Image: Adamant
Adamant Approach,
Photo: Tracy Robers, with many thanks
Clearly his entry is overdue in any Racing-Great section, as this horse is yet annother irish star so very close to our hearts. Luckily others have said many nice things about him, so I save this article here, courtesey of the Racing-Post:
AGE DOES NOT WEARY HIM
At an age when most racehorses are enjoying a well-earned retirement, the remarkable Adamant Approach is preparing to see action at least twice at this week's Galway festival - and is better than ever
Tony O'Hehir talks to trainer Willie Mullins and others connected with racing's oldest swinger in town
Published: 29/07/2007 (Features) Tony O'Hehir
ADVANCING years are part of life. They slow us down and are supposed to make things that were once easy to achieve more difficult to do. There are exceptions to the rule, and Adamant Approach is certainly one of them.
At 13, an age when most racehorses have either been retired or are plying their trade at a low level of competition, this remarkable veteran is defying the years to such an extent that seven of his 13 career wins have been achieved in the past 11 months.
Proof that the Willie Mullins-trained campaigner is doing a good job when other veteran performers are long past their best is available in black and white. In the past year, Adamant Approach has achieved a lifetime high official hurdle rating of 151, and is currently rated 150. Over fences he is rated 139, compared with a career high of 145.
Tomorrow marks the start of the seven-day Galway festival, and Adamant Approach will be on the Mullins team with multiple entries through the week, and the likelihood of at least two appearances, starting with the GPT Amateur Handicap tomorrow night, with options over fences and/or hurdles in the days ahead.
Mullins has been involved in the game more than long enough to acknowledge that Adamant Approach's career graph is unusual. He says: "It's hard to believe that he is still so competitive, and the most amazing thing about him is how sound he has been for the past couple of years, after having a few injury blips in his younger days. You could say he is making up for lost time, but it's not what you expect to happen at his age."
According to Mullins, the old boy has never suffered "a leg". Niggling injuries, including a pelvic problem, used to trouble him, but all of that was a long time ago. However, from the very start of his career, Adamant Approach has had a habit that in most racehorses would have set the alarm bells ringing.
Mullins explains: "Going right back to before he started racing, he has whinnied most mornings when he goes out on the gallops. When you hear a horse whinny, it is usually a sign of distress. It's not what a rider likes to hear. You hear a whinny and you start thinking a horse is going have a heart attack and collapse under you. We don't know why he does it. Maybe in his case, it must be a sign that he is enjoying himself."
A record of 13 wins, the most recent of them achieved over fences at Killarney this month, from 58 starts is broken down between seven victories over hurdles, four over fences, one on the Flat and one bumper. In Adamant Approach's case, 13 is a number that keeps occurring - his age, his number of wins and the number of riders he has had during his career.
The first of those riders was James Nash, former amateur rider and assistant trainer to Mullins, and who now fulfils the latter role with John Coleman. Nash was on board when Adamant Approach made a winning debut in a bumper at Leopardstown in February 2000, on the day Florida Pearl won the second of his four Hennessy Cognac Gold Cups.
Nash says: "What I remember most about Adamant Approach was the ability he showed in schooling bumpers and in the gallop he did at Leopardstown with Willie's other Cheltenham bumper horses in 2000. Jason Titley rode him and he went past the rest of us, including Joe Cullen - who went on to win the Cheltenham race - as if we were standing still. He destroyed some very decent horses."
FAVOURITE for that year's Cheltenham Festival bumper, he was ruled out of the race by injury. Fast-forward 18 months, to October 2001, and he was still a maiden after five runs over hurdles, two of them at odds-on. The wheels looked to have come off, but things soon clicked back into place, and after finally breaking his duck, he gained what remains the biggest win of his career in the 2002 Pierse Hurdle. As Mullins reflects on what followed, he admits that the gelding's career might have taken a different path but for a few falls in high-profile races.
"You could say that he had two Grade 1 races at his mercy," he says. "He looked as if he was going to win the Supreme Novices' at Cheltenham in 2002 when he fell at the last. Had he won, he would have been a Champion Hurdle horse for the following year. Instead, we sent him chasing, and he took a heavy fall in the Arkle at Cheltenham and then was going to win the Power Gold Cup at Fairyhouse when he turned over at the second-last."
Ruby Walsh has ridden the versatile warrior 25 times for seven wins, and he believes that some of the reverses Adamant Approach suffered early in his racing career actually helped him in later years. "He always had ability, a lot of it, but he was six when he started off, and had things worked out better for him early on, he probably wouldn't have lasted so long," says the rider. "He used to pull the arms out of you when you rode him before he learned to settle, and in the early days he didn't get much beyond two miles and couldn't handle heavy ground.
"Because he got beaten five times over hurdles before winning his maiden, he ended up being quite well handicapped, especially for a bumper horse of Willie's with a big reputation. He bolted up in the Pierse Hurdle, and when he started chasing he was a great jumper, but he minded himself and never really had a cut at his fences. He's learned with experience and, amazingly, he neither looks nor acts his age."
Walsh adds: "Apart from the whinnying, he also dips his back briefly when you jump into the saddle, and he is a very difficult horse to catch when he is out in the paddock. You could be chasing him for 20 minutes and he's running about or just standing there, taking the piss out of you. He does it to everyone, including Tracey Gilmour, who looks after him, and young Patrick Mullins, who has won a couple of races on him."
Tom Fox, Mick Lydon and Mick Whelan form the Greenstar Syndicate that has owned Adamant Approach from the beginning of his career. The trio also have Mossy Green, Equus Maximus and a few others with Mullins, who says that the subject of retirement has never been raised.
"A few years ago, the owners came down to see me and were keen to sell Adamant Approach and to reinvest," says Mullins. "We put a price on him which wasn't huge, but we weren't going to give him away either. We got no takers, so the boys decided to keep him, and it turned out to be a wise decision."
Since those falls on his first two visits to the Cheltenham Festival, Adamant Approach has been back to the meeting three times. He finished third in the County Hurdle last year and third in this year's Pertemps Final, ridden by Patrick, who will be on board in the GPT Amateur Handicap tomorrow.
A conditions chase on Tuesday, in which he is well treated at the weights, is under consideration as an alternative to the Galway Plate. His trainer has always been a man for last-minute decisions, but one thing is certain - the vast majority of horses heading into the west will travel with less going for them than the lively old campaigner who is the pride and joy of all at Closutton stables. Sound and enthusiastic, he continues to defy his years - and the fairytale might not be over yet.
Read even more about the old Stager here:
Image: Benbaun
If I would have written the passage about Benbaun just three weeks earlier, the phrase "horses for courses" would have been the first thing to say about him. While he certainly still is just that - his love-affair with the Curragh is well-known, and exactly 50% of his 12 wins so far have been recorded at the irish track- Benbauns most important win, and his first Gr. I triumph at the age of 6, came at a rather more flashy venue: Longchamp, where he took the prestigious "Prix de la Abbaye" by storm.
But lets start at the beginning: Benbaun (*2001, by Stravinsky-Escape to Victory (Salse)) was a cheap Mark Wallace purchase (after acutally being rejected by another buyer because he, Benbaun, is a windsucker), and he´s been in training with him from the word "go". Quite fancied on his debut in june 2003, Benbaun was rather unfortunate to meet the likes of Ticker Tape (who went on tho win the American Oaks) and Kinnaird (who won the Prix de la Opera later in career) in his first two starts, and it took another two races before conditions were right: 5 furlong on good-firm ground is what Benbaun prefers to the day, and ever since his second and third start over 7f resulted in healthy defeats, he has been campaigned exclusively at the shorter trips and hardly ever looked back. Since progressing out of the Handicaps in the middle of his 3-year-old season, Benbaun has been a regular in all the important and not so important sprint races; he usually found wanting in the highest class races (though hardly running a bad race even in defeat), but if opposition and conditions are right, he is always one to bank on. Having been ridden by several jockeys in his career, Benbaun has recently formed a very fruitfull partnership with Pat Smullen, who guided him to his last five victories, incl. four at the Curragh and the very Abbaye. Benbaun is 6 now, having raced 35 times so far, so clearly has been handled with a long career in mind. Being a gelding, we can hope for more seasons on the track for him (and us!), and we can only advise you to go and see him running; it will be over very quickly (he only needed 0.56,7 sec. for his Longchamp run), but his alert and proud behavior will leave a very lasting impression; and even though he always runs in blinkers he is as honest as they come. He might not be a Dayjur, but is a proper little star in his own right!
Letter: Angered by Benbaun slur
Published: 11/10/2007 (Letters) Tracey Young
(courtesey of www.racingpost.co.uk)
AS ONE of the owners of Benbaun, I was disgusted with the analysis of the Prix de l'Abbaye (Racing Post, October 8).
Graham Dench writes: "He may well be better than ever at the age of six, for to be fair he won this well after racing handily behind the fast pace from the start, but he is no champion."
He is no champion? Forgive me, but what does he mean by this? Did he actually watch the race and see how Benbaun came through the pack and left the others standing?
It is about time Benbaun was recognised for his consistent performances. Yes, his three previous victories this season had all come at the Curragh, but a win is a win!
Everyone also seems to have forgotten his excellent performance at Royal Ascot last year, when he was beaten a short head by Takeover Target in the King's Stand.
If I hadn't been at Royal Ascot I would have thought the race had been run in Australia the amount of coverage given to one of their horses!
Let me also take you back to last December, when Benbaun was third in the Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin. He was beaten by Absolute Champion and one of the greatest sprinters of all time, Silent Witness, but yet again our horse was given no recognition by the British media.
What does Benbaun have to do to be recognised? Twice in September he was pushed out of the limelight by the media in favour of Dandy Man and Moss Vale, yet he beat them both. In the Abbaye, he gave yet another fantastic performance and won his first Group 1, but the author of the analysis had the nerve to write that "he is no champion".
Mark Wallace is a fantastic trainer who has nurtured Ben well, and he deserves every bit of credit for Sunday's success. It is a shame that the British media do not recognise this. If Benbaun was trained by Sir Michael Stoute, Godolphin, Michael Bell - I could go on - would the analysis have been different?
I will end my rant here, but would appreciate a bit more recognition for both Benbaun and Mark Wallace as a trainer - they are both very worthy of it.
Tracey Young
Graham Dench replies:
It's a shame Ms Young chose to concentrate on those three relatively negative words in my assessment of Benbaun's win at Longchamp, because I used plenty of positive ones too, in the previous paragraph describing him as "an admirable sprinter" and "remarkably consistent by sprinting standards".
However, there's no getting away from the fact that he had never been closer than third in five previous appearances in Group 1 sprints, and he had never even won a Group 2 - even the second to Takeover Target at that level that was referred to being achieved when in receipt of 5lb.
Believe me, I really do think Benbaun is an admirable sprinter, and I can only imagine the fun he has given all of those associated with him. I'm sure there will be more to come when he returns to Hong Kong and then heads on to Australia, but I stand by my personal view that it was an ordinary Abbaye and that he is likely to continue to be found wanting against the very cream of sprinters.
Image:
Another who clearly is not a "great" horse, but one so very close to our hearts. The Bajan Bandit, who will turn out in a Hunter Chase in Ayr today (21/02/08), after a 301-day absence from the track and at the tender age of 13, once fuelled many hopes but is a rather "forgotten horse" nowadays. He was all but that when he made his racecourse debut in 2000, aged 5, and after landing the odds in a moderate affair at Carlise he managed to add an amazing 6 more wins, incl. the Champion Bumper at Aintree all the same, to be one of the hottest prospects in Lenny Lungos yard. A tenth place in the Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2002 was a fair effort, but things did not progress that smoothly afterwards, as; after two more wins his form figures started tumbling and letters had to be added too; The Bajan Bandit at times seemed to have lost his interest in the game. A lanky, rather unimpressive brown running now with blinkers all the time and mixing his hurdling with chasing, and still in decent enough class, The Bajan Bandit has 13 wins to his name, and nearly 100,000GBP in prizemoney, but his last win now dates back two years. We´ll have fingers crossed that he can resume winning ways today, but really the only thing we want to see is him coming home in one piece. His eventual retirement will be well-earned, and we hope he can enjoy it. Good luck old fellow!
We are happy to report that it was oh-so-easy in Ayr last night, and, after making all, The Bajan Bandit simply was too classy for his opponents to draw away by 16 length. So its now 14 wins!
Image:
The racing season is traditionally divided between Flat racing in summer and Jump racing in the winter months´, just to keep our pockets busy all the time. Modern times, however, have clearly mellowed the cut between the two seasons of racing, with international Flat racing preceeding well into the winter months, and summer jumping cutting into the Flat season as well. There have always been horses to bridge the gap that perform well under both codes as well, just think of Sea Pigeon and Alderbrook. Blythe Knight is a bit short of Alderbrooks class, and he has not (yet) managed Sea Pigeons feat of winning a championship race at Cheltenham as well as a major handicap, yet he has every reason to be just as proud of his record! This tough-as-teak 8-year-old chestnut is now in his seventh season in trainig, mixing his flat racing with his jumping ever since he joined his current trainer John Quinn in 2005. In training with Ed Dunlop for Gainsborough Stud in younger years, Blythe Knight has always run in high-class races, in fact 50 of his 58 races to date have been Class 2 and better races. His winning total of 8 races might not sound too exciting, but try to think of a Linclon winner scoring at the Grand National Meeting (beating 2008 Champion Hurdle 2nd Osana) to go on and win a Group 3 in Epsom during their Derby Meeting !! This is the wood Blythe Knight is made of, he is all heart, class and durability, clearly a credit to his sporting connections. 2008 has only started and he already ran this years Champion Hurdle winner Katchit close in a Grade 2 Hurdle, before contesting the Champion Hurdle in Cheltenham where he ran no sort of race, before bouncing right back to run a stormer at Donnie to so nearly take his second Lincoln, giving more than a stone (and 4 years of age) to the eventual winner and go down by just over a length (incidentally he did start at 22/1, just as he had when winning the Lincoln 2 years ago). Surely some of his tasks have been beyond him, but it wasn´t for not trying; and with Aintree ´round the corner his next aim seems clear. Lets hope Blythe Knight continues to excite us for some seasons to come!
Clive Brittain surely has forgotten more about training a racehorse than many of us will ever know; ever the optimist and fiercely loyal to his horses he can never be accused for not trying his hardest at the highest level; he certainly never mistakes his swans for geese. But everything comes to those who wait, and Clive Brittain has been in the game long enough to be rewarded with some smashing successes, just take Pebbles, Warrsan, Terimon, Mystiko, Membership or Rajeem, to name a few.
One horse who is flying the flag for Clive Brittains Carlburg Stable for five seasons in racing now is Kandidate. His career bears all the hallmarks of a Clive-Brittain trained horse: never one to rest on his laurels, Kandidate raced 6 times as a two-year-old, winning twice, and already had 4 runs under his belt, including three starts in Dubai, before contesting the English 2000 Guineas on April 30th 2005. His third place, at 100-1 and merely two length behind the winner Footstepsinthesand, gave the first indication that this tough-as-teak (now) 6-year-old has some class to offer all the same, even though his sole group victory (so far) has been at Gr. III level in Dubai. 9 wins from 44 starts clearly does not point towards greatness, but Kandidate, a rather plain-looking son of Kabool (just about the only son of Kabool anyone can rememeber), is all heart, and always, like his trainer, tries his hardest; Kandidate unfortunatly is one of those horses who finds the gap between Listed- and Group races hard to bridge at times, and who needs things to fall just right for him. But he has won at least once in every season so far (and the 2008 season is already in the bag with a repeat-success in Kemptons Magnolia Stakes, where, for good measure, Kandidate smashed the course record for 10f), from 8-10 furlongs, and must rate a huge public favourite. He certainly is one of our most favourite flat-horses in training and fills the gap that Warrsans sad demise left. We hope he will be around for many more seasons to come!
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