1985

WITH three of the first four classics safely in the bag, the champion trainer, Henry Cecil, moves on to a minimum of 15 runners at the Royal meeting. By last Saturday he had scooped £640,000 in prize money in less than three months, and is safely on course to become the first trainer to amass a million pounds for his owners in a season.

He started last week with the dismal record of never having a horse placed in the first four in either the Derby or the Oaks. Slip Anchor ended that miserable sequence in joyous style on Wednesday, and three days later Oh So Sharp was almost as impressive as she strode imperiously clear at the end of the Oaks.

It was a hugely impressive performance from a champion filly and it left quite a few in the crowd wondering just what would happen if she is put in against Slip Anchor in the King George on July 27th. The possibility exists because both are entered, but Steve Cauthen, for one, says he would do his damndest to ensure they did not race against each other.

Said Henry: “Really she’s a bit of a freak and I think she’s proved she’s in the same league as Petite Etoile. Sometimes it takes me ages to grasp what my horses are trying to tell me. It was that way with Slip Anchor. But this filly’s work has been quite outstanding. She’s marvellous at home and on the racecourse.”

Only the Derby now eludes the Maktoum royal family of Dubai whose fillies filled three of the first four places in the Oaks. That certainly must have helped make up for the bitter disappointment of Shadeed and Royal Harmony on Wednesday. Certainly Sheikh Mohammed could not disguise his feelings as he came to the impromptu press conference in the darkened dungeon below the grandstand. How did he feel about the family’s enormous bloodstock investment? He paused, and thought carefully, before replying: “This is a lovely feeling. You invest in this and you invest in that and you don’t get this reaction. This is something else.”