Cornelius Lysaght provides us with an insight in to the Ebor Festival
That’s not to say that there is anything wrong with the other two, the International Stakes, often rated amongst the best quality races in the world, or the Yorkshire Oaks – of course not – but they tend to be for the biggest boys and girls.
Since the turn of the century, the International Stakes has been dominated by superpowers Coolmore, Godolphin and race-sponsor Juddmonte, breeder/owner of Frankel, and although the great Sea The Stars (2009) didn’t run for quite such a high profile outfit, members of the Hong Kong-based Tsui family still rate as significant international players.
And in the same period, Darley Yorkshire Oaks glory has gone mainly the way of all of the above, plus the powerhouses of Sir Michael Stoute and John and now Thady Gosden.
In contrast, the usually sub one minute of the five-furlong Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes, highlight of day three out of the four at York, has a more egalitarian feel, offering hope of a fairytale success at flat racing’s highest level for anyone.
In the twenty two stagings since 2000, the love has certainly been spread right around with a string of names that are not always considered ‘the usual suspects’ making the hallowed winners’ enclosure on the Knavesmire.
Included have been horses trained by Henry Candy, the late Dandy Nicholls, Eric Alston, John Best, Robin Bastiman, Eddie Lynam, Michael Dods, Bryan Smart and Tim Easterby.
Bastiman’s Borderlescott cost a modest 13,000 guineas before winning twice, in 2008 and 2009, as part of an 85-race career for owners James Edgar and William Donaldson, while businessman David ‘Mecca’ Metcalfe paid sixteen thousand for the magnificent Dods-trained mare Mecca’s Angel, also a dual winner (2015-2016).
And exactly twenty years ago a 22-year-old Jamie Spencer partnered Candy’s four-year-old Kyllachy to what has to be considered probably a landmark victory.
Demonstrating the blistering burst of acceleration which made him absolutely red-hot at his best, Kyllachy won the money for Thurloe Thoroughbreds, an early example of a major prize being claimed by a large syndicate of owners who had not paid a small fortune for involvement.
In fact they did even better because the colt had been partly sold to Cheveley Park Stud – where he ultimately stood as a stallion – after a scorching performance to win that year’s Group Three Temple Stakes, then staged at Sandown.
I vividly recall a grinning Spencer saying that it felt like he was driving a Porsche against a bunch of minis (and the opposition was pretty good).
The figure bandied around for the purchase was a half a million pounds, with, it was said, a colossal ‘add-on’ in the event of the horse being placed at Group One level, with even more for a victory.
After disappointing when favourite at Royal Ascot, he still headed the betting for the Nunthorpe and famously charged home on the far-side rail having been steered right across the course from a high-numbered stalls draw by Spencer.
Kyllachy was 2002’s champion sprinter but never raced again after some bruising behind a knee meant that there was no time to prepare for the Prix de l’Abbaye on Arc weekend, won by Continent which had been fourth in the Nunthorpe.
The owners may have missed out on a trip to Paris but they were still well in pocket and those syndicate have mainly thrived in subsequent seasons regularly seen at the major meetings.
Dreams can come true for all, at York and indeed elsewhere.
