Thirty Years On: Old Vic=S Classic Year Cont
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SATURDAY, 29 JUNE 2019 THE DERBY OF TRUTH THIRTY YEARS ON: Ballydoyle=s second empire really began to become reality as OLD VIC=S CLASSIC YEAR Desert King (Ire) strode to a Classic double in the 1997 G1 Irish Derby and 22 years on the chronicle of triumph in this Dubai Duty Free-sponsored Curragh Classic for the Co. Tipperary realm that Aidan revived is nothing short of remarkable. Another 11 victories have followed that of Michael Tabor=s trailblazer, with five of them leading home a 1-2-3 for the yard since 2002. The score of G1 Epsom Derby heroes running in this for the stable reads four wins and two failures, with the former category containing Galileo (Ire), High Chaparral (Ire), Camelot (GB) and Australia (GB) and Ruler of the World (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Wings of Eagles (Fr) (Pour Moi {Ire}) unable to complete the double--although the latter=s eclipse was probably due to an injury sustained in the race. Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) caused a minor surprise in the June 1 blue riband, but he has Ryan Moore in the saddle this time and full confidence Steve Cauthen with the late Sir Henry Cecil | Racing Post behind him. By John Berry Even in the Derby, there were brief but noticeable spells when I have two Australian friends who spent six months in the UK Anthony Van Dyck, who was introduced in the seven-furlong in 1989. Both returned home towards the end of that year, each maiden at this meeting a year ago, was needing cajoling by reflecting how lucky he had been to have savoured an English Seamus Heffernan but that on-and-off style of racing had summer enriched by the sight of an outstanding racehorse. The characterised some of his prior efforts. At Killarney and in irony, of course, is that each nominated a different horse! One Leopardstown=s G3 Tyros S. last July, he took time to build headed back Down Under in awe of the successive victories of before powering clear and in hindsight he was always being Nashwan (Blushing Groom {Fr}) in the G1 2000 Guineas, asked a demanding question over trips short of his optimum. An G1 Derby, G1 Eclipse S. and G1 King George VI And Queen unusual Derby winner for this stable in that he was highly-tried Elizabeth Diamond S.; while the other held the outstanding miler at two and contested the major seven-furlong features, he is an Zilzal (Nureyev) most dear, particularly cherishing the memory honest and resolute galloper and a stayer with speed, so ticks all of the little chestnut's outstanding victory in the G1 Queen the boxes back on a track that will play to his strengths. Elizabeth II S. at Ascot. To complicate the picture further, it was Equally, stablemate Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) is made for a different horse again who most captivated me that year: Old this track, which surprisingly he has yet to race at. Relishing soft Vic (GB) (Sadler's Wells), the dominant winner of the G1 Prix du ground when taking the G3 Ballysax S. at Leopardstown Apr. 6, Jockey-Club Lancia and the G1 Budweiser Irish Derby, as they he was just a half-length away from Anthony Van Dyck when were known as back then. If it is hard to accept that Mill Reef fourth at Epsom and it is not inconceivable that he has at least (Never Bend) and Brigadier Gerard (GB) (Queen's Hussar {GB}), that margin in the locker. Cont. p5 two of the greatest horses in Thoroughbred history, were of the same vintage but only ever met once, it is even stranger in IN TDN AMERICA TODAY retrospect to reflect that the contemporaries Nashwan and Old TAKING STOCK: KHOZAN LEADS FRESHMEN AS 2YO Vic, two of the best middle-distance horses of the modern era, SEASON HEATS UP never competed against each other. Sid Fernando takes an early look at the race for leading freshman sire. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN America. Cont. p2 TDN EUROPE • PAGE 2 OF 14 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • 29 JUNE 2019 Thirty Years On: Old Vic=s Classic Year cont. But at the time it made perfect sense, even if it made a poor comparison with events on the other side of the Atlantic, where Sunday Silence (Halo) and Easy Goer (Alydar) locked horns throughout that year's Triple Crown series and then thrilled fans with a final duel in the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park in the autumn. After winning the 2,000 Guineas, Nashwan obviously had the Derby as his main target, while Old Vic had hardly been on the radar as a potential rival at the start of the season. The previous season's champion 2-year-old High Estate (GB) (High Estate {GB}) had appeared to be the most likely of several potential Derby candidates in Henry Cecil's stable; with Old Vic, the winner merely of a maiden race at Haydock Park from two appearances at two, seemingly merely a possible contender for the second-tier 3-year-old staying races. That all changed, though, when Old Vic started racing. Nashwan and Willie Carson | Racing Post Old Vic's 1989 season began at the Newbury Spring Meeting in a conditions race, which he won by 10 lengths. He then headed to Sandown for the G3 Guardian Classic Trial, in which he cruised home by four lengths, putting up a very impressive display in a race which had been won by four Derby winners (Troy, Henbit, Shergar and Shahrastani) in the previous ten years. Cecil then dispatched him to the Chester May Meeting, where he won the G3 Chester Vase by two and a half lengths from Golden Pheasant (Caro {Fr}) with the favourite Warrshan (Northern Dancer {Can}) 12 lengths farther back in third. The merit of the performance was emphasised when it was announced that he had broken the track record, and was further reinforced two years later when Golden Pheasant won the G1 Japan Cup. TDN EUROPE • PAGE 3 OF 14 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • 29 JUNE 2019 Vice President, International Operations Gary King Twitter: @garykingTDN [email protected] + 1.732.320.0975 Steve Cauthen | Racing Post Old Vic clearly had the potential to be a major thorn in International Editor Nashwan's side in the Derby. However, he was a very big horse Kelsey Riley Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN with a mighty stride. He had relished wet tracks when winning [email protected] at Newbury and Sandown, and Cecil reported that he had come home slightly jarred up from the faster conditions at Chester. His European Editor verdict that it would be unwise to run this young horse over the Emma Berry undulations of Epsom on fast ground was easy to understand, as Twitter: @collingsberry was his declaration that the colt would instead be supplemented [email protected] for the Prix du Jockey-Club, set to be run on a flat track and almost certainly on softer ground, if dry weather persisted Associate International Editor through the second half of May. Heather Anderson Nobody was either surprised or disappointed, therefore, when Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN Old Vic did not take on Nashwan at Epsom, but instead headed Marketing Manager across the Channel to Chantilly three days earlier. At the time Alayna Cullen there was a widespread belief that British horses found winning Twitter: @AlaynaCullen in France difficult (which was particularly understandable in this [email protected] case as no English-trained horse had ever won the Prix du Jockey Club) and that making the running (which was the modus Contributing Editor operandi of Old Vic and his jockey Steve Cauthen) would make it Alan Carasso even harder to win there. However, no jockey in the world had Twitter: @EquinealTDN more (justified) confidence in his own ability to set the correct fractions on a front-runner than Steve Cauthen. Cafe Racing French punters sent Old Vic off only the fourth favourite, but Sean Cronin Tom Frary Cauthen's faith in his mount's ability and in is own judgement of [email protected] pace was absolute. Jumping straight to the front, Old Vic never saw another horse. He passed the post seven lengths clear of Irish Correspondent the runner-up Dancehall (Assert {Ire}) with the five-length Daithi Harvey G1 Prix Lupin winner Galetto (Fr) (Caro {Fr}) a further eight lengths back in third. It was an outstanding display of galloping, Regular Columnists whose merit became even more plain when Dancehall won the Chris McGrath | Andrew Caulfield | John Berry G1 Grand Prix de Paris Louis Vuitton three weeks later. Kevin Blake "We went to the French Derby thinking we had a chance, but that was the day he showed what he was. Of course nobody ever wanted to make the pace over there, so I did. He just kept quickening and quickening through the stretch and won very impressively," Cauthen told TDN earlier this week. TDN EUROPE • PAGE 4 OF 14 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • 29 JUNE 2019 Cont. from p3 The Irish Derby was not on Nashwan's agenda because Dick Hern and Sheikh Hamdan had plotted a course which would take the magnificent chestnut to Ascot's King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond S. via the Eclipse S. at Sandown. The Irish Derby, though, was the obvious next race for Old Vic. He was even more majestic there, again making all the running and winning with his head in his chest. Derby fourth Ile De Nisky (GB) (Ile De Bourbon) finished third and was a length closer to Old Vic than he had been to Nashwan, but that only tells half the tale: Old Vic could have won by a lot farther as Steve Cauthen let him coast through the final furlong, winning by four very unhurried lengths.