Bookmaker Reviews

Posts Tagged ‘winner’

Near silence descended upon York as 100-1 shot Sole Power caused one of the biggest surprises in Group One history by winning the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes.

Not even trainer Eddie Lynam or his jockey Wayne Lordan were expecting much from the three-year-old, who only had two all-weather victories at Dundalk to his name and had finished fifth in a Listed race at Tipperary just two weeks earlier.

But somehow he defied the form book and the betting by beating the apparently invincible 6-4 favourite Golden Jubilee and July Cup winner Starspangledbanner by a length and a quarter.

The theme of upsets was continued into the minor placings with another 100-1 shot, Piccadilly Filly, managing to snatch third while the second best in the market, Equiano, was a huge disappointment and came home last.

Lynam said: “I suppose that is the same price as I am to train a Group One winner! The last time I trained one, someone woke me up! We were hopeful, but we didn’t think he would win, and if he had finished fourth we would have been pleased.

“He can be very keen and he needs a big field to get him to settle. He’s been disappointing since the Palace House in the spring, but they go too slow for him in the sprints in Ireland. He broke the track record at Dundalk.

“He will have an entry for the Prix de l’Abbaye. If the sun shines in Paris we’ll be there but if it is typical soft French ground he’ll miss it. We love York and hopefully we can run in this race for many years to come.”

It was also a first Group One for Lordan, who was more than compensated for having to miss the winning ride in Wednesday’s totesport Ebor on Dirar due to his commitments with Tommy Stack.

He said: “I didn’t think I had much of a chance as it’s hard for a three-year-old against older horses, but they went very quick and he’s picked up.

“He ran well at Newmarket earlier in the year and I thought he might be a horse who might take his chance next year. I hoped I’d finish somewhere in the middle, but it’s worked out much much better than that.”

Multiple Group One winner and top-class sire Singspiel has recently been put down at the age of 18.

Sheikh Mohammeds homebred developed laminitis following a lengthy illness and also the hard decision was to taken to euthanise him on Friday.

The son of In the Wings won 9 of his 20 career starts for Sir Michael Stoute such as the Canadian International and Japan Cup in 1996, and also the Dubai Globe Cup, Coronation Cup and Juddmonte International the subsequent year.

He went on to prove just as prosperous inside the breeding shed, with his son Moon Ballad also enjoying Dubai Globe Cup success in 2003.