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Chapter Three INDIAN RIDGE ch c Ahoonora ex Hillbrow
He was purchased as a yearling at Goffs for 22,000 punts, and proved a very good buy at the price. But he was always a difficult horse to train and over three seasons of racing, got to the course just eleven times, a very different profile from most of those trained by DE.
As a juvenile, he made his debut in a 5f maiden at Salisbury and performed well enough to win such a race nine times out of ten. But this was the tenth, as he had the misfortune to run into a Guy Harwood debutant called Warning! Unsurprisingly left for dead by that one, he still had 5L in hand of the rest and looked like a good thing for a maiden. Another second place followed though, before he recorded wins at odds on in small fields at Goodwood in September and Leicester in October, both over 6f and ridden by Steve Cauthen.
At that point, he seemed to be a useful colt, likely to do well in handicaps as a 3-y-old, but still some way short of Group class. That assessment was matched by a Timeform rating of 93 and the fact that he didn’t appear at all in the 2-y-old Free Handicap weights.
So it was quite a surprise that Indian Ridge made his return in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot. This time Cauthen was claimed by Henry Cecil for the short priced favourite, Salse, also making his seasonal debut, but with considerably better form at two, culminating in a third in the Futurity at Doncaster. Keeping with the American theme, DE booked Cash Asmussen and Indian Ridge made all to win by two and half lengths from Salse, in receipt of 5lbs.
Salse went on to win three of the major 7f races later in the season, the Hungerford and Challenge Stakes here, and the Foret in France, and he probably needed the run at Ascot. Sadly the season went the other way for Indian Ridge, who finished sixth behind Salse at Newbury and was well beaten in the July Cup and the QE II. He certainly wasn’t an easy ride, as he tended to race freely and perhaps the non availability of either Asmussen or Cauthen at Newbury and Ascot didn’t help his cause.
He remained in training as a 4-y-old and that worked out well. Reunited with Cauthen, he won the 6f Duke of York at the Dante meeting and the Kings Stand (then a Group 2) at Ascot. Both those wins were on quick ground, which had also been the case in the Jersey Stakes and by then it seemed clear that although he’d won soft as a juvenile, faster conditions worked in his favour. At Ascot, in a moderate renewal of the Kings Stand, he was always up with the pace despite the drop in trip and just prevailed in a three way photo. Back on softer ground in France, he was beaten as odds on favourite in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville and that was his final appearance.
So ended a three year career in which he recorded five wins from eleven starts, but had the unusual record of never finishing second, third or fourth in any of his nine runs after he’d broken his duck. He also of course joined that small band of horses that have won different races at consecutive Royal meetings. Indian Creek went on to be a very successful stallion, producing Group winners at trips from 5f to 12f, his fee rising from modest beginnings to 85,000 euros in the early years of this century.
It could certainly be argued that Indian Ridge was not a great example of training, in that his keenness and free running style were never brought under control. But against that, if Steve Cauthen couldn’t get the horse to settle, it’s a fair bet it was never going to happen at all. What DE did was harness the early speed to good effect by dropping him down in trip as a 4-y-old, and producing the victories that made it possible to sell him as a stallion.
I believe he was also an important horse for DE, who was having growing success in the NH sphere, but not so much on the flat. Indian Ridge was the first colt he trained that proved good enough to go to stud, and his wins in 1989 contributed to a very successful summer for DE that confirmed he could produce the goods under both codes.
Chapter Four DEAD CERTAIN b f Absalom ex Sirnelta
Dead Certain was bought as a foal for 5,800 guineas, and I’ve always assumed the purchaser was her eventual owner, rather than DE, but I don’t know that for sure either way. I also believe she was the first horse sent to DE by the owner, Commander G G Marten, who had previously been associated with Henry Candy.
I was at Windsor when she made her debut in May 1989, and got a hint that she might be a bit special in conversation with Jane Elsworth, but the 11/10 SP suggested I wasn’t the only well informed punter on the premises. She failed to hold the more experienced Hannon trained Between The Sticks (owned by Peter Shilton), who’d already won at Newmarket and was beaten by two lengths, with the pair a long way clear of the rest.
But that was soon forgotten, as an easy win at Salisbury followed two weeks later, and then she took the Queen Mary at 8/1 (Between The Sticks finished 6th at 50/1), always up with the pace and in front soon after halfway. For a filly bought so cheaply and with fairly modest breeding, that was pretty much ‘job done’. I’m not sure how pleased her breeder would have been, as that was the trainer Fulke Johnson Houghton!
For Dead Certain however, Ascot was just the start and she produced much better form in the Cherry Hinton, only failing by a short head to give 5lbs to the Cecil trained Chimes Of Freedom, who next won the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes by six lengths. Dead Certain bypassed that in favour of the Lowther Stakes at York, which she won comfortably under a penalty in the absence of what were seen as the best 6f fillies around.
The scene was set for the rematch between Dead Certain and Chimes Of Freedom at level weights in the Cheveley Park Stakes. Both fillies were entered for the supplementary fee of £10,000, along with four others, boosting the prize money to over £200k. To put that in perspective, the first prize would be £134k, compared to just £62k one year earlier – and the Middle Park in 1989 paid £79k. For once, the fillies were getting the big money.
The betting favoured Chimes Of Freedom at even money, with Dead Certain at 11/2, but it was the latter who came out on top in a bunch finish, scoring by 3/4L, the favourite a further head back in third. Another big race win for Cash Assmussen riding for DE. Dead Certain ended the season as the fourth highest money earner, behind Nashwan, Zilzal (Sussex Stakes and QE II) and Legal Case (Champion Stakes), and her success propelled DE to seventh place in the trainers table.
Her win in the Cheveley Park produced all the usual speculation in the media about her prospects of staying the trip in the 1000 Gns, but any thought of her running in that disappeared when she dropped out rapidly after five furlongs in her trial race, the Fred Darling over the extended 7f at Newbury. She was reported to be distressed after the race, although I’m not aware of any clear explanation ever emerging for her performance.
When she returned to action at Royal Ascot it was over 6f in the Cork and Orrery, and she produced the best performance of her career in defeat. Lumbered with an 11lb penalty (!) for her Group 1 success, she led throughout, but was headed in the final two strides by the 4-y-old Great Commotion. Both horses turned out for the July Cup three weeks later, but Dead Certain disappointed and the fact that she was a long way below the Ascot form was hammered home by Great Commotion finishing a 3/4l second to Royal Academy.
That was a second signal that all wasn’t well with her, although she did manage to win a moderate renewal of the Prix Maurice De Gheest on her next start. Her final two runs were both shockers, beaten a long way in both the Haydock Sprint Cup and the Diadem Stakes, with a form book comment ‘put head in air’ from Haydock. I’m fairly sure her poor runs were down to breathing problems, with the ‘distressed’ report from Newbury and the ‘head in air’ from Haydock both sure signs of a filly unable to get enough oxygen into her system. Ironically it was DE himself who had taught me what to look for to help identify a horse with such problems.
Dead Certain went on to have a successful career as a broodmare, with nine of her foals good enough to win a race and they included some useful performers. The most prolific was a handicapper called True Night, who started with Henry Candy and was later sold to Dandy Nicholls – he won twelve times in a long career.
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