I remember seeing the beautiful looking JO Tobin on his 2yo debut at Newmarket. He was an impressive winner that day. I think he was the top rated 2yo in the World, 8 pounds above The Minstrel. He went to America and ended the winning streak of the great Seattle Slew. JO Tobin led them all a merry dance and won in a time just 0.4secs outside the track record. I feel really honoured to have seen JO Tobin in the flesh.
The actual answer gents is that the other ten were all still owned by their breeders. A fact that I found really quite amazing!
Sorry, but no way, José! Maybe e/w as you say, but Sea-Bird II (to give him his full and correct name), was a superstar. Later on in 1965 he won a star-studded international Arc in appalling conditions, and despite hanging badly to his left in the closing stages. IMHO he would have floored Nijinsky and all those others in the closing stages at Epsom that year, but we will never know! A great great racehorse, owned (as it turned out later after his retirement) by mean, ungrateful, lousy owners, who did not deserve to own such a wonderful animal. But that's another story. Nice post, Reebs, brought-on a lot of excellent comments.
Noel Murless said that if he'd run in the Derby with Piggott riding he'd have won even if he didn't properly get the trip. He was the top 2yo in the UK/Ire but rated behind Blushing Groom by 1lb by Timeform, which was generous of Timeform as Blushing Groom beat him 4 lengths in the Grand Criterium. Noel Murless was a genius (to my mind). J O Tobin's owner George Pope wouldn't have him with any other trainer (even if it was Henry Cecil who took over at Warren Place) so JOT went to the USA after his defeat. In his biography Murless is quoted as saying JOT was a great horse but sending him to America was a mistake as the horse was 'driven up the wall'. There are many great Murless stories but I like the Royal Palace one best. I don't know when Murless though RP was his Derby horse but by July he was looking for a lead horse for him for his 3yo career (by then RP had made his debut: a 5th in the Coventry). He was watching the TV at Lingfield one day and made a note of a horse that was leading the Irish Derby field (he finished among the stragglers). He recognised the colours as he trained for Stanhope Joel (the cousin of RP's owner). He decided Jim Joel couldn't buy the colt as he was frightened that he'd embarrass everyone if he improved this colt. Later in the year he met with SJ and asked him what he was doing with Busted (because that was the colt) and SJ told him he'd decided to geld him and send him jumping. 'Christ, don't do that was his reply'. The rest was history. RP won the 2000G and Derby, while Busted won the Eclipse, King George and Prix Foy (unfortunately he was injured after this race and didn't run in the Arc for which he was favourite). Running RP in the Coventry Stakes as his debut probably shocks some people. JOT's half-sister, Mysterious, made her debut in the Cherry Hinton Stakes which she won easily. She went on to win the 1000G and Oaks.
Lovely horse was Busted. Never knew he was nearly gelded . Bloody hell, we would never have seen the greatest race ever and what would you have called yourself?
Busted did act as Royal Palace's lead horse to start with. Murless believed in working his horses hard but never taking them too far. It soon became obvious that whatever Royal Palace threw at him Busted could take. He stopped galloping them together and at the same time realised he had a special horse on his hands. In Ireland Busted had been allowed to bowl along in front but Murless got his work riders to teach him to settle. His seasonal debut was the Coronation Stakes (now the Brigadier Gerard). He was backed down to favourite (the dogs had been barking) and won comfortably. After the race he injured himself and was prepared for the King George. Murless decided to use the Eclipse as a stepping stone to the KG, but had the 1000G winner Fleet lined up for the race. George Moore rode Fleet who was favourite alongside the by-then French based Great Nephew, and veteran jocket Bill Rickaby rode Busted, Despite this, Busted had his admirers at 8-1. Ridden tenderly by Rickaby he hit the front well-inside the last furlong and won by 2 lengths from Great Nephew. That year the Eclipse was just one week before the KG. Moore took the ride and kept him in last place and in the straight came round the whole field to win comfortably by 3 lengths. Murless said after this race that if he'd allowed Busted and Royal Palace to work together there'd have killed each other. Eight years later when his son Bustino was beaten in the KG 'race of the century' he remarked that Busted would have comfortably beaten both of them.
And his sire wasn't too bad either, winning the 2000 Gns and Derby, beating KG and Arc winner Ballymoss in the Derby. In both his classics Pipe of Peace was 3rd. Not sure but I have a recollection of that horse being connected with the great Gordon Richards, trainer by then, out of the Ogbourne stable, I think
Secretariat won the Virtual Triple Crown Showdown. Citation was second and Seattle Slew third. You can capture the excitement here:-
After Varadker saying no racing before June 29 and then being rubbished by a fellow MP that that was 'ludicrous', the latest news that racing in Ireland is unlikely to start before June. Mighty uncomfortable for the top Irish trainers.
His misdeamour seems an odd one. Why would a trainer do that unless he was laying the horse antepost on Betfair knowing it wouldn't run. In which case £2500 fine seems a good result for him.
I think that entering the horse was simply to cover up from the owner that he had gone ahead and had it operated on without the owners consent. It sounds to me to be a bit like BP thought he knew best and defied the owners wishes. Just guessing as I don’t know the full story.
The horse involved by the way was a very promising bumper horse called SWEETLITTLEMYSTERY. Not been seen again since.
I wonder if the owner has a civil case going which has caused her to be off the track. Wonder if she’s being bred from too.
