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Dayjur was an amazingly dominant colt. Loved him:One of my favourite horses of all time.
Once the Major and Sheikh Hamdan decided that he wasn’t going to win a Guineas – after a bemusing Free Handicap defeat – he demolished the Temple, the Kings Stand, the Nunthorpe, (his best UK performance?), the Haydock Sprint Cup and – as AP says, morally – the Breeders Cup Sprint.
But what about
Lochsong
in 1992/1993? Wallet filling handicap queen as a four year old – Stewards Cup, Portland and Ayr Gold Cup and then the Kings Stand, Nunthorpe and Abbaye the following year. Voted European Horse of the Year too. At her peak, she’d hold her own against any generation.
Just point her…and watch her go.
It would have to be LOCHSONG for me but let’s not forget the amazing grey sprinter
PARIS HOUSE, trained by Jack Berry, who in 1993 won both the Palace House Stakes (Lochsong 3rd)and the Temple Stakes (Lochsong 4th) before going down to Lochsong by just a head in the King George and then 2nd to ‘herself’ again this time in the Nunthorpe.Never quite the class of Lochsong and Dayjur, Paris House was always exciting to watch, an out and out sprinter.
He only ran unplaced 4 times in his 21 race career..Jac
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...The race was originated as ‘from the Red House Inn to the Winning Post’.
The Red House Inn was (maybe still is?) a public house on the town side of the straight course positioned between the modern day 5F and 6F starts.
That’s interesting, thanks
It’s likely Danum School lies where the Inn used to be, though there is also a huge housing estate on the immediate town side of the racecourse, so if the ‘straight’ was different back in 1855 (thanks Wikipedia) it may have been sited there adjacent to what is now Leger Way
Re: the splendid Lochsong. As an aside, her half-sister Lochangel also won The Nunthorpe
Is owner Jeff Smith still around? Don’t recall having seen his colours for a while
Drone, Jeff Smith is very much alive and kicking. He has horses in training with all his usual suspects – Andrew Balding, David Elsworth, Sylvester Kirk et al – and I guess you’ll be seeing a lot more of his horses after Ascot.
Most of his host yards – David Elsworth in particular – have been slow to get going. Westhaven was a winner for that owner/trainer combo last Saturday night. I don’t think Mr Smith has a star in his string to keep him in the headlines. And I wouldn’t rule out a reduction in his string size either.
Remember Lochangel winning the Nunthorpe well. Do you remember seeing Sharpo, Drone? When I first started racing, Sharpo was already a legendary sprinter and in his first years at stud.
The two that spring to mind from recently are Oasis Dream and Choisir, both ironically from the same season. Oasis Dreams July Cup must be one of the best July Cups for many a season.
Jeff Smith has one ‘star’ still in training, the horse that I think has earned him more prize money than any other he’s owned – Dream Eater.
Mostly due to his win in a sales races as a 2-y-old and helped out by a contribution of almost £100k for finishing second in Turkey last year.
He also has four or five in training with James Eustace, with whom he has a long history that includes Greenwood, who ended up with much less prominent owners!
AP
chief singer would have been at the top of any list if running in more sprints,won cov 1st time out 4len
july cup beating never so bold/habbibti easly only sprint starts
P.S
I don’t think its poss for the sprinters to dominate these days
the over wartering and constant moving courses/stalls rail in /rail out mularke makes it almost imposs for one horse to win all our best sprintsChoisir winning two Royal Ascot sprints in a week and just failing to give Oasis Dream 5lbs from the worst draw in the July Cup must put him up there.
Now, Floribunda, she could shift! Oh, sorry, that was fifty years ago, when milk fltas were still horse-drawn.
Jeff Smith is very much alive and kicking. He has horses in training with all his usual suspects – Andrew Balding, David Elsworth, Sylvester Kirk et al – and I guess you’ll be seeing a lot more of his horses after Ascot.
Remember Lochangel winning the Nunthorpe well. Do you remember seeing Sharpo, Drone? When I first started racing, Sharpo was already a legendary sprinter and in his first years at stud.
Thanks, good to know he’s still active as he always came across as a thoroughly enthusiastic and cheerful owner; one who very much emphasised the sporting nature of ownership rather than the financial, though he’s made plenty wedge too
Guess it no more than reflects my limited exposure to Flat racing these days that I wasn’t aware of his current crop of horses
Over the last thirty years or so I’ve seen more Nunthorpes live on-course than live on TV, and fortunately the ‘I was there’ boast can be made for two of Sharpo’s three wins, Dayjur’s, Lochangel’s and Oasis Dream’s. Missed Lochsong’s though
Sharpo – what a fitting name for a sprinter! Liked him a lot but I do most top-class sprinters; them and staying chasers, odd or what
Adrian has already mentioned Oasis Dream, and although I’m admittedly in no position to judge the calibre of the recent years’ sprinters, I’m satisfied he was the best sprinter of this new millennium. His Nunthorpe was devastating and his returned Timeform timefigure of 133 up there with the best. Moreover he was one of the best looking colts I’ve ever seen in the flesh. His appearance and demeanour in the pre-parade ring had me and other grown men gasping
The recounting of and revelling in good wins is poor form, so please forgive the following indulgence:
Lochangel, by some way the worst (least good to be fair) sprinter mentioned on this thread, warmed Drone’s heart and wallet the day she won at York. I’d priced her at 7/2 jfav with Elnadim, the July Cup winner who I was keen to take on at a forecast ~2/1 following reports of setbacks since Newmarket
Happily, Lochangel was out around fourth-pick at ~7/1 in the morning, so it was with a somewhat confident march that I made my way back from checking all was well in the Parade (it was) to Tatts. As I was rounding the County enclosure I heard Mickey Fletcher bawling the odds in his own inimitable style, including 8/1 Lochangel. Now, I rarely bother with Rails bookmakers but this was just too enticing. At the top of my voice I yelled ‘Oi Kid, 60 fractions Lochangel’. He turned round, lent over, grinned in that ever-so-slightly pained and fraught manner he has and held an outstretched hand. Business swiftly concluded with a mutual ‘thanks’ and a couple of nanoseconds later I was back in Tatts
Binned eyes immediately focussed on the Macbet and Leslie Steele boards who were always the ‘reference’ boards of choice. 7/1 both, so I quickly completed the bet at 15/2 with Mark Sturman on the front row. 7/1…13/2…6/1 SP, and if memory serves 11/2 was laid
Nice when all goes to plan isn’t it?
All too rare unfortunately, emphasised by the fact that my records for Ebor Week that year, although reporting a small but-not-particularly-heartening profit, would have shown a significant loss had it not been for dear old Lochangel
Those pre-Betfair days betting on-course seem a lifetime ago now, and they’re certainly a world away now
Exciting, and a rollercoaster-roll of ups and downs, but always immense fun. The anticipation on the way to course, the fleeting few hours on-course and the reflection that pervaded the mind on the way home
I love the exchanges for what they provide: ease of use and enticing odds, but betting on the ‘machine’ is essentially a poor substitute for the now diminishing band of punters fortunate enough to have involved themselves in betting the vibrant on-course markets where ‘opinion’ was king
No one ever mentions Ajdal as a great sprinter but he surely was and what makes him interesting is his career path.
Now, Floribunda, she could shift! Oh, sorry, that was fifty years ago, when milk fltas were still horse-drawn.
"She" was a "he"!
A very fast and precocious colt. Didn’t he win the New (now Norfolk) Stakes at Royal Ascot by 8 lengths with his head in his chest?
No one ever mentions Ajdal as a great sprinter but he surely was and what makes him interesting is his career path.
I was going to post Dayjur and Lochsong as mentionned many times times on the thread plus Ajdal, who hasn’t been mentionned at all
But you mentionned him…………..
For recent dominance I would put forward Marchand d’Or in his 2008 5 year old season, when despite never winning by far, he won the Prix du Gros-Chene, July Cup, Prix Maurice de Gheest, and the l’Abbaye. I think that’s fairly dominant.
One I would compare with Dayjur from 25 years ago would be Last Tycoon. Whilst Dayjur is remembered for his then sensational Nunthorpe time and his Breeders Cup dirt effort, Last Tycoon also held the fastest time for the Kings Stand stakes until the course was changed.
A little disappointing and a close 4th in the July Cup to Green Desert, he then turned the tables in the Nunthorpe before showing his adaptability and devastating burst of speed to win the Breeders Cup Mile.
I compare the two because I think Last Tycoon beat better sprinters overall than Dayjur in his 3 year old season, notwithstanding a great win over Royal Academy in Haydock’s Sprint Cup, who otherwise kept meeting and beating the likes of Lugana Beach, Statoblest and Ron’s Victory – not what I would call top notchers – whereas in 1986 Last Tycoon beat Green Desert who was 2nd to Dancing Brave in the Guineas before winning the July Cup and Vernons Sprint, and twice beating Double Schwartz who was also a top sprinter that year going on to win the Abbaye which Last Tycoon didn’t contest.
I think that was a vintage year for sprinters.In the Breeders Cup Mile he beat Palace Music who had beaten Pebbles in the Champion stakes a couple of years earlier and lost to her the following year in the same race.
So his form is tied up with some all time greats there, which Dayjur’s isn’t. In fact I think in Palace Music, he beat a better horse over that mile than any that Goldikova has faced in 3 attempts.Deep Diver was mentioned earlier. I’m not 100% about this but I seem to recall he accomplished the unusual feat of being allotted top weight of 10 stone in – whatever it was called then – end of season ratings.
He won the Nunthorpe and Abbaye and in that last race he defeated Home Guard by 4 lengths, who earlier won the Diadem and Hungerford and finished 3 lengths behind Brigadier Gerard in the Eclipse, so that may have accounted for such an exalted rating, which I doubt we would get today, for a sprinter.UM,
Spot on about Deep Diver, he was awarded 10 stone in the unofficial 3-y-o handicap at the end of the 1972 season, 2lbs ahead of Roberto and Rheingold.
He was also rated 134 by Timeform that year, exactly the same rating they had given him as a 2-y-old, when he also ended his season with a wide margin win in France, three weeks after the Abbaye. That performance was apparently ignored by the oficial handicapper who gave him 8-13 in the Free Handicap, 8lbs below Crowned Prince, who was rated 6lbs lower by Timeform.
For comparison, Dayjur had a Timeform rating of 137 at the end of his 3-y-old season.
AP
Now, Floribunda, she could shift! Oh, sorry, that was fifty years ago, when milk fltas were still horse-drawn.
"She" was a "he"!
A very fast and precocious colt. Didn’t he win the New (now Norfolk) Stakes at Royal Ascot by 8 lengths with his head in his chest?
Alas, Venusian, my memory isn’t that clear these days. Although, in any case, I was very "wet behind the ears" about racing then; too much so for the name of the race to have meant anything to me at that time (and if it comes to that, "wet behind the ears" for, at least, the next thirty years in racing matters more generally.)
I do remember Smartie winning, I think, the Stewards Cup around that time. Miletus, Noblesse, St Paddy, J O Tobin, Kings Troop, Gay Mairi are other names that spring to mind.
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