Sporting Life
Let's talk about... Haydock
Let's talk about... Haydock

Let's talk about... Haydock - send in your favourite memories from Merseyside track

By Sporting Life
Horse Racing
Wed April 15, 2020 · 5y ago

David Ord and Richard Mann discuss their favourite memories from Haydock Park but Kauto Star hasn't made the cut - get in touch with your best Haydock moments.

What are the favourite days, moments and races from Haydock Park? Check out details below of how to send them across to us at the foot of the article.

David Ord - Giants face off in Sprint Cup

The 1990 Sprint Cup is one of the races that will never fade.

It brought together three brilliant horses. Dayjur, off the back of a clock-busting demolition of his field in the Nunthorpe at York, July Cup winner Royal Academy and Prix Maurice de Gheest heroine Dead Certain.

The former was sent off the 1/2 favourite as he ventured back up to six furlongs for the first time in Group One compan. For four-and-a-half of those six he threatened to light up Haydock as he had Royal Ascot and the Knavesmire on his previous two starts.

To the front as the stalls opened, he cruised through the contest and put the race to bed when sauntering four lengths clear of his rivals inside the final quarter.

In behind John Reid and Royal Academy had run into traffic problems but once clear, began to eat into the advantage.

At the line a length-and-a-half separated the pair. The official form book said the runner-up was given too much to do. Willie Carson insisted he was looking after the winner with the race in safe keeping.

The fact the pair had pulled five lengths clear of the third confirmed what we already sensed, here were two world class three-year-olds.

And they were to prove just that at Belmont Park in the fall of that year.

The drama on the New York track on 27th October was unparalleled.

Dayjur was first up and his sheer class saw him overcome a wide draw, the speed of the home team from the gates and a switch to a dirt surface, to thunder into the final furlong with the Sprint in safe keeping.

Then, in a moment replayed almost as much as Devon Loch’s Aintree abolition, at full flight, travelling at 40 miles an hour, he jumped not one, but two shadows on the track. Willie Carson kept the partnership intact but Safely Kept snuck back up to claim the winners’ cheque.

European race fans were dazed – only for an hour and three-quarters later his Haydock victim to play the key part in arguably the greatest sporting comeback for all time.

Lester Piggott only returned to the saddle on 15th October after five years out. That spell included a brief training career and spell in prison for tax fraud.

He may have been the greatest jockey to ever throw his leg across a horse but even he could have been excused nerves and rustiness as he climbed aboard Royal Academy.

Just to see him back there, on the world stage, riding for another racing legend Vincent O’Brien, was special. Here were two men who’d cast a huge shadow over the racing world for over two decades, their names forever associated with the likes of Nijinsky, The Minstrel and Sir Ivor combining again for one final hurrah.

What unfolded down the stretch, with Piggott’s rhythmic drive carrying his partner to the front inside the final furlong for a cosy success, was beyond belief.

The king was back on his throne on a night when the sporting gods showed both sides of their character.

Dayjur and Royal Academy are names that will be forever etched in the racing history books.

They only met once. At Haydock Park.

Richard Mann - Tante Rose too Cool in the Cup

I've only visited Haydock Park once, back in 2004 when I was convinced that Aidan O'Brien had the next Second Coming on his hands in the shape of One Cool Cat.

Looking back it was youthful naivety at best, pure idiocy at worst, but when making the trip across the M62 on that glorious Saturday morning, trade paper by my side, I was convinced the Haydock Sprint Cup was his for the taking. A few hours later I headed back home with a some harsh lessons learnt: don't always believe the hype and never underestimate a sprinter trained by Roger Charlton.

Tante Rose, sired by the mighty Barathea, had always looked a high-class filly in the making when under the care of Barry Hills but having made the switch to Charlton's Beckhampton base at the beginning of 2004, she went on to enjoy a brilliant unbeaten three race four-year-old career.

As well as Charlton working his magic, the drop to sprinting proved to be the making of Tante Rose and following a successful reappearance at Haydock and a Group Three cruise at York, she returned to Haydock to pass the biggest test of her career. But only just.

Despite travelling through the autumn feature with her usual aplomb, Tante Rose had to work furiously hard to get past reigning champion and Group One winner Somnus in the shadows of the post; Richard Hughes, as ever, proving the master of perfect timing.

This was a proper Group One sprint; the high-class Somnus carried out on his shield in second with the previous season's Prix de l'Abbaye hero Patavellian - also trained by Charlton - back in third.

For One Cool Cat, the dream was finally over. A high-profile defeat at the start of the year in the 2000 Guineas had suggested he would never be able to build on a brilliant juvenile campaign but victory over six furlongs at the Curragh followed by a luckless run in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York had offered renewed hope that he might still be able to reach the dizzy heights once predicted of him.

Haydock was supposed to be One Cool Cat's crowning moment; a chance to finally set the record straight and justify the huge faith O'Brien had placed in a colt whose services cost John Magnier 3.1 million dollars. As it was, his story would end in Newton-Le-Willows with a solid but unspectacular run back in sixth, an effort that rather summed up the second half of his career. A smart horse, but no star and certainly no champion.

Haydock itself was a treat; the fine weather allowing the beautiful paddock to look even more resplendent in the September sun and Newmarket's July Course apart, I'm not sure I've experienced anywhere better to watch horses have their final preparations made before they race. Of course, things may well have changed in the ensuing years but Haydock is a course I remain keen to visit again one day.

With the Sprint Cup done and dusted, and my wallet significantly lighter than it had been in the morning, my final memory of the day is of being able to dust myself down and somehow find the 14/1 winner of the two-year-old maiden. A debut scorer by the name of Zohar who was trained by Brian Meehan. The jockey: Mick Kinane.

Ah, those were the days.

Send us your views

Send your favourite memories from Haydock and other contributions to racingfeedback@sportinglife.com and if you’ve any ideas for more topics you want covering over the coming days and weeks please let us know.

Feedback from readers

Simon from Newark: PAISLEY PARK, November 24 2018. The way he quickened from a seemingly impossible position to beat Sands of Midnight by half a length was the first indication he might be serious Cheltenham class. Four months later he ran away with the stayers' crown and his official rating had climbed no less than 20lbs.

Dave Parker: My fondest memory was travelling up to Haydock in a coach with my Father , friends and colleagues from work. I was lucky enough to back every winner at Haydock and the one I remember was a horse called Feltwell if my memory trained by Harry Wragg I got 9/1 told my Father and friends and they all laughed I will always remember the silence when I was the only one to go and pick up winnings I also had a large wager on Bluewind I the Irish Oaks on the same day and I got 9/2. I placed all my bets with the same bookie who said when I collected after the last race I hope I never see you again!!!! couple of hours later he bought me a couple of beers and wished me luck for the future. I went back to Haydock several years later and had a good day again funnily enough with the same bookie and bless his heart he remembered me and we still had pint together afterwards. Great days great memories.

David Cass: Throughout the winter months Haydock is the home to the staying chaser. My favourite was The Last Fling trained by Sue Smith and in Trevor Hemmings famous colours. On cold winter afternoons, knee deep in mud, he would give up the outside rail to no man or horse. Leading from the flag fall, the war of attrition would see his rivals drop off the back one by one. In the 1999/2000 season he won 3 class 1 chases at Haydock and now has a race named after him. He was what my old grandad called a ‘proper horse’

Tony Sayles: Greenall Whitley day 1979, Alverton wins for fun, everyone and his dog had backed him from 4’s to 5/2, the place went berserk. But the thing I remember most vividly was returning to the members after watching Exalted unsaddle in the winners circle after winning the opening race, the Victor Ludorum Hurdle.

The place was packed and you could barely move as I got in line behind two nuns. Coming out of the Members was a small, ginger haired Irish priest who was already worse for wear and it was only the first race. He had a smile on his face from ear to ear. He sees the two nuns and greets them with a bigger smile and open arms.

Priest “Sisters, did you not back Exalted?”

Nuns in unison “Oh no Father, our vows forbid it.”

Priest “Well mine don’t and I had the house on him. “ And off he toddled into the mayhem.

I was 16 and hooked for life.

Alan Shaw: How can the Kauto Star win in the 2011 Betfair not get a mention? The reception he got when entering the winners' enclosure, which was packed, the almost tearful trainer and jockey, is memorable even 8 to 9 years later. Kauto had been written off and supposedly past his best. Not a bit of it. The TV crew did a great job of bringing the emotion into our living rooms.

Dave Chapman: In March 1989 I was at Haydock with my former boss there was a very big group of us and we all had a speculative bet on a horse of his called Genobra trained by Ginger Mc Cain, the race was only and egg and spoon race but we got 33s and it romped home. I've just logged into the Racing Post website to note that the horse only won that one time AND it went off at 7s I am shocked. My boss was a big punter but I am amazed that it got backed in from 33s that day -I had that much to drink I must of forgotten how much it contracted in price, but I was a hero to some friends and family members that day as we all had a few quid on. No it wasn’t a big race day but it was a big and memorable day for me as it to this day is one of the biggest priced winners I have ever had but it also reminds me of a time working for a fantastic boss – who has dropped off the face of the earth and many tell me they think he isn’t with us anymore. If indeed he has departed then cheers to you George Clark I will have a drink on you tonight to celebrate the memory.

Andrew Pelis: My favourite memories of Haydock Park relate to National Hunt and in particular, the duals between two gargantuans of the turf, Silver Buck and Night Nurse.

Haydock's fences were traditionally very big, very black and unforgiving. It was a track that taught a novice to jump properly and was a terrific course for Gold Cup and Grand National horses to sort out their jumping in competitive races.

And in the late Seventies and early Eighties, the north was very much in the ascendency with regards to jumps racing.

Powerhouse stables like the Dickinsons, Easterbys and Arthur Stephenson housed many of the country's best chasers.

Races like the Edward Hanmer Memorial Chase and the Greenalls Gold Cup were the breeding ground of Gold Cup stars.

In 1979, Silver Buck and Night Nurse fought out one of the greatest jumps races of all time for me, in the Embassy Premier Chase Final.

Bad weather had decimated the jumps programme, but the Dickinsons had managed to get a run into Silver Buck a few days before, while Night Nurse, a dual Champion Hurdle winner, embarking on his first season over fences, had remained sidelined.

Perhaps that made the difference.

The two warriors were at loggerheads down the back straight for the final time, miles clear of anything else. They entered the straight still neck and neck and continued to vie for the lead all the way up the home straight.

It was only late on that Silver Buck asserted his superior fitness in a magnificent race.

Silver Buck was beaten in the Sun Alliance Novices' Chase, by Master Smudge, while Night Nurse disappointed in the Gold Cup, before winning at Aintree.

Later on, Silver Buck would win two King George VI Chases and the 1982 Gold Cup, also contributing as part of the Dickinson 'Famous Five' in 1983.

He would meet Night Nurse many more times down the years, including at Haydock on several occasions.

Only once did Night Nurse finish in front of him, in the 1981 Gold Cup, when he ran second to stable mate Little Owl, narrowly missing out on becoming the first horse to do the Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double. Little Owl had warmed up for his Gold Cup with victory in the first-ever Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock, where Alverton - another Peter Easterby star, had won the Greenalls en-route to his Gold Cup triumph two years earlier.

Dave Goodman: 1993 was a big favourite year for me at Haydock Racecourse, I went racing with Henry Cecil that day to see him saddle and win the Lancashire Oaks with the Khalid Abdullah owned RAINBOW LAKE, the daughter of Rainbow Quest did Henry proud and how well Willie Ryan rode her. Today is special here at Newmarket as the Limekiln gallops opened this morning, I am looking forward to some exciting mornings on them this year, we must all keep our keen interest up in this great sport and look forward to racing returning. Stay well everyone

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