SUNDAY TIMES
14th September 2024
Give Jan Brueghel and Sean Levey their due. For what they did on the racetrack was almost upstaged by the welcome diversion of Sir Keir Starmer and his wife in the Doncaster paddock, the first Prime Minister to attend the St Leger since an 80 year old Winston Churchill tottered out of the royal box to prove he was still alive.
Horse and rider yesterday were the very symbols of vitality, as they just outpointed stablemate Illinois in a magnificent duel to the line. Jan Brueghel is a huge, still raw three year old and needed all the experience of 36 year old Swazi born Levey, who served his apprenticeship with Jan Brueghel’s trainer Aidan O’Brien who also saddled Grosvenor Square who for the three quarters of the race led his two companions at the head of affairs as if this was a gallop back home in Tipperary.
As Grosvenor Square dropped away, the filly You Got To Me was already compromised by pulling too hard, Deira Mile vainly tried to threaten the duelling leaders and while edging that horse out of third had hampered him enough to have the placings reversed.
It was Aidan O’Brien seventh St Leger success and while Jan Brueghel looks a natural successor to Kyprios in the Cup races next season the trainer appears open to launching both him and Illinois for the Melbourne Cup.
“They are two very good horses”, he said from Leapordstown, “and clearly there’s nothing between them. Sean gave the winner a very good ride and neither stopped all the way down the straight. We knew the winner had improved a lot since Goodwood and he’s a classy horse. It’s great for Sean, he started off with us and I’m so delighted for him. Either of them could go to Melbourne, they’re two classy stayers.”
Over in Ireland O’Brien had watched his Auguste Rodin fail by a neck to repeat last year’s Irish Champion Stakes victory when the Newmarket raider Economics took his reputation skywards in a dramatic finish with three lengths covering the first seven home.
Like Jan Brueghel, Economics was winning his fourth race of the season. He is a crowd pleasing, white-faced, white-socked chestnut and this first tilt in top company showed he has courage and ability to match the promise of his three impressive earlier victories this year. As the Ballydoyle leader Luxembourg continued to hold off Ghostwriter early in the straight, Tom Marquand was having to ask Economics questions only a really good horse could answer.
His partner did not weaken but as he hit the front Ryan Moore and Auguste Rodin swept up and headed him on the outer only for Economics to refuse to be denied. The Japanese colt Shin Emperor got through traffic to snatch third off Los Angeles with Ghostwriter and honourable fifth. Two years after his star horse Baeed trainer William Haggas appears to have developed another contender for greatness. The best, as with Jan Brueghel, is yet to come.
But all this excitement must bow its head to the news of the impending retirement of master trainer Sir Michael Stoute. For in a transitory world here was a player who could be classified amongst the truly great. For longer than anyone in my memory, the person you would most like to be handling a classic horse on your behalf would be Michael Stoute.
That accolade comes not just from the body of work over more than 50 years, 10 trainer’s championships, world-wide success from California to Japan, 16 British Classics, including 6 Derbys, the first with Shergar in 1981, the last with Desert Crown just two years ago.
It comes from his unique intuition and application into the conditioning of the young thoroughbred racecourse. He has never been one for self-aggrandising statements but when asked for his secret on being inducted into the Racing Hall Of Fame last year he just said “I find it fascinating.” May racing still fascinate when he is gone.