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A new tale, topical this week as Haydock stage the race that provided the the first big win for the star of the story.
Over the years I’ve been following racing, there have been plenty of examples of cheaply purchased horses with form, going on to better things and proving highly profitable for the new owners. If asked to list examples, I’ve no doubt that the likes of Makfi, Istabraq and The Tatling would feature prominently, but I also suspect the one I’m going to write about here would get very few mentions.
Chesa Plana raced in Germany, where she was placed several times in Group company, and she ended her racing career with an unplaced run in the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes over 10F at Santa Anita. She then remained in the States as a broodmare at Clovelly Farms.
By the time she visited Kingmambo in 1999, she’d already produced three foals, none of whom ever managed to win a race. Some of those failures would have already been public knowledge by the time her colt by Kingmambo entered the ring at Keeneland Yearling Sales in September 2001. But he must have stood out on looks as Shadwell (i.e the late Hamdan Al Maktoum) paid $325,000 for him, named him Alkaased and sent him to Sir Michael Stoute.
He ran twice as a two-year-old, fourth in a small field conditions race over 7F at the St Leger meeting, then fourth again in a sixteen runner maiden at Newmarket in October, starting 7/4 fav in the latter race. He didn’t reappear until July, when beaten as 5/4 fav in a 12F maiden at Yarmouth – he can be forgiven that as the winner was a useful filly trained by Sir Henry Cecil who went on to win a Listed race on her next start and also finished second in the Park Hill Stakes.
He finally broke his duck in a four runner maiden over 12F at Ripon, where he started 8/1 on and won in a canter. Then, starting life in handicaps with a mark of 87, he ran second in a 14F handicap at Newmarket in early October, then second again at Leicester nine days later (beaten a short head) over 12F and he ended that season rated 93. Shortly after the Leicester run, I was searching the Tattersalls Autumn HIT catalogue for possible purchases and was surprised to find Alkaased up for sale. I knew he’d be out of my league and anticipated a price tag of around £80 – £100k for a colt that looked sure to have further improvement in him at four.
But he only fetched 42,000 guineas, bought by Luca Cumani on behalf of Australian owner, Mike Charlton, in pursuit of his long held ambition to find a horse that could win the Melbourne Cup. I was surprised by the price, but put Alkaased at the top of my list of horses to watch out for in 2004.
Cumani was just as patient with Alkaased as his previous trainer and he didn’t make his first appearance in his new colours until June 5th, when he ran a close second in a 1M 4F Classified Stake at Newmarket, giving 3lbs to the winner Wunderwood. That form was boosted two weeks later when Wunderwood ran out an easy winner of the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot. Alkaased bypassed Ascot, which I thought was sensible, as the pattern of his form suggested that he preferred a long home straight to show his best.
That best became very clear at Haydock on July 3rd in the Old Newton Cup, then as now, the most valuable 1M 4F handicap in the program open to older horses. Alkaased, running off a mark of 94 dominated a field of fifteen, hitting the front around the 2F pole and going well clear, ahead by six or seven lengths before being eased down to an official 4L success. I’m sure the owner was delighted, as the prize money (£40k) recouped a good deal of his initial outlay – and I confess I was equally pleased as the 7/1 SP seemed remarkably generous.
The official handicapper was impressed and his mark was raised from 94 to 105, which put an end to any thought of further runs in handicap company. I don’t think the Ebor was ever considered and his next stop was the Listed 1M 4F race at Glorious Goodwood, aka the Glorious Stakes. He handled this rise in class with a battling neck success over the Stoute trained First Charter, who had four Listed wins on his record already – his 3lb penalty made the difference in this one. The pair finished 6L clear of the rest and the form was good enough for a Group 3, reflected in a further 8lb rise for Alkaased to 113. First Charter won a Group 2 over 2M at York a few weeks later, before ending his racing career with a third in the Irish St Leger.
Taking the obvious next step up, Alkaased was aimed at the Group 3 September Stakes, run at Kempton (still a turf track then) over 1M 3f in early September. But he wasn’t quite good enough to beat Mamool, a proven performer at the top level with a Yorkshire Cup win here and two Group 1 wins in Germany to his name in previous seasons. At level weights, he ran out the winner by half a length – his class shown by his next two starts being the Arc and the Melbourne Cup.
That was it for Alkaased in 2004, he was put away with the intention of keeping him in training as a five year old. It was to prove an inspired decision. Undeterred by his Kempton defeat, Cumani opted for the Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket for his first run of the season and Alkaased got the better of three penalised rivals, comfortably beating Gamut, a Group1 winner at Saint Cloud, and Bandari. His first try in Group 1 company followed, but he was no match for Yeats in the Coronation Cup, second but in ‘hopeless pursuit’ of the winner as it’s described in the form book.
But that form was reversed just over three weeks later in the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud, as Alkaased, ridden for the first time by Dettori, won by two lengths from Policy Maker, with the Arc and Prix Ganay winner Bago back in third and Yeats well beaten. The win came with an invitation to run in the Japan Cup, but two defeats followed that made that look an optimistic target. In the Prix Foy, he was no match for the top class mare Pride and having bypassed the Arc, he was outpaced over the shorter trip in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket and finished fifth.
So to Japan, where conditions were sure to suit him, 1M 4F on firm ground, and Dettori back in the saddle. It proved a fantastic end to his career, a win by a nose in a driving finish after hitting the front a furlong out. Watch this replay and you’ll never complain about ITV again:
Here’s a newspaper report on the race:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2005/nov/28/horseracing.gdnsport3
The prize money added almost £1.3M to his career total and the win prompted a sale to Darley Japan. The price was never officially made public, but generally assumed to be in the region of £5M sterling, which is a very big number in yen. Overall, I estimate that the purchase, training costs, travel etc, probably cost Mr Charlton about £150k over the two years that he owned Alkaased. In return the horse won him about £1.3M after the usual deductions for jockey, trainer and stable staff. Add in the purchase price paid by Darley and it’s safe to say that his initial 42,000 guineas outlay produced a profit of around £6M – better than an ISA.
A very good story, AP.
One more point: Alkaased was the last non-Japanese horse to win the Japan Cup.
“He was no match for Yeats in the Coronation Cup, second but in ‘hopeless pursuit’ of the winner as it’s described in the form book.”
I was at Epsom that day. As I recall, Jimmy Fortune was too far back from a steady gallop. Yeats, a horse we now know stayed much further, had the run of the race.
A superb tale, as ever, Alan. Thanks. Jock on the long time leader in the Cup is the only one I’ve seen carry his bum higher than Lester did.
Really enjoyed reading that apracing, thanks for posting. Nice to be reminded of some of the less obvious stars of yesteryear.
Well written and engaging story.
I had forgotten about PRIDE, a lovely mare that I very much liked at the time.
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