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About twenty years ago, I was approached by a publisher I’d met through racing, and asked if I would be interested in writing a biography of David Elsworth. The publisher knew that I’d had a couple of horses with him and that we’d remained on good terms since. I did talk to David about the idea, but he wasn’t at all keen and it was dropped.
One thing I’d made clear to both him and the publisher, was that I wouldn’t consider the usual ‘Chapter One – I was born etc, etc’ approach. My preference was to write something like twenty four chapters, alternating between writing about horses he’d trained, and people that had been involved in his career. Knowing David as I did, I was pretty sure it would be a better book if I never talked to him at all! But I reckoned I could produce a good picture of the man from talking to his staff, his jockeys and his owners.
OK, that never happened, but in the current enforced idleness, I can now do the chapters about his best horses. My idea was to pick six of his best flat performers, and then six NH ones. Here are the first two. Throughout, I’ll use ‘DE’ to save repeated writing of David Elsworth.
Chapter One HEIGHLIN b g High LIne ex Filiform
He was bought by DE at Newmarket Sales in late October 1979 for 14,000 guineas. He’d won three times at Bath that summer at distances up to 1m 5f, trained by Henry Candy for Mr Barnett, who also bred Heighlin. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear that his main attraction to DE was the sire, High Line, who’d already provided four wins for the stable in 1979 (his first year with a licence) through his son Skyline Drive. A year later at the same sale, he bought another son of High Line, who won twice in 1981 running in my colours.
Heighlin first made the headlines by winning the Triumph Hurdle, a rather unexpected outcome as he was a maiden going into the race, seemed unlikely to be suited by the heavy ground and was sent off at 40/1. He took advantage of the fall of Starfen at the last, despite being hampered by the faller, and got up close home from the 50/1 shot Batista. It was success that inevitably led to the belief that he would need a longer trip when he returned to hurdling, a belief that proved entirely misplaced.
But it was his achievements on the flat that really confirmed DE as a trainer to note. Just three weeks after that gruelling run at Cheltenham, he turned out for the 2m Queen’s Prize at Kempton, finishing second carrying just 8st under Richard Fox. Seventeen days later, he was out again, at Epsom, for the Great Metropolitan Handicap. The race of that name is a 1m 4f contest now, but in 1980, it was still run over 2m 2f on a course that started with the horses running the wrong way up the straight, then turning right just before Tattenham Corner to meander across the downs, rejoining the main course near the 1m 2f start. This time Heighlin carried 9-1, an indication of the lower quality he faced than at Kempton, and he won comfortably at 9/2, again under Richard Fox.
He was then unplaced in the Chester Cup (won by Sea Pigeon) and second again at Kempton, before resuming winning ways with the help of the stewards in the grandly named Syd Mercer Memorial Handicap at Warwick over just short of 2m 3f in early June. Ten days later, he provided DE with his first Royal Ascot success, winning the Ascot Stakes over 2m 4f under 7-12 (including a 3lb penalty for Warwick).
Any idea that he’d earned a break was dispelled by two more runs before Glorious Goodwood, a second at Haydock followed by a win over 2m at Newbury, where he was now carrying top weight of 9-4. Then the Goodwood Stakes over 2m 3f on the second day of the big meeting, where Heghlin faced just three rivals under 8-12, ridden for the first time by Pat Eddery. He cruised to the front under a tight hold, becoming the first horse to complete the Ascot/Goodwood double since 1946.
His next win was at York on an extraordinary day for his sire, who had three other winners as well as Heighlin on a single day at one the major meetings of the year. First Master Willie (for the connections that had sold Heighlin) won the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup, then Shoot A Line won the Yorkshire Oaks, Cocaine won the Acomb Stakes on debut for Jeremy Hindley and finally Heighlin won the 2m Lonsdale Handicap. There were still two more wins to come for Heighlin in September, first at Haydock and then the Gordon Carter Handicap at Ascot, both over 2m. It’s evidence of his improvement that in the latter race, he beat Taffy giving him 7lbs – the same horse had finished third as favourite in the Ascot Stakes where Heighlin was getting 10lbs from him. Taffy was a useful stayer, rated 96 by Timeform at the end of the season and he’d won twice before Royal Ascot.
Heighlin ran twice more, ending his season with an unplaced run in the Cesarewitch. Between April 5th and October 20th, he ran fifteen times on the flat, all over at least two miles. He won eight of those races and was placed second or third in four others. His Timeform rating rose from 89 at the time of his purchase, to 106 at the end of 1980.
He was finally given a break after the 80/81 NH season, running just three times on the flat as a 5-y-old in September and October. But he showed he retained all his ability, with second places in the Doncaster Cup, the Gordon Carter and lastly under 10st in the Cesarewitch. His Timeform rating went up again to 109.
As a 6-y-old, he started to show signs of temperament and needed finessing to put his head in front as late as possible. Brilliantly handled by Steve Cauthen, who I know impressed DE greatly, he won a decent 2m handicap at Kempton in May under 10st, and the 2m 5f Goodwood Cup. That was probably his single best performance, beating the Queen Alexandra winner Ore and the horse that had beaten him in the 1981 Ces, Halsbury – to coin a popular racing cliche, Heighlin hardly knew he’d had a race as Cauthen nudged him between rivals inside the final furlong. He also finished second in the Doncaster Cup again, beaten by the great Ardross. Another little boost to his rating, now 111.
I regard the case of Heighlin as an early pointer to the skills that DE would bring to his training career. The first thing, and it’s an under-rated point, is the need to get good horses into the yard, whether by the purchase of yearlings, or at horses in training sales. DE, particularly in the early years, excelled in the latter category. It’s the success and publicity stemming from the success of horses like Heighlin, that a trainer can attract other owners. Later on we’ll encounter several horses that arrived from unlikely sources because of Heighlin and half a dozen others he trained between 1979 and 1983.
The second thing that Heighlin emphasised, was his ability to keep horses in peak form throughout a long season, and to garner steady improvement in their performance at the same time. You’ll have read a lot about trainers that are ‘patient’, that like to ‘give their horses time’ etc, but that’s easy to do if you are firmly established in the top ranks already, with expensively bought yearlings or NH stores supplied by wealthy owners. And DE was quite willing to be patient, if that was what the horse required – we’ll come to a good example of that shortly. But overall, he was a man that regarded the term racehorse as an indication that it was a horse designed to be raced!
I’ve concentrated here on Heighlin’s flat career, but he did also continue over hurdles after his success in the Triumph. But he never reached the heights that he did on the flat, with more disappointments, especially in the Champion Hurdle, than success. He did win three more races, and anybody that saw him at Ascot beating Pollardstown, or at Newbury beating Ekblaco, would agree that he was top class on his day. But he never did win a Grade 1 hurdle, failing to even make the first six in three attempts at the Champion Hurdle.
I never met the owner of Heighlin, and that would have been my plan if the full version of this book had been written. So I have no idea how or why he chose DE as his trainer, but it was a decision that certainly had a major impact on his future career.
Chapter Two MIGHTY FLY b f Comedy Star ex Lettuce
This was the first of the very good home bred fillies that DE trained in the 1980’s, sent to him by the owner/breeders, Mr and Mrs Tory, whose black and yellow diamond check colours became a familiar sight on runners from the yard, although this filly ran in the colours of Mrs Tory, royal blue with a white disc and cap. Again, I would very much have wanted to talk to the owners about their choice of trainer, but I suspect the success of Heighlin must have been in their mind.
Mighty Fly wasn’t exactly bred in the purple – Comedy Star had been a tough and consistent performer at 7f to 10F, but he wasn’t quite top class, ending his career with a 121 rating from Timeform. The dam was a moderate maiden and a half sister to the National winner Rubstic. Comedy Star had already sired a good jumper in Starfen, the horse whose fall opened the door for Heighlin in the Triumph Hurdle. So an eventual NH career was probably the expected path for Mighty Fly, who had the size and substance for that game.
She was a late foal (May 13th) and ran only four times as a 2-y-old, all over sprint trips. She finished third in a small race at Chepstow in the third of those, then fourth at Bath on hard ground. Timeform rated her at 73 that year.
As a three year old, she had a more typical Elsworth campaign, running ten times, the last eight all over 1m after a failure at 1m 2f. She won her third and fourth starts, a maiden at Salisbury and a Bath handicap, finished in the first four in each of her next five runs, then won again in October at Newmarket. Noticeably, she was kept away from firm or hard going this season. Timeform upped her rating to 85 and commented that she was ‘genuine and consistent’. With three wins under her belt, there must have been a temptation to retire her so that her owners could breed from her, and I don’t know who made the decision to keep her in training, but it proved to be a master stroke.
She returned to action in the Lincoln Handicap, which was a tip in itself, as DE was never the sort of trainer to place his horses out of their class. She was set to carry 8st 4lbs, with Steve Cauthen booked, another tip as that would have been very much his lightest weight so early in the season. I was at Newbury that afternoon, so I didn’t see the race live, but she won comfortably at 14/1, possibly helped by her draw as the far side runners dominated the finish.
Nine days later, she carried a 5lb penalty in the 1m 2f Roseberry Handicap at Kempton, but once again that trip proved her undoing. She returned to Kempton at the end of April, dropped back to 1m and finished fourth in the Jubilee Handicap, then filled the same place in the Hambleton Handicap at the York Dante meeting.
She returned to winning ways at Sandown in the Whitsun Cup on May 30th, scoring by a neck in a twelve strong field, in which she was now carrying 9st 1lb. Steve Cauthen again had the ride. The obvious next target was the Hunt Cup, where she would carry a 5lb penalty for the Sandown win. In a field of thirty one, the Sandown runner-up, Fandangle, was a short priced favourite at 6/1 to reverse that form on 5lb better terms. But this time she beat him by a length and half with a decisive burst of speed at the furlong pole.
She thus became the first horse ever to complete the Lincoln/HUnt Cup double in the same season and I’m not aware that it’s been done since either. Mighty Fly was then sold privately to Paul Mellon, who inevitably I suppose, moved her to Ian Balding. She ran well in two Group 3 races in France for them, before winning one in Ireland, after which she retired to stud.
So here we see a different facet of the trainers skill, a more patient approach with a horse bred to mature into a jumping prospect. But undeterred by what the breeding was telling him, DE quickly found her ideal trip and the way to ride her from off the pace for a turn of speed. Again we see toughness, soundness and steady improvement – Timeform rated her at 117 when her career was finished. In addition, the recognition that there was more to come at four, considerably more as it turned out. To win either the Lincoln or the Hunt Cup would have been a considerable coup for a small owner/breeder. To win both added greatly to the value of their filly and they were able to cash in and secure the future of their operation for years ahead.
A last point here on the breeding as this filly is a prime example that what they do is no great indication of what their brothers and sisters might achieve. Jim Tory sent a full brother to Mighty Fly to DE in 1988, a gelding called Mighty Falcon. But he was useless on the flat, quickly switched to jumping and won six races over a long career, all of them over a minimum of 2m 5f. He ended up running in point to points and hunter chases, ridden by their daughter Emma Tory. Same sire, same dam, same breeder so growing up in the same paddocks eating the same grass, same trainer – but a totally different individual.
One of the great imponderables of our sport is that it’s impossible to know, or even guess, what a different trainer might have made of a horse that stays in one yard throughout. Would another trainer have got more out of Mighty Fly, or would commercial necessity have persuaded them to keep trying the longer trip, to retire her after her three wins as a 3-y-old, or even to send her back to her owners after her runs at two. Suffice it to say that no other trainer can point to that Lincoln/Hunt Cup double on their CV.
Great post apracing. I’d almost forgotten Heighlin, though he was one of my favourites at the time. Looking forward to next installment
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If you’d gone ahead with it; I would have preferred a book more about the man himself and your interaction with him about the horses that he trained for you and his life in general. A more intimate approach – rather than what seems like a list of horses in his charge and their ratings etc.I may have missed somethings in above though as I skimmed through it, much as I would on Kindle as I prefer a physical book.
Perhaps the problem Tank is that you did skim through it, and if you had read what AP wrote,
he explained in his heading that….One thing I’d made clear to both him and the publisher, was that I wouldn’t consider the usual ‘Chapter One – I was born etc, etc’ approach. My preference was to write something like twenty four chapters, alternating between writing about horses he’d trained, and people that had been involved in his career.
I think that the clue is in “alternating”, which AP again explained that ……..
My idea was to pick six of his best flat performers, and then six NH ones. Here are the first two.
I think he sets out his intention pretty clearly to highlight the horses which he managed to transform,
and then comment further on “the people that had been involved in his career”If you don’t like his stuff, then fair enough, but in times like these when the forum is basically
on it’s knees with little to comment on, I think a bit of credit to AP wouldn’t go amiss.Extremely well written Alan, I’ll look forward to further chapters. I remember Heighlin well, but hadn’t realised his flat career was so successful.
I’ve been a writer + satirical columnist for many years, but this was one piece I thought you might like. I had a book published last year, mainly a collection of my columns over the years.
Friends
British Medical Journal 16 December 1995
One of the great joys, and at the same time one of the great sorrows, of a medical career is the many friends we make and the many friends we lose. The nature of the job forges the deepest bonds; young people stressed to their breaking point, sharing long hours, warm bodies, and late nights, we get to know each other as we truly are. Our hopes and dreams, our fears and insecurities–sharing them came as naturally as surviving.
A war situation was no place for reticence or foreplay, and, despised by everyone else, we had to stick together to endure. And then, the nature of the job meant we would move on after six months. For a while we would stay in touch, maybe meet sometimes for a few beers and to rake over old times, nostalgia softening the memories of exhaustion and humiliation; then the pressures of time and distance would become too strong, and the new friendships we were building in our new trenches would take their place.
I had one particular group of friends in college; we had a poker school every week and we diligently skipped lectures to attend racecourses all over Ireland. Fairyhouse, Punchestown, Kilbeggan – the names still roll like music off my tongue and conjure a little tear in my eye, redolent with the scent of cheap whiskey and cigars, and the silky texture of torn bookies’ dockets.
Ah, that unforgettable day when Patsy’s potential jackpot winner fell at the final fence; the expression on his face was like one of those Greek plays where everybody dies, his acceptance of our profuse commiserations rather less than gracious. As La Rochefoucauld observed, ‘There is in the misfortune of one’s friends something not entirely unpleasant.’
But through all these good times we somehow believed that the best was yet to come; when we qualified, and had some spending money, we’d be able to do whatever we wanted; Cheltenham, Saratoga, Longchamp–what fun, what excitement we would have.
But it hasn’t worked out that way; first our jobs, now our families have separated us. We have been displaced to exotic destinations all over the world–Saskatoon, Perth, Boston, Crossmaglen; and I don’t think we’ll ever all get together again.
When we are young it seems that we can do anything we want; we have freedom but no funds, dreams but no resources. But as we get older and our authority grows so do our responsibilities, and our options become more and more limited. Until it comes to the point where our duties allow us no choices anymore; we have children to support, patients to look after, absolute obligations we must fulfil.
So at the last there is only that one thing which we must do, that one course which we must follow–and it ain’t a racecourse.Farrell, Dr Liam. Are You the ******* Doctor?: Tales from the bleeding edge of medicine . Kindle Edition.
Excellent stuff befair, and I had a right laugh reading through your post. I can also relate to
a lot of the sentiments in there, albeit a different profession but similar camaraderie through
difficult times.
Many thanks for that
Thanks BigG; those were the days… I remember we saw Dawn Run win the Forenoughts Hurdle in Punchestown. Hartstown, winner of the previous yrs Supreme Novice, was the favourite, but she looked magnificent in the paddock, and ran them ragged from the front.
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Big G, I’m a fan of Alan’s work- always have been – and have got his books and made lots of complimentary posts about him on here and elsewhere in the past.
My post of last evening was maybe not worded too well.
Cheers Tank, I’m glad to hear that you’re a fan of Alan’s work and I’m glad that
you have cleared up the misunderstanding and thanks for that. I hope you and your
family have managed to keep well through this horrendous virus.
All the best- Total Posts 2553
Cheers mate
Tank,
Two points – 1) I’d have expanded the chapters above by including quotes from the people involved with the horses (owners, stable staff, jockeys), if I’d had the opportunity to write the book I originally planned. But as I didn’t get to interview those people, what you get now is what I know and what I draw from each horse.
2) My direct contacts with DE during the years I was an owner (late 1979 to early 1982) were very limited. For the first year I was working in Kuwait and communication was almost impossible. The only time I ever saw my first horse in the flesh was the day he was purchased, I never saw any of his races live or on film. In total I only visited his stables four times – twice to discuss purchases, once with a local newspaper reporter and photographer after the second horse had won twice in a week, and once to view the yard at Whitsbury after he moved there.
I only got to know him better when I ceased being an owner, something which made him more relaxed I think! It would have been interesting to learn from other owners whether they had the same experience.
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Cheers, Alan, and best wishes to you in these trying times.
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