Billy Nash – Blackmore breaks new ground at Aintree
I think this year – more than any other year – racing needed a good news story.
Let’s not beat about the bush, racing has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons on a lot of occasions in 2021. But the one day it made the front pages for all the right reasons was for Rachael Blackmore winning the Grand National on Minella Times.
The first female rider to do it, it was almost bound to happen sooner or later given the quality of jockey around at the moment, but this is the year it finally happened and it was a brilliant ride in a fantastic year for Blackmore.
Everything about it was special, it was a brilliant win and the way she conducted herself afterwards was a great moment for racing. And I think, for a single moment, it’s very hard to top that one.
Matt Brocklebank – Allaho pulls off convincing bulldozer impression
Chris’s Dream, Imperial Aura, Melon, Min, Mister Fisher, Samcro – winners of 23 Graded races between them at the time – all pulled-up. Every single one of them taken wildly out of their comfort zone as Allaho smashed the 2021 Ryanair Chase to bits like a battering ram.
The writing was on the wall. He’d nearly had to jump the first fence under Rachael Blackmore with the false-start flags waving, such was his eagerness to get on with things first time around.
Take two and stablemate Min was a step faster away as the flag went up for real, with Mister Fisher wanting a piece of the early action too, but the giant Allaho, who was tight to the inside rail, landed in front over fence number three, and didn’t see another rival.
Grade One races simply aren’t won in this manner. It was majestic, featuring several breath-taking leaps, and an exhibition of galloping rarely witnessed in the Cheltenham Festival’s long and colourful history.
The classy Fakir D’Oudairies eventually ran on from near the back of the field to fill the runner-up spot but, in effect, may as well have been in a different race altogether.
It was a very memorable Festival for so many reasons – the eerily quiet stands above all - but the near-complete domination of Irish-trained runners was the strongest thread throughout the week on the course, and Allaho’s performance was undeniably symbolic of such utter one-sidedness.
Graham Cunningham – Waiting game as drama unfolds at Ascot
A lot of people will remember this one, with varying emotions no doubt. It was Royal Ascot, after the deluge had started, and the Commonwealth Cup which had every element of drama you could possibly wish for.
The weather is foul, Dettori is on the American filly Campanelle, Oisin Murphy is on the British hope Dragon Symbol. Dragon Symbol passes the post a head in front after a sustained battle, but he drifts noticeably over a lengthy period to the right, hampering Campanelle.
The Stewards call an Enquiry – no surprise there. Also no surprise they forgot to flick the switch that would have enabled all of us to watch the Enquiry live. So everyone was left to try and follow it remotely and on Twitter etc.
Dettori, according to Murphy anyway, said going in that ‘I think you’ll be alright’. He wasn’t.
Campanelle was 4/6 to get the race in the Stewards’ Room – and I jumped in as hard as I’ve jumped in on a bet for a long time. All of those winnings disappeared a few weeks later in a Newbury Stewards’ Enquiry, but that’s by the by.
But the scene in the Ascot paddock was quite something – you had Archie Watson clad in a tight raincoat and vintage silk topper, pacing up and down like a young Sherlock Holmes; you had Wesley Ward with this fixed grin - white teeth dazzling everywhere in the darkness. And about 20 minutes later the verdict comes through that ‘the placings are revised as follows…’.
It was a very important Stewards’ as that race was going out all around the world and it was an absolute test case for the way British interference rules are applied. Then there was the aftermath of ‘who said what’ and did Dettori say certain things to Murphy, did Murphy say certain things to Dettori. It also went to appeal around a week later, which was upheld, but I think that 20 minutes was real sporting drama, a bit like racing’s version of the recent Max Verstappen/Lewis Hamilton drama.
It’s been a little bit of a haphazard year when it comes to Stewards’ Enquiries, but that was a dramatic one and I think the Ascot panel got it dead right.
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Rory Delargy – Take it away Danny, the Floor is yours
I’ll throw one in which I was recently reminded of which was Flooring Porter winning the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.
There were two really nice things about that one, the first being Danny Mullins who had gone close on several occasions at the Festival without getting a winner. He ended up coming in for the ride on Flooring Porter late-morning on the day of the race. And he ended up giving the horse an absolute peach of a ride.
He’s not an easy ride at all Flooring Porter, as we saw again on his return to action this season, he looks like he wants to duck out at various times - he’s very, very good but he’s also slightly wayward. And Mullins gave him a tremendous ride to win that race.
If you watch that replay, you can see the broadest of grins on the jockey’s face after the last hurdle, which showed just what it meant to him. I ran into him after he’d just been beaten in the Champion Bumper a couple of years ago and his face was very different then, but he’s a great lad, everybody likes him and it was great to see.
But also part of that story that was particularly touching was that Johnny Moore, who should have ridden the horse and even rode him out earlier that morning, had taken a fall in Ireland on the Sunday beforehand.
He made the decision he wouldn’t be fit enough to do the horse justice in the race so he gave up the ride which must have been really hard. But he led the horse up and then when Danny brought the horse back in, at the pick-up, Johnny was waiting for him and seeing him and Danny embrace and celebrate that win – which must have been bittersweet for Johnny – was a really, really nice moment. It was probably the nicest moment of the 2021 Festival for me.
David Johnson – A day to remember for Kirby at Epsom
I’m going back to Derby day and Adam Kirby winning the race on Adayar. There are various stands to it too, it’s not just the rock-solid pro that Kirby is finally getting the real recognition for what has been a really good career.
But also the background to how he ended up getting the ride as he was supposed to be riding John Leeper in the race. I think during the week it emerged he was losing the ride on that one because Ed Dunlop was calling for Frankie Dettori, and Kirby just gave Adayar an absolute peach of a ride.
Going into the race, we all know that stall one is a disadvantage in the Derby, I don’t think there’d been a winner from that stall for over 20 years. But Kirby got everything right on the day and, of course, it was the only time he rode the horse all year.
It was just the perfect storm for everybody involved on the day.
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Discover Sporting Life Plus BenefitsBen Linfoot - York humdinger lights up Ebor meeting
You can’t beat a pulsating three-furlong scrap to get the ticker beating that little bit faster and that magnificent old stager Stradivarius, in his sixth season in training, and best supporting actor, Spanish Mission, served up a thrilling race for the Lonsdale Cup at York’s Ebor Festival.
The four-runner Group 2 was meant to be nothing more than an aperitif for the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes later on the card, but it ended up being much more than that as John & Thady Gosden’s star stayer bounced back to winning form having relinquished his Gold Cup crown to Subjectivist at Royal Ascot on his previous start.
It didn’t look likely two furlongs from home. Frankie Dettori had had a look behind him to see where William Buick and Spanish Mission were and, though breathing down his neck, Dettori would have been quite happy with his position at that point.
The picture changed when pace-setter The Grand Visir dropped back, allowing Stradivarius and Spanish Mission to go nostril-to-nostril down the Knavesmire. In a sustained duel, emotions ebbed and flowed as it looked like Andrew Balding might land another big race and a mighty scalp.
Spanish Mission was a neck up 75 yards from the line, but Stradivarius dug really deep, showing all of his heart and courage, to get up in the shadows of the post. John Gosden described it as ‘a proper horse race’. Dettori put a finger to his pursed lips as if his old pal had silenced the doubters.
On a sunny August afternoon, the York crowd gave Bjorn Nielsen’s pride and joy an almighty reception, the son of Sea The Stars having won his 16th Group race and third Lonsdale after showing the sort of grit and determination that’s necessary for a serial winner like him.
Adam Houghton – Snowfall takes Epsom by storm
In the strangest of years, full of negative headlines both in and outside of horse racing, there was one performance on a racecourse which left me incredulous for all the right reasons.
It was by no means a surprise that Snowfall won the Oaks. After all, she arrived at Epsom shortly after producing a much-improved effort to win the Musidora Stakes at York, one of the pre-eminent trials run in Britain, by nearly four lengths.
Instead, it was the manner in which Snowfall won the Oaks that had me rubbing my eyes in disbelief. She didn’t just win it, did she? She absolutely annihilated the opposition, scything through the field early in the straight before putting her stamp on things in the style of a potential top-notcher.
The official winning margin was 16 lengths – the widest in any Group One in Britain or Britain or Ireland this century – and it was around the time she was 10 lengths clear that I can remember thinking aloud: “What the hell is happening here?”
“What the hell happened?" is a question all form students must ask when trying to assess wide-margin winners and, with the benefit of hindsight, Snowfall probably wasn’t quite as good as that soft-ground rout at Epsom made her look.
She did go on to complete an Oaks treble with similarly dominant victories in the Irish and Yorkshire equivalents, but her limitations were then rather exposed when she ended the campaign with three successive defeats at the top level.
However, we’re not talking about a body of work in this instance and, for one rainy afternoon in June, Snowfall looked to have the world at her feet, producing the sort of performance we all hope to see when tuning in to watch top-class sport.
It's fair to say that 2021 was full of events we’d all rather forget, but the image of Snowfall storming clear to win the Oaks is one that promises to live with me for a long time.
John Ingles - Oisin Murphy helps Japan make Breeders' Cup history
The latest Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar went closer to living up to their full title for once when Japan had its first winner at the meeting - swiftly followed by a second.
There aren't many 'firsts' left to be accomplished in international racing now, but while the Arc remains an itch that the Japanese can't scratch, they achieved another historic success in the meantime when Loves Only You found the firm California turf much more to her liking than her compatriots who got bogged down in the mud at Longchamp earlier in the autumn.
Beating the Americans on grass is one thing whereas beating them on their own dirt is quite another, so stablemate Marche Lorraine's shock win over some of the best fillies and mares in the States in the Distaff shortly afterwards was arguably more of an accomplishment.
Hers was truly an international success, too, as she gave Oisin Murphy his first Grade 1 victory in the USA. In a sometimes difficult year for the champion jockey, that doubtless meant a lot.
Ever wondered what it takes to win a @BreedersCup race? 🤔@OisMurphy talks us through his historic Distaff win with MARCHE LORRAINE マルシュロレーヌ pic.twitter.com/5yZXOvyv60
— World Horse Racing (@WHR) December 21, 2021
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