2005

WILLIAM Fox-Pitt, having led after the dressage phase at the Burghley Horse Trials, maintained his lead for the remainder of the weekend to complete a hat-trick of wins in the prestigious British four-star event.

A previous winner on Chaka in 1994 and in 2002 on the Taldi gelding Highland Lad, the British rider was this year victorious on yet another Irish-bred, the Highland King gelding Ballincoola. Overnight leader after two days of dressage on the 11-year-old, Fox-Pitt jumped one of only five cross-country clears and added eight show jumping faults on the final day to remain at the head of affairs.

Only 2.7 penalties divided him from second-placed Phillip Dutton on The Foreman in the end, but this Australian had impressed all before him when pulling up nine places to fourth after a clear cross-country run, and then another two places with one of only three show jumping clears.

As the final major three-day event to ever run long-format, Burghley created plenty of reaction from riders, with Mary King, one of the British entries, admitting that she wasn’t sorry to have completed her last steeplechase.

Fox-Pitt, who had to withdraw Ballincoola during the steeplechase at Badminton when the horse suffered a heart fibrillation, was certainly in a far better positon on Sunday morning, but still had only one fence in hand from Andrew Nicholson, who was hoping to improve on his third placing in 2004 with Lord Killingshurst. This time the combination dropped three coloured poles and was overtaken by fellow Australian Phillip Dutton, who was clear with The Forman and the only rider to compete on his dressage score, that of 53.1.

Last to go, Foxx-Pitt now had two fences in hand from Dutton when heading out over the track with a mark of 42.4, but those eight faults were quickly used up and the pair was lucky to clear the final planks, which had caused plenty of problems throughout the day. Completing on 50.4 penalties, it was Ballincoola’s first four-star victory and an emphatic win for long-time eventing owners and supporters. Judith Skinner and Michael Payne.

Rapturous return for Lester at the Park

1985

NOW in the twilight of an illustrious and brilliant career, Lester Piggott has had a legion of major triumphs, but none so rapturously acclaimed as that on Commanche Run in last Sunday’s Group 1 Phoenix Champion Stakes at the Phoenix Park.

As the winner swept past the post the packed stands erupted, and that reception was surpassed when Lester rode Commanche Run into the parade ring. Even the usually taciturn Piggott was affected by the bubbling enthusiasm of the crowd. At that moment he was the uncrowned King of Ireland.

The success put Commanche Run very much in line for that $1 million Champion bonus as he is now quoted a 6/4 favourite for the final leg, the Dubai Champion Stakes. Bought for the lowly price of 9,000gns, Commanche Run has turned out to be a bargain such as one dreams about but which rarely exists in reality. With the only four-year-olds in the field finishing first and second, further confirmation, if such was required, of the collective mediocrity of this season’s crop of three-year-olds was supplied. The race proved a total whitewash for the home horses who filled the last five places.

There was only one horse in it as Piggott sent Commanche Run to the front from the start, and early in the straight they forged clear. Lester had a couple of looks over his shoulder to see how the rest were going, and saw nothing to cause him the slightest worry. Inside the final furlong 50/1 shot Bob Back wore down Damister and Scottish Reel to take second place, some three lengths off the winner.

Clearly Luca Cumani’s charge is something special for it must be remembered that here he slaughtered two Irish classic winners, plus the second and third in the Irish Sweeps Derby.

[Commanche Run finished eighth in the Dubai Champion Stakes, won by Pebbles]

Piggott out, Eddery in

1980

ON the Wednesday at York, Lester Piggott was bruised and shaken by a fall, but the pain of that tumble clearly did not match his discomfort at the not unexpected announcement of the end of his long and supremely successful association with Vincent O’Brien, and of Pat Eddery’s appointment as his successor.

The machinations involved in the change of riding arrangements caused by it hogged the headlines for the rest of the week. Piggott replied in the best way he knows, with a treble at Kempton on Friday.

He then made a point of offering Eddery his best wishes in his new job that promises endless opportunities and immense riches for the young Irishman.

The reasons for the final split between Piggott and O’Brien are complex and varied. Quite simply, theirs was a good marriage that finally burned out. Lester’s dislike of constant travelling to Ireland was given as a major reason for the parting, but the split was much deeper than that.

Both clearly wanted more influence than the other was prepared to concede, but in the end the trainer, by right, must have the final word. So Piggott had to go. Their partnership, at times uneasy but always, until this year, hugely successful, brought immense pleasure and excitement into the lives of those who appreciate true genius. The absence of any public acknowledgement of each other, at the end, showed just how far they had drifted apart.

The details have not been made public, but I understand Pat Eddery will earn around £500,000 over the four years of his contract, including valuable shares in the best horses he rides to victory.

Cod liver oil and malt, the secret of classic success

1955

LADY Zia Wernher’s filly Meld, who has been given cod liver oil and malt twice a day for the past few weeks to keep her free from the coughing epidemic, won the St Leger at Doncaster on Wednesday after an exciting finish with Nucleus. An objection by the second was quickly overruled.

Captain Boyd-Rochfort, who gained his fifth training success in a St Leger with Meld, expressed the view before the race that it was a miracle that she escaped the coughing. He said: “I must say that every person in my yard worked extremely hard to keep Meld well. I have used more disinfectant in the last week than in about six years in normal training.

“Although this has undoubtedly helped to keep the coughing away, I was beginning to fear that she would inhale so much of the stuff that it would do her as much harm as a cough. Another thing I have used, and which may be the secret of the filly’s immunity, is what they give babies – cod liver oil and malt. She has had a little of this on her tongue, night and morning, for the past few weeks.”

The St Leger winnings (£13,457) brought Meld’s total to more than £43,000, and she is the leading money-earning filly in the history of the British turf.

[Meld ran twice at two, finishing second on her debut at Newmarket before winning an 18-runner maiden at the same course. At three she raced four times, winning the 1000 Guineas, Oaks, Coronation Stakes at Ascot and the St Leger]