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Yeats Gold Cup four-timer may lead, in one hundred years time or so, to him being remembered as the greatest horse of the first half of this century.
Certainly, if it was 1870 and you were looking at the results of the top races over the next 150 years you’d have been inclined to have Yeats at the head of your list of possibles for the accolade.
While he is being lauded, I get the feeling that it is a bit lukewarm and wondered whether we are missing a trick in not going absolutely totally over-the-top bananas over the horse and his achievement?
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I noticed there has been a lesser than expected warming to the horse from a lot of punters. On another forum not to far from here I noticed people were giving out about the 3rd horse rather than praising the great Yeats. strange…
I think it was an unbelievable achievement. Here in Ireland it made the main news in both television and radio.
I also think that it was fantastic that John Magnier gave a few interviews to different media outlets after the race. Its rarely that happens. I will always remember what he said last year after yeats won "racing needs a horse like this". And for some reason that quote struck me. Certainly flat racing does.
Two Chinamen, behind them a third,
Are carved in
lapis lazuli,
Over them flies a long-legged bird,
A symbol of longevity;
The third, doubtless a serving-man,
Carries a musical instrumment.
A horse clouds the picture
to hide the fourth figure
and disturb the clarity of the ordered scene
It picks up a harp to sing.Butler ?
i think time will see him in a different light. Like all the great horses there never given the full credit for there acheivement till long after theyve gone. People are all to easy to knock when there around but once there gone u can see the magnitude of the achievement.He will go down in racing history and its fully deserved.
Whilst it is great sport and magnificant theatre, how great are the ranks of 4000m horses ?
150 years ago horses were aimed at the Gold Cup as a career defining moment, that is certainly not the case today is it ?
Crikeys in another 150 years 2000m, even in your neck of the woods, will probably be considered a marathon journey.
Yeats rates with racing’s true greats
Tim Habel
June 20, 2009 12:00amIF LONGEVITY is one of the key benchmarks for racehorse greatness then Irish stayer Yeats reached immortality at Royal Ascot yesterday.
Yeats chalked up his fourth successive win in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup (4000m), the supreme test of stamina in world racing.
The Royal Ascot crowd of 68,921 willed the Aidan O’Brien-trained stayer over the line when challenged about 200m out by runner-up Patkai.
The remarkable aspect of the feat is the fact Yeats is an eight-year-old entire.
Most horses of his ilk would have been at stud long ago.
Yeats’ victory was the first for an eight-year-old in the staying showpiece in more than a century.
But where does the achievement rate on a global scale?
English newspapers showered accolades on Yeats with Racing Post declaring him the "greatest flat stayer of all time".
In Europe, no doubt, but Makybe Diva’s Melbourne Cup hat-trick with a heavier weight each year in bigger fields, and with 58kg in the final year, a record for a mare, surely tops it. It’s a view shared by Makybe Diva’s trainer for her second and third Cup wins, Lee Freedman."It (Yeats) is an outstanding effort. Keeping it in perspective it is weight-for-age, he wasn’t giving weight away like Makybe Diva," Freedman said.
"But the performance to win that race four years in a row at his age and as an entire . . . he’s an icon over there.
"It’s a similar feat to her (Makybe Diva). I don’t think you’ll see another horse win three Melbourne Cups or win four Ascot Gold Cups," he said.
Australians only saw Yeats once when he lugged 58kg and ran seventh in the 2006 Melbourne Cup.
"He struck firm ground, and had top weight. He’s not really a handicapper, he’s a weight-for-age horse," Freedman said.
That failure shouldn’t detract from the fact Yeats is a super stayer in a country slanted to staying contests, where here, in the main, the sprinter is king.
The super stayer’s rider yesterday, Johnny Murtagh, was keen to make it a real test of stamina and made his move at the 1000m. He struck for home 600m out to win by 3 1/2 lengths.
Yeats started $2.50 favourite and has been installed $6 joint favourite with Patkai with William Hill to win again next year.
That seems unlikely. The Goodwood Cup on July 31 is likely to be his final race.
Owner John Magnier said: "There comes a time when it’s not right for them to go on any more."
O’Brien was quick to pay tribute to his champion: "Unbelievable, that’s all I can say. I was so sick this morning as I really believed this couldn’t happen. History is very hard to change, we knew we had a wonderful horse but usually fairytales don’t come true."
O’Brien told Sport 927 yesterday of Yeats’ rare ability to push through the "red zone", a measurement of a horse’s heart and lung capacity.
"He’s an unbelievable horse and we knew there would never be another one of him," he said.The main problem is that good horses, even horses that could prove to be exceptional stayers, are not campaigned to be stayers in this country.
The fact is that if Yeats had really cut the mustard at 12f as a 3yo, he wouldn’t have ever run in an Ascot Gold Cup.
It is a real achievement to have the horse fit, well and good enough to win four years in a row, but in terms of what he has actually beaten, as Paul Daniels would say, "Not a lot".
As much as i admire the horse, have to agree with TDK all the way. Also its not unusual for stayers to run at the top of their level for a good few seasons. We can name quite a few of course. Maybe its the very nature of the racing or maybe the relatively small pool they face. I dont know, but if we are talking about all racing I would strongly suggest that Kauto’s achivevments would be remembered by many more as being truely outstanding.
Also, on the flat, within the next 40 years, there is every chance we will see another Secretariat…. and that would be something
Even setting aside the cold world of ratings and appreciating horses for what they are, on the flat, I would already say that Zarakava has left a greater impression on me than Yeats
Yeats may not have faced the same quality of opposition that Sagaro, Le Moss or Ardross did during their eras, but nonetheless, he is (imo) every bit as good as they were, if not better.
I honestly did not think he could win this year’s Gold Cup, given his age and his lack lustre re-appearance at Navan. It speaks volumes for the horse – and his trainer- that he actually did, and with such authority.
Let’s not forget that this horse was one time Derby favourite who also won a Coronation Cup into the bargain. There is little doubt that Yeats is a real class act and worthy of his place among the greats.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
It’s a bit like the Best Mate situation. A great achievement, but not necessarily a great horse.
Another Secretariat now that would be a great horse. With Mr. Johnson and the dark side when it comes to Yeats.
Hard to imagine how anyone can argue against Yeats being a true great of the sport.
He is, without question, one of the most decorated horses in history.
His achievements, four Ascot Gold Cups, complimented by two Goodwood Cups, an Irish St Leger, Prix Royal-Oak and a Coronation Cup, place him among the upper echelons of the racing hierarchy.
An incredibly versatile horse, his maiden win came over eight furlongs and Group One victories followed over twelve, fourteen, sixteen and twenty furlongs, respectively.
Very few horses have displayed greater longevity. Yeats has claimed Group level success in six of the seven seasons he has been on the track, five of those at the highest level.
His four Ascot Gold Cups have been won by an average of 3 1/ 2 lengths and his Group wins a shade under four.
A horse that deserves to be considered the greatest of his sphere and one of the true legends of the sport.
I don’t know about the defining horse of our time, but his overall record is that of the best stayer I’ve seen (and I can go back as far as Trelawny!).
I understand that they’re going to give this horse a proper chance at stud, with some decent flat mares visiting him. The main difficulty he faces, apart from his abundant stamina (although he did win a Group race at 10f), is that, as a son of SW, there will be a smaller pool of suitable mares available to him, there being so many of them with SW close up in their pedigrees.
Good luck to him anyway, let’s hope he passes on the right genes.
Hard to imagine how anyone can argue against Yeats being a true great of the sport.
He is, without question, one of the most decorated horses in history.
His achievements, four Ascot Gold Cups, complimented by two Goodwood Cups, an Irish St Leger, Prix Royal-Oak and a Coronation Cup, place him among the upper echelons of the racing hierarchy.
An incredibly versatile horse, his maiden win came over eight furlongs and Group One victories followed over twelve, fourteen, sixteen and twenty furlongs, respectively.
Very few horses have displayed greater longevity. Yeats has claimed Group level success in six of the seven seasons he has been on the track, five of those at the highest level.
His four Ascot Gold Cups have been won by an average of 3 1/ 2 lengths and his Group wins a shade under four.
A horse that deserves to be considered the greatest of his sphere and one of the true legends of the sport.
Brilliantly put.
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Its a shame that the outside world don’t understand the achievments of Yeats and they will always just see it as a horse running around a track in the same race winning it 4 times in a row.
Its true that the opposition at 2.5 miles is not that strong (it was no stronger for Ardross or Le Moss in my view) but the telling thing about Yeats is that he is a G1 winner at 12f and given he also stays so well, thats why he dominates Cup races.
The turn of foot he showed at the 3f pole was telling and as devistating as anything we saw all week. He would be very competitive in the Hardwicke or may even the POW, as strange as it may seem.
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