British success stories at the Dublin Racing Festival are few and far between – and virtually non-existent when it comes to Grade One contests. But in 2019 La Bague Au Roi broke the mould, as she lifted the roof off the Leopardstown grandstand.
Many had questioned the sanity of trainer Warren Greatrex when fresh from holding off the likes of Topofthegame and Santini in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase, he suggested heading into the backyard of the Irish rather than trotting down the typical pathway of the Cheltenham Festival.
However, the Lambourn handler had a plan and whereas the undulations of Prestbury Park were never going to be La Bague Au Roi’s ideal cup of tea, the parkland on the outskirts of the Irish capital were seen as the ideal ballpark for the star mare to double her Grade One tally.
“She won the Kauto Star and it was just thinking outside the box really,” said Greatrex.
“We knew historically the ground wasn’t always too bad there and she never really coped with bottomless ground, so it was just the case of a little plan hatched after Kempton and the owners were very sporting and willing to give it a go.
“There was a lot of pressure and a lot of people were thinking I was mad to take an English mare over to a Grade One in Ireland. But I thought the track and ground would suit and Richard Johnson had won the Irish Gold Cup on Florida Pearl so he knew the track inside out.
“I never thought Cheltenham would be her gig, she was fancied the year after and ended up unseating Richard Johnson in the Plate when I thought she would have taken some beating.
“Sometimes thinking outside the box pays off and it pays off to be a little bit braver, which is what sport is all about I think.”
Crossing the Irish Sea unbeaten in three over fences, La Bague Au Roi had every right to be among the favourites for the Flogas Novice Chase.
And when top Irish novice Delta Work was pulled out of the contest by trainer Gordon Elliott, she became the odds-on 10-11 favourite for an away game, leaving her trainer with some last-minute jitters to contend with,
“Delta Work was pulled out in the morning which meant she was a very short-priced favourite. As a trainer you like to see that, but obviously the pressure is then even bigger,” said Greatrex.
“To go over there, which is pretty unusual for the English to go over with a fancied horse, you are sort of panicking. You believe in the horse, but you are panicking and thinking ‘Is this the right thing to do?’.”
If the nerves were beginning to get to Greatrex, then no one informed big-race pilot Johnson, who bounced La Bague Au Roi out in customary fashion and began to put the best of Ireland’s novice chasers to the sword.
Having dictated terms throughout the time came to stamp her authority when challenged by 33-1 outsider Kaiser Black after the last and she displayed toughness in abundance to repel her only danger close home.
It remains the only British triumph in a Grade One at the Dublin Racing Festival and for all the big-race victories Greatrex has won in his training career, it is a day that will live long in the memory.
“There’s a picture I have of her at the last and Richard asked her from miles away and she delivered,” continued Greatrex.
“When you see the picture it’s fairly scary how far she was standing off it and she was all heart and never gave up.
“The Leopardstown win was big. I believed in her and I have to say – and I’ve trained a few Grade Ones – that was one I really enjoyed because to go to Ireland and beat them at their own back door is pretty cool. That win was a big feather in our cap, I think”
La Bague Au Roi would return to Leopardstown the following year to finish a battling fifth in the Irish Gold Cup, but no one can ever take that glorious afternoon from 12 months previous away from her.
It was the final triumph in a 28-race career that yielded 14 victories across the space of six seasons and she is now under the watch of former Premier League and Ireland international footballer Kevin Doyle at his family’s Slaney River Stud in County Wexford.
Always keen to hear about one of his star pupils, Greatrex keeps in contact with those in Ireland who report she shows the same character in retirement as she did when one of the leading lights on the racecourse.
Greatrex added: “I’ve been told that in the paddock she is the boss and she was very much like that here. Everyone knew when she was about as she would walk around Lambourn like she owned it.
“She was an amazing mare and won two Grade Ones and I hope somewhere down the line I can train one of her offspring.
“She was just so straightforward, she never missed a day and you could read her like a book. The more annoying she became, you knew you were having her ready.
“She just went through the grades and was phenomenal. She was like a model to look at, she was tall and leggy, never carried too much condition, but she was just very easy to train and just a brilliant horse to train.
He went on: “You would never look at her at home and think she was exceptional, she went through the motions and wasn’t very fast, but she had a big heart.
“Even when she ran in the Kauto Star, the way she fended them off, she was as tough as a boy and will live long in the memory. They only come around once every so often and she was a one-off I think.”
Ghostwriter gallop sparking Cox’s Classic dream
Clive Cox has been buoyed by a racecourse gallop ahead of Ghostwriter’s Qipco 2000 Guineas bid, confident his smart Newmarket form can prove a positive in the opening Classic of the season.
The son of Invincible Spirit was unbeaten throughout his two-year-old season and finished 2023 with a statement victory on the Rowley Mile in the Royal Lodge Stakes.
With that experience under the colt’s belt, Cox was happy to forego an early-season trial in favour of a pipe-opener at Kempton, with Ghostwriter – a general 14-1 shot to claim the scalp of Aidan O’Brien’s odds-on favourite City Of Troy on May 4 – reported to have thrived over the winter.
“I’m very happy with Ghostwriter and he has his Newmarket course form,” explained Cox.
“I’m very pleased he has done exceptionally well over the winter and we will be going there with a racecourse gallop under his belt. He’s done very well and that is why he hasn’t run in a trial.
“He’s been to Kempton and he’s a very athletic, clean-winded horse who has done well over the winter and we think that will have benefitted him far more than racing on testing ground, with his previous experience at Newmarket hopefully holding him in good stead.”
Another star juvenile for the Beechdown Stables team last season was the Kennet Valley-owned Dragon Leader, who suffered defeat just the once in five starts in 2023 as he proved a real money-spinner for connections.
Big victories at York and Redcar sandwiched a near miss in a valuable Doncaster event and Cox is eyeing stepping the son of El Kabeir up in trip this term when ground conditions allow him to return to action.
“He was a very productive runner last year earning over £300,000 in prize-money,” continued Cox.
“I’m pleased to say he’s wintered well, but he’s definitely better with a dry surface and we wouldn’t be making any concrete plans at the minute. When the ground gets a little bit quicker you will see him.
“Last year he was looking like seven furlongs would help him and I would be very hopeful he will get a mile. We kept him at six last year simply because he was so well qualified for those races. Six and a half was no problem for him at Doncaster though in the Weatherbys race.”
‘Mixed emotions’ for connections of Surrey Quest after epic Scottish National
Connections of Surrey Quest may have suffered agony at Ayr in the Coral Scottish Grand National, but could have bigger and better days on the horizon, with next year’s Grand National now entering calculations.
After four miles of action, Toby Lawes’ progressive seven-year-old was left to fight out a thrilling finish to the Ayr feature with Willie Mullins’ Macdermott, with the trainers’ title-chasing Irishman’s runner coming out on top after not only a titanic battle to the line but an excruciating wait while the judge deliberated over the result.
A standard-bearer over jumps for the Surrey Racing syndicate, Surrey Quest’s owners headed to Ayr full of confidence in their Kevin Brogan-ridden 20-1 shot after some promising results this season.
And despite being left with “mixed emotions” following the nose reversal at the hands of the Danny Mullins-ridden winner, they can take comfort that their charge has continued on the upward curve that has already seen him strike twice in his four starts this term.
“We’ve got mixed emotions and we thought the horse was in absolute brilliant shape heading up there,” said Clive Clive Hadingham, co-founder of Surrey Racing with Steve Grubb.
“Statistically we might have needed the run, but other than that everything went to plan and Toby was very meticulous in his preparations. He came here in great shape and everything went to plan, we just lost out on the nod.
“Winning is everything in this business and coming second, not matter how close, it feels like we came nowhere. We’d have been happy with a top-seven finish to be honest so we have to be proud. Kevin and Toby have done a fantastic job with this horse.
“We know he is a good horse and we wouldn’t have come up here if we didn’t think we had a chance. Surrey Racing as a company doesn’t go to races we don’t think we have a chance in and we’re just so proud of the run – we honestly thought at the line we had done it.
“Willie Mullins has so much ammunition and it’s just unfortunate we have come up against one of his and I guess the funny thing is if he wasn’t going for the championship he might not have been here today.”
Surrey Quest holds an entry for the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on the final day of the jumps season, but his exertions north of the border make it unlikely he will try to replicate what Kitty’s Light’s achieved 12 months ago and make a rapid reappearance.
Instead sights are fully turned to Liverpool and the famous Grand National fences where Surrey Quest could take in December’s Becher Chase ahead a crack at the big one itself in 12 months’ time.
Hadingham continued: “It’s just mixed emotions, we’re so proud of him and we’ve had a super time up here in Ayr. I guess now we know we’re going to go on to bigger and better things with him.
“We might have a look at the Grand National now and we might look at coming back to Ayr again. He’s such an economical jumper that now the National has changed a bit and the fences are slightly lower, that is something we can look at.
“There’s so many big races next year he can go for and the Becher is one we will look at and we’ll take it from there.”
Arrest expected to make his mark as a four-year-old
Kieran Shoemark is relishing stepping into the boots of Frankie Dettori aboard Arrest, as the St Leger runner-up makes his return in the Dubai Duty Free Finest Surprise Stakes at Newbury.
Arrest played a key role in Dettori’s UK swansong last season and was a beaten favourite for the Italian’s final Derby ride at Epsom, before just failing to send the 53-year-old off in a blaze of Classic glory when second to Continuous at Doncaster in September.
Shoemark was three places behind Arrest with Gregory on Town Moor, but having taken the reins aboard many of John and Thady Gosden’s star Clarehaven inmates since the relocation of Dettori to California, he will get the leg-up aboard Arrest for the first time on Saturday afternoon.
The 28-year-old hopes the soft-ground loving colt can build on his positive finish to last season and feels there is plenty of improvement to be seen during his four-year-old campaign.
“He’s obviously a big horse and hopefully he’s going to improve with age,” said Shoemark.
“Hopefully the ground is not going to dry out too much at Newbury and we know he wants soft ground.
“His run in the Leger was brilliant – the ground went against me on Gregory, but he enjoyed it. He’s a proper mile-and-a-half horse, not short of speed by all means, and the softer the better for him.
“He’s a big, strapping horse and I honestly believe he will get better with age. He’s entitled to, so there will be plenty to look forward to for the year ahead.”
As well as winning the Chester Vase, Arrest’s other victory last term came at Newbury in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes and joint-trainer Thady Gosden is confident the race more commonly known as the John Porter is the ideal spot to kick-start the son of Frankel’s season.
“He’s a very talented horse, he ran great last year and was second in a Classic,” he said.
“He’s developed very well over the winter and is a horse of great size and quality and he’s really filled into his frame and has been really pleasing leading into this race.
“He doesn’t mind getting his toe in at all and the track and trip should suit.”
Arrest will be in receipt of 3lb from William Haggas’ Hamish, who went through 2023 unbeaten, winning on four occasions, all at Group Three level.
Hamish is one of two in the race for the Somerville Lodge handler alongside Mujtaba, but main hopes lie with the stable stalwart, who is owned by the trainer’s father, Brian, and got the better of Karl Burke’s Al Qareem on his final start of last year in the rearranged St Simon Stakes.
The Spigot Lodge-trained five-year-old is another slated to concede weight to Arrest and his trainer is excited to get Al Qareem back on track.
Burke said: “I’m looking forward to seeing him run and he’s been ready to run for the last month.
“He’s working well, a mile and a half is his minimum trip, but on this ground I’m happy to start him off there.
“He’ll step up and be a good one-mile-six and two-mile horse later in the year. It’ll be a tough race, but I think he’ll run really well.
“We were lucky to keep him and he got travel sickness coming back (from Dubai). He’s hard work at home, Danielle Mooney rides him every day and he pulls her arms out every day, but he’s a lovely horse to have.”
Simon and Ed Crisford’s Chesspiece was behind Arrest when sixth in the Leger before finishing off his season with a silver medal in the Listed Noel Murless Stakes at Ascot.
He makes his first start after being gelded in the royal blue of Godolphin, while Andrew Balding’s Alsakib steps out of handicap company after finishing last year on a real high on home soil.
Max Vega won this in 2022 and having finished third last season, returns for a third crack, while trainer Ralph Beckett is also represented by Salt Bay.
Last year’s Irish Derby fourth Peking Opera makes his first Flat outing for Gary Moore, having been seen juvenile hurdling this winter, with Jack Channon’s Certain Lad completing the line-up.
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