- The horses Sir Michael Stoute prepared strengthened my love of racing
- Stoute, who announced his retirement, has always been a tough interviewee
The year that shaped my life was 1981. I was an impressionable seven-year-old, aware of what was happening in the country.
One moment, the news would be about a royal wedding. The next it would be about riots in Brixton and Toxteth, and hunger strikes. Things were in a mess but sport was my beacon of light. There was Botham’s Ashes,
Liverpool beating Real Madrid in a European Cup final but, best of all, there was racing, headed by Aldaniti’s incredible story with Bob Champion in the Grand National.
What that pair did was just magic but just as compelling was Shergar at Epsom, hurtling around Tattenham Corner like an express train. This was equine poetry — controlled power and aggression, pummelling his rivals into the ground.
The architect of that success was Sir Michael Stoute, a man who started training in Newmarket 18 months before I was born. I’m sure I won’t be alone in saying the horses he has prepared have enriched my life and strengthened my love of racing.
Sir Michael Stoute made me love racing but he is a very challenging interviewee
Jamie Carragher once said to me, half-joking, that if you want to become popular, announce that you are retiring. If Stoute was in any doubt about the esteem in which he is held, the tributes that have flowed for him this week illustrate his standing.
I won’t lie. Professionally, he is one of the most challenging interviewees in the business. Sit him down and discuss cricket, he will be there until the cows come home. Wander into the territory of racing and you can see in his eyes that he wants to run a mile.
He would be the one person I’d love the opportunity to sit down and have a glass of red with, to really get to know what he thought about certain horses and races. He’s been the highest of achievers over 52 years and, comfortably, qualifies to be described as a legend.
For him to dominate the discussion on a weekend of such outstanding quality shows how momentous his decision to retire is: I can’t think about the Irish Champion Stakes without referring to Pilsudski — my favourite Stoute horse — winning it in 1997.
The St Leger, too, has a Stoute fingerprint on it, with Conduit breaking the trainer’s duck in the race under Frankie Dettori in 2008. In terms of today’s St Leger, I’m well aware that some critics are calling it a far from vintage renewal. There are just the seven runners but I don’t buy the argument that it is not competitive.
I can’t think about the Irish Champion Stakes without referring to Pilsudski — my favourite Stoute horse — (right) winning it in 1997.
Aidan O’Brien, as always, holds the keys with Illinois, Jan Brueghel and Grosvenor Square
Aidan O’Brien, as always, holds the keys with Illinois, Jan Brueghel and Grosvenor Square but Owen Burrows is positive about Derby fourth Deira Mile and Ralph Beckett has taken a gamble by putting Irish Oaks winner You Got To Me into the field at a cost of £50,000.
Since my ITV colleague Jason Weaver rode Jural in the 1995 Leger, 21 fillies have run in the race. Only one has won: Simple Verse. The trainer? Ralph Beckett. The Leger will get our full attention on ITV, with a recording of the Irish Champion Stakes being shown later.
What a shame there has been a clash with the off times but I’ve no doubt it will be a race for the ages at Leopardstown. Economics, trained by William Haggas, has a task like a football team going to the Etihad Stadium trying to beat Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
O’Brien has a battalion of stars, headed by Auguste Rodin, ready to pounce. But Haggas, no doubt, will have a plan. Savour every second of this feast.
Ed Chamberlin is a Sky Bet ambassador
