the Paddy Power Supporting Cancer Trials Ireland Irish Cambridgeshire, Ryan Moore teams up with William Haggas’ Lincoln winner Godwinson as they seek another valuable prize.

Monday Musings: Nunthorpe Notices

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Amid all the excitement of the longer-distance Group 1 races set to be staged at next week’s Ebor Festival at York, one that normally commands less attention is the Nunthorpe Stakes, an all-aged 5f sprint, writes Tony Stafford.

In this case, all truly does mean all, as we’ve 27 horses still entered for Friday week’s Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes, the title paying homage to the stud’s closest acknowledged successor to Galileo and the race’s being worth a tasty £340k to its winner.

Ages are represented from seven all the way down to a couple of two-year-olds. True Love, the Queen Mary winner at Royal Ascot and then successful back home in the 6f Railway Stakes, is in the list but she was humbled in the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday.

Whether Aidan O’Brien will be tempted to try to win back some of his employers’ money is an intriguing question. The other juvenile in the original cast was Zelaina, a 650k breeze-up buy for Wathnan Racing who won first time for Karl Burke at Nottingham but flopped at Ascot and again when favourite at Goodwood.

But, and in a season of exceptional achievements from the first crop of Starman, there might just be a left field contender. It comes in the shape of Ger Lyons’ Lady Iman, the first scorer for her fledgling sire at Dundalk as early as March 28, and successful another three times, including impressively in the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood.

Starman, trained for his breeder David Ward by Ed Walker, didn’t make it to the track at two, but the son of Dutch Art made up for it with five wins from eight starts at three and four, including an impressive win from 18 others in the July Cup at Newmarket.

Lady Iman’s story, as ever in racing, is one of one man’s (or family’s) luck meaning another’s misfortune. She was bred by the Tony O’Callaghan family at their Tally-Ho stud which stands Starman. She was sold for £185,000 but returned by the buyer, leaving her to run in wife Anne O’Callaghan’s colours.

By Goodwood, she comfortably won against the colts despite carrying a 3lb Group 3 penalty. She had lost her unbeaten record the time before over 6f at the Curragh when a Wootton Bassett filly from the Ballydoyle yard outstayed her after she had looked the assured winner.

Now Lyons, not entirely of his own volition it seems, has been persuaded by the O’Callaghans to supplement her for the Nunthorpe, where she will aim to be only the third winner of the race of her age since 1992.

That was the year when Richard Hannon senior’s filly Lyric Fantasy started at odds-on under Michael Roberts, now a top trainer in his native South Africa. He did 1lb overweight at 7st8lb. In 2007, the John Best colt Kingsgate Native was a 12/1 shot under Jimmy Quinn and ran home a comfortable winner, belatedly opening his account at the same time.

The Starman success story began with a rush and has continued unabated with I think 16 individual winners, several of them emulating Lady Iman by clocking up multiple wins.

Foremost among them – for now – must be Venetian Sun who completed her unbeaten hat-trick in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket last month. Green Sense, who had been a close second earlier on home soil to Lady Iman, went across to France and won the Prix Robert Papin, a noted Group 2 summer juvenile feature there.

Starman’s owner-breeder David Ward was on hand to see The Prettiest Star, his homebred daughter of the sire, romp away to a wide-margin debut victory in a newcomers’ race at Newmarket on Friday evening. Simon Crisford expects her to be a star and is looking forward to formulating an appropriate programme for her. Ward coyly admits to having “another nine or ten” of that minted first crop “waiting in the wings”, as you do.

Having counted to 16 from the list of Starman winners, I came to a borderline similar result when having a first look through the initial test of potential two-year-old marketability, Goff’s Premier Yearling Sales, staged at Doncaster immediately after York, on the 27th and 28th of August.

Around 400 yearlings will be offered, 17 by my count with Starman as their obvious attraction and five of those coming from Tally-Ho. Should the filly win on the previous Friday, the O’Callaghans will not have to wait long into the Doncaster sale to see how much that will affect prices. Lot 1 is their daughter of Starman out of the Dunaden mare Under Oath. Light blue touch paper and retire? Not quite!

Anne O’Callaghan will be a very much welcomed winner of the Nunthorpe if that should come to pass. She is the sister of John Magnier and there is no question that she, along with Tony and sons Roger and Henry, have not wasted any knowledge picked up from their illustrious relative.

Tally-Ho Stud has been a watchword for developing raw stallion talent into top progenitors, with Mehmas (now €70k from €7.5k in 2020) an obvious example. Kodiak, still going strong at age 24, has settled back down for this year at €25k after peaking at €65k for four seasons (2019-2022) from a starting point of just €5k.

Top sprinter Big Evs (€17.5k) and Champion Stakes winner and Derby runner-up King Of Steel (€20k) were this year’s new additions, but no doubt Roger O’Callaghan will be keeping his eyes open for further prospects for 2026, the new blood that the stud habitually finds under everyone else’s noses!

Joe Fanning, 54 years old but still riding to the top of his ability, has been booked to manage the light weight of 8st and the 27lb his mount receives from the older male sprinters is a compelling attraction.

There was a lovely “where are they now” piece in the Racing Post around the time of Royal Ascot this year where Chris Richardson, boss of Cheveley Park Stud, detailed the many phases of Kingsgate Native’s life.

After the big win at two, he continued to race in John Mayne’s colours at three, although bought by the stud for a projected stallion career, and he added the Golden Jubilee Stakes at three at the Royal meeting.

A first try at stud didn’t work out so he returned to racing, though not with Best, starting with Sir Michael Stoute and continuing until age 11. After that he spent time at the British Racing School. As Chris related, “Anyone who could stay on him had achieved something as he enjoyed throwing the riders off!”

A later phase was his time at the Newmarket Horseracing Museum where he was a celebrity that the regular visitors always sought out. He left there four years ago to spend his time in Cheveley Park’s paddocks but last August he was paraded at York prior to the Nunthorpe. “He spent a couple of weeks at David O’Meara’s before that and he was great,” says Richardson. “We’ve no plans for him now,” he said, adding, “He’s just living a wonderful life”. Just the job for a 20-year-old!

On the basis of even-handedness, what of John Best, who left the training ranks a couple of years ago? I called him over the weekend and he told me he has joined forces with his girlfriend Raeane Turner, who owns the Rhoden Rehabilitation Centre near Tonbridge in Kent, close to where John trained for the whole of his successful career.

“It has been running since 2020. Not the best time to open! We have an equine water treadmill which is used in the rehabilitation after injury but just as much for strength and conditioning. I’m also a great believer in injury prevention. This gets the horses working using all four limbs equally and therefore helps to stop compensatory injuries before they occur. It’s an unbelievable bit of kit.

“We also have a combi floor which is a magnetic vibrating plate that increases blood circulation and provides a full body massage. This is helpful for many types of injury and afterwards for exercise to loosen them up. Finally, in the centre we have a cryotherapy machine which we use to reduce heat and swelling and increase blood supply.

“My principal job though is running the salt and oxygen system. We have it mobile in the back of a 3.5 ton horsebox and go to yards to treat horses with breathing and skin issues. Also, it’s used post-surgery to speed up healing. The horses go in the back of the box and the whole of the back fills with a very fine mist of Dead Sea Salt. They breathe it in and it lands on their skin. I’ve been amazed by the results.

“Horses with allergies or asthma respond really well. We have had horses that the vets cannot stop coughing but we seem to be able to sort it out. We are getting more referrals from vets all the time as our system allows horses to be treated drug-free. Quite often it’s horses they just can’t seem to fix,” he said.

John’s 25-year career had many other highlights apart from the two Group 1 wins from Kingsgate Native. A regular at St Moritz over the winters, he had multiple wins there most years, recognising the right horses to send to race on that frozen lake. Also, in 2008, the year of Kingsgate Native’s Golden Jubilee success, he sent three horses to run in the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity on the Polytrack at Keeneland in Kentucky and won with Square Eddie. His other two runners finished fourth and eighth.

A very nice and knowledgeable guy. I wish him well.

- TS

Joe Fanning booked for Nunthorpe favourite Lady Iman

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Joe Fanning has been booked to ride Goodwood winner Lady Iman in the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes at York later this month.

The two-year-old filly will have to be supplemented for the Group One sprint but after winning the Molecomb Stakes – Lady Iman’s fourth victory in five career starts – owners the O’Callaghan family indicated they would be keen to pitch their juvenile into the all-aged contest.

While trainer Ger Lyons admits he is not usually in favour of running two-year-olds against older horses, he feels Lady Iman has all the right qualities to take on the test, with the services of lightweight Fanning already secured for the Starman filly, who would carry just 8st 2lb on the Knavesmire.

Lyons said: “I’ve just booked Joe Fanning to ride her (in the Nunthorpe). Joe sat beside me in the weigh room.

“It’s what Roger (O’Callaghan) wants and if she goes and wins the Nunthorpe we’ll all be delighted.

“Personally, I don’t like seeing babies taking on older horses. If we ever have one to do it’s her as she has the temperament, but we have to get there yet.”

Lady Iman is the general 4-1 favourite for the five-furlong contest, with a supplementary entry costing £40,000.

2025 Phoenix Stakes Trends

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Run on Saturday 9th Aug 2025 at the Curragh racecourse, Ireland, the Phoenix Stakes is a Group One contest run over 6f and in recent times has been dominated by a certain Aidan O’Brien, who’s landed the prize a staggering 17 times since 1998.

We look back at past winners and highlight the key trends to apply to the race.

Recent Phoenix Stakes Winners

2024 - Babouche (5/2)
2023 - Bucanero Fuerte (9/4)
2022 - Little Big Bear (13/8)
2021 – Ebro River (12/1)
2020 - Lucky Vega (4/1)
2019 - Siskin (10/11 fav)
2018 – Advertise (11/10 fav)
2017 – Sioux Nation (2/1)
2016 – Caravaggio (1/8 fav)
2015 – Air Force Blue (9/4)
2014 – Dick Whittington (6/1)
2013 – Sudirman (4/1)
2012 – Pedro The Great (10/1)
2011 – La Collina (33/1)
2010 – Zoffany (3/1)
2009 – Alfred Nobel (5/4 fav)
2008 – Mastercraftsman (4/1)
2007 – Saoirse Abu (25/1)
2006 – Holy Roman Emperor (13/8 jfav)
2005 – George Washington (8/13 fav)
2004 – Damson (8/11 fav)
2003 – One Cool Cat (11/8)
2002 – Spartacus (16/1)


Phoenix Stakes Key Trends

22/23 – Had won over 6 or 7f before
22/23 – Had run in a Group race before
21/23 – Won by an Irish-based trainer
21/23 – Finished in the top two last time out
20/23 – Previous winners over 6f
17/23 – Had won at least two races before
17/23 – Returned 4/1 or shorter in the betting
16/23 – Placed favourites
15/23 – Had 3 or more previous runs that season
15/23 – Had won a Group 2 or 3 before
14/23 – Had won at the Curragh before
14/23 – Ran at the Curragh last time out
13/23 – Winning distance of 1 length or less
13/23 – Trained by Aidan O’Brien (6 of the last 13) (17 in total)
10/23 – Won by either a March or April foal
7/23 – Winning favourites
7/23 – Won by a March foal
5/23 – Returned a double-figure price in the betting
3/23 – Ran Leopardstown last time out
2/23 – Ridden by Shane Foley (2 of last 5 runnings)
Trainer Ger Lyons has won 2 of the last 6
The average winning SP in the last 10 runnings is 11/4
Caravaggio (2016) was the last Coventry Stakes winner to win the Phoenix Stakes

 

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Nunthorpe challenge still in the mix for Lady Iman

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The Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes remains a tantalising option for Lady Iman after she provided the O’Callaghan family with another memorable moment in a dream summer at Goodwood.

It is often said that one man’s misfortune is another man’s gain and after bringing the hammer down for £185,000 at the sales before being returned to her breeders following a failed post-sale veterinary examination, few would have blamed the O’Callaghans of Tally-Ho Stud fame for feeling despondent.

However, sent into training with Ger Lyons, Lady Iman has proven a standard-bearer in more ways than one, both excelling on the track in the O’Callaghan silks and becoming the perfect advertisement for Tally-Ho’s freshman sire Starman in the process.

After three straight victories Lady Iman and her striking white face met a bump in the road at the Curragh in the Airlie Stud Stakes, but was soon back showcasing the speed that has been a hallmark of her career to date to leave the opposition trailing with a dazzling display in the Molecomb Stakes.

“It was great to see her win again and we’re living the dream and we’ll see where she takes us,” said Roger O’Callaghan, son of Tony and Anne O’Callaghan.

“She’s been awesome since we couldn’t sell her. Before Christmas she was showing plenty and looked a bit different. She’s always shown loads and her temperament is second to none. She is why Starman looks to be a good stallion, as she has got his speed and his temperament.

“We’re all enjoying it and hopefully we’re not finished yet.”

Lady Iman returns after her Goodwood win
Lady Iman returns after her Goodwood win (Andrew Matthews/PA)

It was not just the speed shown by Lady Iman on the racecourse the O’Callaghans enjoyed at Goodwood, as unlike their star performer, they were asked to take the foot off their gas when getting to experience horse power of a different kind and invited to try out the South Downs’ famous motor circuit.

And having enjoyed the hospitality provided during Lady Iman’s first raid to Britain, the owners are now left to ponder the next steps of the thriving juvenile’s career.

With a ticket to the $1million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint ready to be cashed in later in the year courtesy of her Molecomb triumph, the chance to become the first two-year-old Nunthorpe winner since Kingsgate Native in 2007 is getting connections thinking after she was made the general 4-1 favourite for a daring raid on the Knavesmire’s sprint feature.

“Personally I would like to go for the Nunthorpe,” continued O’Callaghan.

“Dad and myself own the filly together and dad might prefer the filly to stick to her own age group, but if she’s fit and well, I would like to take on the elders, you have to live the dream and live for the moment.

“We’ll worry about it when the time comes, there’s a few weeks yet and we would have to write a bit of a cheque (to supplement), so we’ll see.

“The trainer is very keen on the Breeders’ Cup and Goodwood was a ‘win and you’re in’. We’ll take it one day at a time, but I would like to go to York next.”

Lady Iman makes light work of Molecomb task

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Ger Lyons has his sights on America – and possibly York before that – after Lady Iman made a successful Goodwood raid to regain the winning thread in the HKJC World Pool Molecomb Stakes.

The daughter of Starman had dazzled in her opening three outings but lost her unbeaten record to Aidan O’Brien’s Beautify at the Curragh in the Airlie Stud Stakes.

Reverting to five furlongs for her first taste of action on British soil, she was sent off the 11-8 favourite and Ryan Moore kept things simple, travelling smoothly in the slipstream of the early leaders before taking over in the final furlong where she was not for catching.

Lady Iman taking victory in her stride
Lady Iman taking victory in her stride (PA)

Tim Easterby’s consistent Argentine Tango gave chase in vain for an honourable second, with Kevin Ryan’s early pacesetter Dickensian in third.

Lyons said: “Sweet this, because I love the filly. I ran her over six and my jockey kept telling me she should be going five.

“But as Ryan just said if she gets a low draw at Del Mar she wins, but then he also said we should head for the Nunthorpe. If that’s what he says and it’s what the owners want to do then we will.

“I got such a buzz out of Del Mar last year that I’d like to be going back with something special and if I’m allowed that’s where I’ll go with her.”

Suzie Songs in tune to upset Flushing Meadows

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Colin Keane conjured a fine tune from Suzie Songs to edge out Flushing Meadows in a thrilling finish to the Jebel Ali Racecourse And Stables Anglesey Stakes at the Curragh.

Keane and trainer Ger Lyons may have been disappointed to see Lady Iman lose her unbeaten record only 35 minutes earlier but quickly gained their revenge on Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore with the Moyglare Stud-owned daughter of Starspangledbanner.

A winner on debut at Cork, Suzie Songs was sent off the 7-2 second-favourite for this Group Three event and it was the market principals who came to the fore inside the final furlong, as Suzie Songs and 1-4 favourite Flushing Meadows engaged in a duel to the finishing post, with only a short head separating the pair at the finish.

Lyons had won the race with his Group One star Babouche 12 months ago and was delighted to find the scoresheet once again, as he now eyes stepping up in trip for the Moyglare Stud Stakes back at the Curragh in September.

He said: “It was a last-minute decision (to run), but the beautiful thing about training for Moyglare is you are allowed to do that, there are no set plans.

“I’m blessed with owners like that, I wake up and I change my mind and do whatever.

“We were watching the entries, it wasn’t the plan and she hasn’t worked since Cork and I just threw her in.

“I thought it got to her today so we’ll give her a wee break and we’ll come back for the Moyglare. It’s a race I’d love to put on the CV.

“We’ve a horse last night that ran well (Justiciar) and this filly. We have a nice bunch of horses heading that route.

“Colin said in Cork that she wanted further and sticking to the original plan her next race would have been seven, but this presented itself during the week with no entries, so here we are.”

Lady Iman likely to swerve Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot

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Lady Iman, a leading fancy for the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot next week, is not a definite runner.

Trainer Ger Lyons is considering other options for the unbeaten Starman filly, with the Balanchine Stakes on June 28 at the Curragh – better known as the Airlie Stud Stakes – a likely target before she steps up to Group One class.

“I’ll talk to the owners before I make the entry or not but as we stand I can only tell you that my understanding is we might stay at home for the Balanchine/Phoenix/Moyglare or Cheveley Park later on, that’s the route we are thinking at the minute,” Lyons told the Nick Luck Daily podcast.

“She’s in good order, she’s been push-button for me and I know I’ll get slated by the perceived experts for not lining up in Ascot but anybody who knows me knows Ascot is not the be-all-and-end-all for me, it’s all about the future of the horse going forward.”

One who Lyons is taking over the water is Babouche, winner of the Phoenix Stakes last year and a horse who impressed when winning at Naas last time out.

“I’m never confident. Babouche is a star and if she never runs again she owes us all nothing,” said Lyons.

“I loved what she did at Naas, is that good enough? I don’t know.

“It’s a very strong race and I’d be very worried of the Godolphin horse (Shadow Of Light) who was placed in the Guineas dropping back and there’s more than that.

“Then you need luck in running. I wouldn’t be overly confident with my string at the moment, the way they are performing.

“I wouldn’t be jumping up and down about my string heading into Ascot, I’d rather be in a better frame of mind with them but if I’m happy with them I’ll send them.”

Monday Musings: Noel Martin’s Quest Lives On

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Two events, either end of the past seven days, were a cause for sadness and poignancy, writes Tony Stafford. Last Monday Noel Martin, the Jamaican-born Birmingham resident, died age 60. Yesterday at Chantilly, the three-year-old filly Onassis, daughter of Martin’s brilliant but luckless race-mare Jacqueline Quest, won a Listed race at Chantilly.

Martin’s life story was well-known. A lifelong racing fan, he had been among a large group of British construction workers based in Germany in the mid-1990’s. While driving his car one day in June 1996, Martin was targeted by a Neo-Nazi, a 17-year-old youth who threw a 6-kilogram concrete block at the car’s windscreen simply because of his colour. Martin lost control, hit a tree and was left as a quadriplegic with no control of either his legs or arms.

Amazingly, he pursued his love of racing, becoming an owner and winning two Royal Ascot races in 2006 – the well-tried double of the Ascot Stakes and Queen Alexandra Stakes – with Baddam, trained by Mick Channon.

This came at a time when he was considering travelling back to Germany to have an assisted suicide, so greatly did he suffer. He related in one interview, “Sometimes I didn’t leave the house more than two or three times in a year”, talking of non-stop pain in his feet. A television documentary was made about his planned suicide, but Martin took exception to elements of it. Soon after, he changed his mind about ending his life and founded a charity aimed at challenging racial hatred.

An exchange scheme between young people in Germany and Birmingham became the focal point of his later years. Jacqueline Quest was certainly a major part and nobody who was on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket for the 2010 1,000 Guineas will ever forget the scenes. Martin, in his wheelchair, having welcomed back his Sir Henry Cecil-trained 66-1 winner, had to endure the shock of her being disqualified in favour of the Criquette Head-trained favourite, Special Duty.

Watching the race again now, it is possible to see why the result was amended as Tom Queally, on the winner, changed his whip into his left hand late on. It did provide the impetus to wrest the initiative back from the French filly, but also contributed to her general right-handed drift throughout the closing stages. That said, actual interference seemed minimal and it must have been a tight decision in the stewards’ room.

Martin’s stoic acceptance of the result was admirable and, while Jacqueline Quest – named for his wife Jacqueline who died in 2000 from cancer, very early into his many years of infirmity – never won another race, she was destined to have quite a say in the world of thoroughbred breeding.

For mares to succeed, they need to find the right owners, and in Major Christopher Hanbury of Triermore Stud, Co Meath, that was certainly the case. Even though Jacqueline Quest’s subsequent racing years were unproductive, finishing at nearby trainer Ian Williams, who had also handled Baddam later in his career, she still realised 600,000gns when sold as a four-year-old at Tattersall’s December sales. Not a bad return for a filly, originally bought for €60,000 in Ireland as a yearling.

Hanbury mated her with Galileo, a union which has been repeated several times since. The first two products, Hibiscus, sold for 625,000 gns, and World War (1.2 million gns), were minor winners for Aidan O’Brien and Ger Lyons respectively. They, and all those that followed, were prepared for the sale at Peter Stanley’s New England stud. Next came Hidden Dragon, who was twice withdrawn from sales, first as a yearling and then as a two-year-old catalogued from Ballydoyle. Now an unraced five-year-old, he is listed as being in the ownership of J P McManus with Joseph O’Brien.

Triermore’s fourth Galileo mating resulted in the October 2017 sale of Line Of Duty for 400,000 gns to Godolphin. Charlie Appleby trained him and memorably won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf race with him at Churchill Downs. That proved his last win. He finished eighth in Anthony Van Dyck’s Derby and sadly died at the end of last year.

For his 2017 mating, Hanbury switched to Galileo’s great rival, Dubawi. Obviously, Line Of Duty hadn’t started racing yet and I’m sure the Dubawi mating was planned with a Godolphin yearling purchase in mind. Instead, at the sales, Jacqueline Quest had her least lucrative result, the filly that would be named Onassis going to a bid of “only” 200,000 gns. It was effectively a buy-back which resulted in a partnership between Triermore Stud and Peter Stanley.

They sent the cleverly-named Onassis to Newmarket trainer Charlie Fellowes and the pair must have been delighted when she won at the sixth time of asking a Newcastle fillies’ nursery off a mark of 75 last October with Hayley Turner in the saddle.

Onassis was subsequently off the track until last month. Returning in the Sandringham Stakes at Royal Ascot, again partnered by Turner, she won at 33-1, exactly repeating for connections the previous year’s result in the same race when Thanks Be, trained by Fellowes, also won at 33-1 giving Hayley her first Royal Ascot victory.

After this year’s Ascot, Turner suffered an injury which kept her off the track for three weeks, so she was unable to ride Onassis in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom. Onassis finished a creditable fourth under Ryan Moore in that Group 3 event.

Hayley, though, was fit again for Chantilly and she brought Onassis through from some way back to win nicely. There was a brief reminder of that Guineas disqualification a decade earlier when the Chantilly stewards looked into their winding route through, which seemed slightly to inconvenience one of the runners, but the result was soon confirmed. Maybe in less enlightened days, the Jacqueline Quest family might have suffered another “injustice”.

Onassis has raced nine times for three wins, and Turner is three for three on her. As the first woman to ride 100 winners in a season and only the second after Gay Kelleway to win a Royal Ascot race, she is a true icon of the sport. Twenty years on from her first win, she retains all her charm and riding talent. How fitting that in Hollie Doyle she has a successor who may one day (how about this year?) challenge for the jockeys’ championship. She, too, has a century and a Royal Ascot win to her name. A Group 1 is the next ambition for Doyle to match Turner’s achievements.

There remains one more chapter in the Jacqueline Quest story waiting to unfold as Charlie Appleby has charge for Godolphin of the latest product of that well-tried marriage. Line Of Duty’s full-brother, now a two-year-old, sold last year for 1.1 million gns, and will hopefully appear on the track in the not too far distant future.

Meanwhile, it seems that Appleby has decided against confronting Enable again with Ghaiyyath, who beat her with such panache in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes earlier this month in Saturday’s Qipco King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. The entries will be eagerly anticipated this morning, but you get the feeling from that first run back that the great mare might be as good as ever at the age of six.

Presumably Ghaiyyath will wait for York, whose race committee will be hoping that, like Goodwood next Saturday, they might be permitted to have at least one day with public attending. A crowd of 5,000 will be allowed at Goodwood on Saturday week. I’ve always wanted to excuse myself one year from the Sussex Downs in favour of a first look at Galway, as they clash every year. Seems like I’ll be stuck on the sofa for an 18th straight week instead of doing either!

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Like Noel Martin, the recently knighted Sir Graham Wylie enjoyed his racing, so much so that at one time he had 80 horses in training with Howard Johnson in Co Durham. The partnership was already creaking a little when Johnson lost his licence over a serious horse welfare issue, since when Wylie had his reduced team of 20 split between Willie Mullins and Paul Nicholls. And now the founder of the Sage software company has decided – at Noel Martin’s all-too-young age of 60 – to take a step back from ownership.

Over in Ireland, one trainer who is inexorably moving into the top echelon of his trade is Ger Lyons. Already trainer of Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Siskin this year, he followed with success in Saturday’s Irish Oaks with the 10-1 shot Even So. Lyons runs Siskin in the Sussex Stakes next week when Frankie Dettori is on the bench waiting for the call if Colin Keane decides not to suffer the two-week quarantine requirement by coming over.

Even So had a trio of Coolmore-owned fillies as well as Jessica Harrington’s favourite Cayenne Pepper to beat on Saturday, but she readily outstayed the Harrington filly. She runs for a partnership of the wives of John Magnier and Paul Shanahan, hence the pink colours.

On Sunday at The Curragh Lyons followed up in the Group 2 Kilboy Estates Stakes for fillies with Lemista. This was the fourth win in succession for the daughter of Raven’s Pass, but the first in the colours of her new owner, Peter M Brant. Yes, Ger Lyons is truly in the big time now.