Tag Archive for: Ruling Court

Monday Musings: The Ups and (Kentucky) Downs of Racing

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One of the enduring funniest moments in all of racing to my mind was the time when jockey Adam Beschizza was called into a stewards’ inquiry at Newmarket, writes Tony Stafford. Not one of the “faces” among the jockeys at the time, the lead in the stewarding panel asked him his name. “Beschizza”, he replied, omitting to add the requisite, “sir” after the name. The steward continued, “Well, Mr Biscuit.”

I doubt he has had a similar episode in the now eight years he has been riding in the United States. He left in 2017 when he rode 39 winners – his joint-best tally – all his mounts earning £266,382.

On Saturday evening at Kentucky Downs, riding the two-year-old newcomer Ground Support in a maiden special weight race, he came home in front. As the horses passed the post, 40/1 jumped up on the Sky Sports Racing screen. The starting price in the Racing Post on Sunday morning was 101/1.

Normally you might expect a lesser disparity, and more often the other way around. It ended a notable day for Adam’s family. His aunt and cousin, Julia and Shelley Birkett - Julia formerly trained as Feilden, her maiden name, until joining forces with her daughter earlier this year – had a great evening themselves nearer home at Chelmsford.

From three runners, Sam’s Express (16/5) and Rusheen Boy (9/2) both won, while their middle runner Mrs Meader, a soft-ground specialist forced to run on AW but declared overpriced by her trainers, was second at 40/1. If she had come in first, the 1,025/1 hat-trick would truly have taken the biscuit.

Enough of contrived intros and now we must mention the shock news that Ryan Moore, said by Aidan O’Brien to have been riding with a broken leg for the last two months, is likely to miss the rest of the season.

Additionally, Ballydoyle and its Coolmore paymasters will also have to accept the absence of their highly effective number two Wayne Lordan for a while. He collected a ten-day riding ban at Goodwood last Sunday, a sanction which he is aiming to overturn. If he fails, the big Irish Champions weekend will have to go on without him, as will the St Leger, a race the stable has won eight times including the last twice.

Aidan O’Brien’s span has been from 2001, the first of them being Milan. That was the year when Michael Tabor, Jeremy Noseda and I watched on for hours in the lunchroom of our hotel in Lexington, Kentucky as the scenes from the bombing of the twin towers in New York earlier that day made such an impact on the world.

We were all there for Keeneland sales, the first day of which had to be postponed for 24 hours. With travel plans disrupted, Tabor’s plane home was very much in demand from UK trainers and others, and I just missed the cut on the Friday, I think, so missed getting back in time for the big race. John Magnier, of course, got out a day earlier!

Aidan’s speed of acquisition of England’s oldest Classic is impressive, but he needs to up the ante in both numerical and time terms as 19th Century trainer John Scott won the races 16 times in a 35-year span from 1827-1862, a record they said at the time, “would never be beaten!” You never know with the master of Ballydoyle.

No doubt jockey agents will be on the lookout for possible rides for their employers, with the top squadron like Oisin Murphy, William Buick and Tom Marquand offering obvious attraction. At home Aidan has been giving plenty of rides to the 5lb claimer Jack Cleary.

He had a mount yesterday at Tipperary but Lordan, whose ban is yet to kick in, was in the saddle for the stable’s three remaining runners, in a maiden, a Group 3 and a Listed contest.

Such a blow for Ryan Moore comes at a most inconvenient time of the year when so many massive prizes are available around the world, and the O’Brien stable is often represented in them. Fortunately, the 41-year-old has built up a nice cushion over the years as he has deservedly earnt the accolade as the best jockey in the world, and not just from professionals in the UK and Ireland either.

If losing their main jockey for a lengthy spell was a blow for Coolmore, their long-term major rivals Godolphin suffered an even more devastating setback last week. Ruling Court, the winner of the 2,000 Guineas this spring, has had to be put down due to laminitis, a serious and often incurable foot condition.

A son of Justify, the US Triple Crown winner and already a prolific sire on both sides of the Atlantic, Ruling Court held off Field Of Gold in the Newmarket Classic, a race that cost Kieran Shoemark, the runner-up’s rider, his job with the Gosden stable.

Third on his next run behind Field Of Gold in the St James’s Palace Stakes at the Royal meeting, he ran what was to be his swansong with another solid third place behind Delacroix and Ombudsman in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in early July.

He would have been an obvious potential successor to the ageing but still firing Dubawi at Darley Stud where he would have commanded a substantial fee for his first season as a stallion in 2026.

Many of Godolphin’s finest days were achieved with Frankie Dettori in the saddle and the former champion, now residing with much material and emotional satisfaction in the US, teamed up with three UK-based trainers to collect some of the even more substantial prizemoney at Kentucky Downs, scene of Adam Beschizza’s earlier score. Adam’s race was worth $101,000 to the winner, so would have been equivalent to three months’ activity for him back here in 2017 for just over a minute’s work!

Dettori was operating at a far higher end of the scale, teaming up with James Owen on the Gredley family’s Wimbledon Hawkeye, whose form this year ties in with Ruling Court, to whom he was fifth in the 2,000 Guineas. He has been toiling all season, usually getting close to the better three-year-old milers and middle-distance horses.

Last time out before Saturday, Wimbledon Hawkeye was nosed out by the rapidly improving William Haggas horse Merchant in the Gordon Stakes over a mile and a half at Goodwood. That run alone was enough to send him off the favourite for a 10.5-furlong Grade 3 race that carried only around 20 grand less than the Derby to the winner and was called the DK Horse Nashville Derby Invitation Stakes.

Dettori’s day was sublime with a third place for Charlie Hills in a Grade 2 and fourth for Hugo Palmer in a second Grade 3. Kentucky Downs has been a track that from modest beginnings has rapidly become an entity with high prizemoney. James Owen mused that more UK trainers should be targeting the races there as the course is all grass with no US dirt to be seen. Why this emerging training talent in which Bill, son Tim and the rest of the family operation have put so much faith, should want to advertise the track’s splendours, I can only shake my head in wonder.

Next year though, for this fixture, the top stables will be chartering the planes and no doubt the evergreen Mr Dettori will be happy to offer his skills. Tim Gredley goes back a long way with Dettori and says at one time they lived next door to each other. They have both had exciting lives to say the least since then, with Tim enjoying great success as a show jumper and point-to-point rider until taking charge of his nonagenarian father’s racing interests.

And of Frankie, what more is there to say? Well, how about that he rode a 2391/1 four-timer at the same track last night!

- TS

Shock death announced of 2000 Guineas hero Ruling Court

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Ruling Court, winner of the 2000 Guineas earlier in the season, has been euthanised following complications due to laminitis, Godolphin have announced

Trained by Charlie Appleby, the Justify colt formed one half of a memorable Guineas weekend for Moulton Paddocks in May, as he saw off top-class rival Field of Gold to scoop Classic honours 24 hours before stablemate Desert Flower repeated the dose in the 1000 Guineas.

A tilt at the Derby was scuppered by soft ground on the day at Epsom, but Ruling Court went on to finish third in both the St James’ Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and a high-class renewal of the Coral-Eclipse – a run which would be the final outing of a six-race career that also saw him win the Jumeirah 2000 Guineas at Meydan in March.

Appleby told www.godolphin.com: “Everyone at Godolphin is deeply saddened by the loss of Ruling Court.

“He gave everyone a fantastic day at Newmarket in May and he will be sorely missed. I would like to thank all of the team, who did everything they could to save him.”

Appleby targets winning farewell for Desert Flower

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Charlie Appleby is keen to find his 1000 Guineas heroine Desert Flower a suitable opportunity to go out on a high ahead of her planned retirement at the end of the season.

The Moulton Paddocks handler enjoyed a Classic double at Newmarket in early May, with Desert Flower’s success preceded by victory for Ruling Court in the 2000 Guineas the previous afternoon, but both have come up short in their subsequent top-level assignments.

Ruling Court will join Prix Maurice de Gheest-bound stablemate Shadow Of Light in action at Deauville in the coming weeks, but it is still to be determined where Desert Flower will be seen next as Appleby eyes the perfect end to the high-class filly’s career after she was beaten into third place as a hot favourite for the Oaks last month.

Desert Flower won the 1000 Guineas in May
Desert Flower won the 1000 Guineas in May (Joe Giddens/PA)

“Epsom took it’s toll on her and she’s back in work now, but I’m not going to pigeon-hole her into any race just yet,” said Appleby.

“There’s only really two races left for her and she’s not going to be a Breeders’ Cup filly. She could be a Prix Jean Romanet filly and realistically that is going to come too soon, but we’ll have to see.

“She’s a filly that owes us nothing and was always going to be retired at the end of this season. She’s far from retirement yet though and I just want to pick the right race to finish it off.

“It could be either a mile or 10 furlongs. A mile event might just become an easier option as the mile-and-a-quarter and mile-and-a-half fillies look the stronger divisions at the moment, so I would probably look for something at a mile if I could.”

Ruling Court (right) winning the 2000 Guineas
Ruling Court (right) winning the 2000 Guineas (Joe Giddens/PA)

There may be some indecision regarding Desert Flower’s next assignment, but the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano was immediately highlighted by Appleby as Ruling Court’s next destination following his creditable third place finish in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown.

Appleby added: “He’s targeted to head to Deauville and I’m a big believer in getting their heads in front to gain confidence.

“It’s pointless stepping up and stepping up and keep getting chinned as after a certain amount of time they lose interest. There’s a method behind it and hopefully it pays off.”

Ruling Court to step up in trip after Ascot defeat

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A belated step up in trip is likely for Ruling Court following his Royal Ascot reversal, with both the Coral-Eclipse and the Grand Prix de Paris under consideration.

Charlie Appleby’s 2000 Guineas hero was slated for an immediate leap up to a mile and a half for the Derby before being withdrawn on the day at Epsom and subsequently remained at a mile for an all-star rematch with Newmarket runner-up Field Of Gold in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

However, after seeing his Rowley Mile rival turn around the Guineas form in style, Appleby is now relishing the next stage of his career up in distance, despite also being eager to see how the cards fall into place before playing his hand.

“We’re very much letting the dust settle but the signs are he has very much come out of the race well,” said Appleby.

The son of Justify already has a Classic to his name
The son of Justify already has a Classic to his name (David Davies for the Jockey Club/PA)

“We’ll see where respective winners from the whole meeting go in respects to where we may head. Ombudsman was of course very impressive in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and it will be interesting to see where John and Thady (Gosden) steer him towards.

“We’ve mooted an Eclipse with our fellow but I’m not afraid of going straight up to a mile and a half which we were going to do in the Derby and we have got the option of the Grand Prix de Paris.

“It’s your last option against three-year-olds so that could be a nice race to take a look at, but we’ll let a bit more dust settle before we confirm a plan.”

While Ruling Court may be heading up in distance, it appears likely Appleby’s other Classic scorer Desert Flower will be dropping back in trip after her third at Epsom in the Oaks.

Desert Flower was beaten when favourite for the Oaks
Desert Flower was beaten when favourite for the Oaks (David Davies for the Jockey Club/PA)

Sent off the 11-10 favourite after a sublime performance on her return in the 1000 Guineas, the challenge of Epsom on rain-softened ground ultimately proved too much, with the Moulton Paddocks handler happy to give her as much time as necessary to recover from her Oaks exertions.

“You know she’s had a race at Epsom for sure and as I’ve said previously the ground and the track were the undoing of us,” added Appleby.

“It might have looked like she stayed but I don’t think she did being brutally honest, or didn’t stay well enough for that level.

“I’m going to give her a little bit of time and there’s plenty of options for her at a mile and a mile and a quarter. She’s a filly who owes us nothing and for now we will give her plenty of time.”

Guineas heroes poised for Palace rematch

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A St James’s Palace Stakes to savour after the Derby was robbed of arguably its star attraction is the reward for everyone with even a remote interest in racing, as Ruling Court and Field Of Gold take each other on in a rematch of the 2000 Guineas at Royal Ascot.

Field Of Gold might have been even closer than he was to Ruling Court at Newmarket had things played out in his favour, but he showed his worth in the Irish Guineas. The Ruling Court team opted to wait for Epsom, but he was a late absentee as the ground was deemed too soft. As if round two is not enough on its own, Aidan O’Brien’s French Guineas winner Henri Matisse joins the battle.

“We took Ruling Court out of the Derby due to the ground, and we can have no excuses with conditions at Ascot,” trainer Charlie Appleby told the Godolphin website.

“It’s a very good renewal of the race and the track and trip will suit. We are looking at stepping up in trip at some point, but he has done very little wrong over a mile so far.”

The inquest into Field Of Gold’s reverse led to Kieran Shoemark being replaced by Colin Keane on the John and Thady Gosden-trained grey at the Curragh, a relationship further solidified with Keane being appointed retained rider for the Juddmonte operation.

“It’s going to be a huge race with some huge names and could be the race of the week, but we’re happy with Field Of Gold and looking forward to having another crack at the English Guineas winner and seeing how we get on,” said Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon.

“We won’t know if Field Of Gold is a better horse than the one that went to Newmarket until after the race, but he is a horse who should keep improving through the year.

“We had to go to Ireland which was a bit of a diversion, but I think as the year progresses he will keep getting stronger. Whether we will see the difference on Tuesday I’m not sure, but we’re happy with him and he’s taking a step forward with every start this year and hopefully he can take another step again.

“John has always mentioned the Eclipse for him which is very much still a possibility or we could even give him a break after this and wait for Goodwood, but we will decide all this after the race.”

Henri Matisse won at the Breeders’ Cup last year for O’Brien and the handler expects both the course and quick ground will suit his charge.

“We always thought he liked fast ground and he proved in America he could handle a bend, so that was one of the reasons he went to France,” said O’Brien.

“I took the blame for him getting beaten in France last year, just the way we rode him, then he went and left that run well behind him next time in America.”

Monday Musings: A Classic Weekend for Godolphin

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All those years ago when Sheikh Mohammed came across to the UK for the first time intent on buying a few racehorses, I doubt it would have entered his mind how his involvement in the worldwide racing industry would develop, writes Tony Stafford. More so, that in 2025, with himself nowadays a rare visitor to this country, he could ever have a UK/US quadruple big-race triumph over one weekend as he just did.

On Friday, he won the Kentucky Oaks, for three-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs; on Saturday the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Kentucky Derby at Churchill; and yesterday the 1,000 Guineas back at HQ.

Equally, I doubt whether it even occurred to him that almost half a century on, he would have progressed from the number three of four horse-racing mad sons of the Dubai Ruler Sheikh Rashid. But first, his eldest brother Sheikh Maktoum died, and he had already supplanted next-in-line (by mutual agreement we believe) the more recently deceased Sheikh Hamdan, to become the Emirate’s undisputed boss.

The racing set-up he initially organised had as its principal advisors Robert Acton, John Ferguson and Simon Crisford. The horses were in top UK stables, such as (Sir) Henry Cecil, who trained Oh So Sharp to the filly equivalent of the Triple Crown (1,000 Guineas, Oaks and St Leger) in 1985, a full 40 years ago. The last colt’s Triple Crown came from Vincent O’Brien’s Nijinsky eight years earlier.

It was around the time of Oh So Sharp when I experienced my close and personal moment in a car driven by the late Richard Casey, a superb jumps trainer but at the time the man who used to prepare the (Sir) Michael Stoute horses before they went into training.

John Leat was then the Sheikh’s inseparable (in the UK) personal assistant. He and I were with the other three gentlemen while we two conducted an impromptu interview in Richard’s car at Dullingham near Newmarket. The one phrase I remember from the conversation was, “People expect to build a breeding operation in five to ten years. I’m not sure you could do it in less than 30!”

For years, the development was patchy, for all the good horses they raced, often bought by Acton and Stroud, later by Ferguson. Acton and Stroud moved aside in a significant shake-up as, much later, did Ferguson, while Crisford turned to training with great success, now in concert with son Ed.

Now though, Stroud and another of the Sheikh’s former trainers, David Loder, is back at the helm of buying at auction while Simon Crisford is never too far away from the deliberations, so much so that he maintains a big satellite winter team in Dubai along with his powerful Newmarket yard.

Of course, the advent of Godolphin at around the turn of the century with local Dubaian Saeed bin Suroor taking centre stage coincided with a big explosion of success. Even when the very popular Saeed was seemingly demoted to a secondary role with the emergence of Mahmood al Zarooni, he kept smiling and continued to be the polite, readily accessible man he remains today.

I was pleased that in yesterday’s 1,000 Guineas, when interviewed beforehand, bin Suroor reckoned his filly Elwateen, a once raced 22/1 shot running for the first time on grass, would go well. She finished fourth and, considering her inexperience, the future looks bright.

The al Zarooni years ended abruptly with the finding of non-permitted substances in several of his horses. His Encke, which won the St Leger in 2012 and thereby denied the Aidan O’Brien-trained Camelot the Triple Crown after that one had already taken the 2,000 Guineas and Derby, was one of them, but his test ironically was clear when his St Leger sample was later analysed.

Al Zarooni’s banishment was the opening that led to Charlie Appleby’s promotion, and how he has taken it with both hands. Ruling Court’s win from the tactically outsmarted runner-up and short-price Gosden-trained favourite Field Of Gold and Kieran Shoemark was followed yesterday with another HQ masterclass by Buick on Desert Flower in the 1,000 Guineas.

In her case, it didn’t take a seven-figure auction bid to secure the daughter of 2,000 Guineas winner Night Of Thunder. She was a homebred and while there was no fluke about the result, the runner-up Flight almost ‘did a Night Of Thunder’, drifting from one side to the other, although contrastingly to Desert Flower’s sire, out to the right to join the main pack rather than the other way round.

I thought for a while she looked to have the race won, so easily did she go past the pacemaker on her wing, but she seemed to get lonely, hence the drift to seek the company of her companions.

Flight is trained by the emerging Ollie Sangster whose other runner, Simmering, stayed on to be third. It looked a very strong field beforehand and there is no reason to believe these fillies will not prove that to be the case time after time as the season progresses.

As I mentioned above, 40 years on from that meeting at Dullingham, a scan through the Charlie Appleby team of 225 reveals that having been sustained for so long in the unequal fight with Coolmore over the past two Galileo-blessed decades, by their champion Dubawi, newer stallions are moving in to help level up the playing field.

Well to the fore in Charlie’s list are former Horse Of The Year Gaiyyath, the top juvenile Pinatubo, Blue Point, and freshman sire Space Blues.

And yet, despite those new ‘home team’ blood lines, Saturday’s convincing winner of the 2,000 Guineas, Ruling Court, was a son of Justify, who stands at Coolmore’s US arm, Ashford stud in Kentucky. He twice eluded the attentions of the Coolmore team at auctions. Sold originally to the ultra-shrewd former jump jockey Norman Williamson for $150k at Keeneland in September 2023, he so impressed the attendees at the Arqana May breeze-up sale the following May that he changed hands for €2,300,000. Nice one Norman!

Scanning through the team, Ruling Court was the sole three-year-old Justify although three more colts by City Of Troy’s sire are among 110 juveniles. Wootton Bassett (300k a pop at Coolmore this year) also illustrates the more pragmatic approach by the present Godolphin management, with six. The first of them to run, Rising Power (€600k at Goffs Orby Book 1 last autumn) made a winning start yesterday at Newmarket, the final leg of an Appleby/Buick treble.

Friday’s Kentucky Oaks heroine, Good Cheer, mirrors Desert Flower as she is also unbeaten, in her case seven from seven, the latest three this year. She was also favourite (7/5) and came wide on the home bend to run past a quartet battling on the lead with extreme ease. Brad Cox has been very patient with her, moving her gradually up the grades. She has been favourite every time, and Friday’s winning margin of two and a quarter lengths was the narrowest, if you can say that about an overwhelming superiority. She too is a homebred, by Medaglia d’Oro.

It was closer in the Kentucky Derby. Sovereignty, a son of 22-year-old stallion Into Mischief, trained by veteran Bill Mott, won by one and a half lengths with a big stretch run to deny the favourite Journalism on a soupy track after heavy rain fell all day. The Coolmore team has made several shrewd in training deals in the US in recent years into careers like Justify’s. Journalism has also been the subject of an arrangement with his present owners to stand him at stud at Ashford when he retires. He has something to put right then over the rest of the season, while nearer to home evidence suggests the Coolmore runners from Ballydoyle seem to be a couple of weeks short of peak.

One that stayed in Ireland this weekend was The Lion In Winter, winner of last year’s seven-furlong Acomb Stakes at York when even-money shot Ruling Court suffered his only defeat in third. He is expected to turn out for the Dante Stakes. His owners will be hoping that the team quickly moves into top speed. Interestingly, The Lion In Winter is the 7/2 favourite for the Betfred Derby with Ruling Court next best at 4/1. More exciting times ahead.

- TS

Monday Musings: Beaten by Sepsis

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It’s funny when you speak regularly with people in racing, especially in my case primarily those I’d known in my previous incarnation, that memories come flooding back, writes Tony Stafford.

For example, before the first at Ascot on Saturday, a two-year-old contest, representing part-owner Jonathan Barnett and his Fire Flame, I stood at the end of the paddock to view it on the big screen. While there, I ran (or rather stumbled) into David Loder and John Garnsey. Many years ago, when Loder started training at Sefton Lodge in Newmarket, he had terrific success, notably with his juveniles, which were always well-schooled and ready to run.

Ricky Bowman was an “enthusiastic” work rider at a time when whip use was less frowned upon and indeed “when whips were whips”.

So, the Loder horses went into action with the equivalent of a race behind them and it was pretty easy to find winning opportunities. Many of the best prospects found their way into my Daily Telegraph tips as I was in contact with David every day.

So much so that when I bumped into legendary punter Harry Findlay at Doncaster sales maybe 15 years later, he said that when I napped one, he had his maximum on. “No commission, Harry?”

David has stopped training for some time. When he left Newmarket for the first time to look after the Sheikh Mohammed horses in Evry, France, on the site of the former racecourse, after Jeremy Noseda declined the offer, the contact finished.

Before he left, we regularly used to suggest that John Gosden didn’t seem to be doing much of a job with the Sheikh Mohammed home-breds in his yard. The first year he returned, I bumped into him as he was about to run his juvenile City On A Hill in the July Stakes. Of course it won, as did Noverre the following year.

As we were about to pass, he stopped me and said:” You know we used to laugh at John Gosden about what a crap job he did with the Sheikh Mo home-breds?” "Of course", I laughed. “Well, I’ve got them now and I think he was a f…… genius to do what he did with them!”, he said.

Now the wheel has turned full circle, David and Anthony Stroud are back buying the sales horses for Godolphin in close concert with the boss and Charlie Appleby, who was with Loder in the yard back in those Evry days.

I was chatting to Charlie a bit later along with Jono Mills, who was the young manager for the Rabbah (Godolphin-lite as I used to call them) horses at the time. Quite a few were in the revised Loder team after the Sheikh ended the Evry project and David took out a licence to train publicly from Egerton stud, next to the National Stud in the town, and the base for David Elsworth until his retirement a couple of seasons ago. Johnny Murtagh, before his Classic-winning time at Coolmore and post-John Oxx, rode the horses and unlike in David’s first go at the job, they tended to finish 2nd. Murtagh couldn’t ride a winner and Dave soon ended the experiment - Jono still remembers the frustration of it all.

Now, tall and lean and looking like some distinguished film producer, Loder can lay claim to Thursday’s wide-margin Sandown debut winner Ruling Court, a €2.3 million buy from Arqana. “Maybe he beat trees, but he looked good,” he said. A son of Justify so maybe another City Of Troy would be the hope

John Garnsey was and is an almost exact (but slightly younger) contemporary of mine, him at the Daily Express. Quiet and amusingly laconic whenever we meet, he usually says something like: “Well at least we’re still here!”

We had all agreed as the horses milled around behind the stalls that one of the runners, Letsbeatsepsis, had a most unfortunate name. Trained by Gary and Josh Moore, obviously there was a story behind it. Loder was there to watch another of his discoveries, the 1.5million gns Al Misbah, the 11/10 favourite.

A slow start didn’t help the favourite and he could only keep on for fourth, just ahead of a tubby-looking Fire Flame, with both beaten for third by Letsbeatsepsis, an 80/1 shot.

I thought I’d better investigate and indeed there is a story. I called Jayne Moore, wife of Gary, mum to joint-trainer Josh, recently-retired jump jockey Jamie and TV star Hayley. Oh, there’s also Ryan, who won that race on Richard Hannon’s Our Terms and went on to take the next, the Princess Margaret Stakes (Group 3) for Ollie Sangster.

Jayne explained that Letsbeatsepsis’ owner-breeder Patrick Moorhead had fallen ill with sepsis a few years back and hadn’t heard of it until he caught the disease. He was in ITU for months, but when he recovered, thought it would be an appropriate name to make people aware of it.

Saturday’s runner, a first foal, shows enough talent to do just that. I did some research and discovered that sepsis in the UK claims 48,000 deaths annually. The much more publicised breast cancer (11,500) and prostate cancer (12,000) claim together less than a half as many victims. To illustrate the full horror of sepsis, it is estimated that 11 million, one-fifth the world’s annual death toll, succumb to it.

Gary had only half a dozen two-two-year old wins in the past five years but now with Josh on the licence you can expect the younger end of the team to press for more flat horses and if possible of a precocious nature.

One young man on the fast track to success is Ollie Sangster, and not the least of his skill in only his second season as a trainer has been to judge the time when allowing big-name owners to buy out the existing owners.

Judging by the smiles of parents Ben and Lucy before the Princess Margaret, the price paid for the twice-raced maiden Simmering by Al Shaqab Racing was substantial enough for original partner Lucy to enjoy the day whatever happened.

Just as at Royal Ascot where Simmering flew home in the shadow of highly rated Fairy Godmother, showing similar finishing speed in the Albany Stakes to the winner, Simmering again got a fair way behind. Then Ryan, switched from her Royal meeting nemesis, found himself a fair way back but came through the middle of the field and was well on top at the finish. A 70,000gns daughter of Too Darn Hot, Simmering will have enhanced her value still further, but that sure touch Ollie showed when lining up a Group 3 to break a maiden will have impressed the international set.

Later, Ben Sangster, still with a full-on smile, was anxious not to put too much expectation on the young man’s shoulders. Ollie, obviously grandson to Robert Sangster, should according to Ben, “take small steps. The dream is still there though that one day he can move into the main yard at Manton House.”

One final point about King George day and the main event. Before the race Aidan O’Brien, having walked the course earlier, and Ryan Moore told Michael Tabor of their misgivings after 3mm of water were added overnight. Also, near the inside they had put down a fair amount of sand. Michael, realistic as ever, said: “It’s what it is!” almost resigned to another down to the 2023 Derby winner’s in-out career.

One thing I’m pretty sure of: the winner, the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained gelding Goliath will have been the first winner of the race with such a pronounced case of stringhalt. As he went past us in the pre-parade, I was dying to ask him: “Can you do it as well with your right hind leg?" Bet he can’t! Decent performance though.

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Yesterday featured the last day’s UK jump racing for around three weeks. While the top jockeys will be able to afford to go on exotic trips, their lesser-earning counterparts will be ruing the fact of reduced earning possibilities. Nicky Richards told me that he thought the stop was an opportunity missed. In Ireland they have races for jockeys that have won fewer than 20 races in the previous season and he reckons that should have been copied here.

Meanwhile, on another contentious issue, Dylan Cunha, who won a Racing League contest at Yarmouth last Thursday, goes further, believing that the top 20 trainers could be excluded to no harm for themselves, leaving the better prize money in these races to the remainder. Hughie Morrison, one of the Team Scotland trainers in the Racing League, believes that the bigger than usual for the grade money available has merely been “stolen” from the rest of the UK’s races in their respective grade. Three men with plenty to say and all with feasible opinions.

- TS