Yeats

He was in the Star-Section, but clearly has to have his own chapter now!:

Yeats at Longchamp, not his most favourite hunting-ground until the Prix Royal Oak 2008 came along
Photo: Jimmy Clark

A hard-trying stayer, especially if competing at a certain level and being allowed to hang around long enough, never fails to capture the peoples imagination. Think about Brown Jack, Ardross, Double Trigger or Persian Punch, huge public favourites all. Yeats (*23/04/01, by Sadlers Wells-Lyndonville (Top Ville)) certainly fits well into that group, and if succeeding in his bid to win a fourth Ascot Gold Cup in 2009, might reach even greater heights. Its horses like him we come racing for, and horses like him who make it so important to actually BE at the races, as no television picture can capture his presence, his character, his grace, his beauty, his will to win, simply his wonderful attitude towards the game. It´s horses like him who show how much we can gain if handling them tender in younger years, and how much joy an older, especially an older horse, does bring to fans and connections alike. True, Yeats is bred in the purple, and was from day One in the hands of a wizzard trainer, but he still had to go there, do it, and on the way overcome serious injury and more than the odd losing battle.
Yeats raced only once as a 2-year-old, and won, and was many peoples idea of Ballydoyles next Epsom Derby hero, but fate had other things in hand for him. An untimely injury curtailed his 3-year-old season after three runs (2 wins) in may and it was not until june in his 4-year-old season that Aidan o´Brien was able to run him again - and it certainly was no mean feat to win the Coronation Cup, beating the classy Alkaseed who would go on and take the Japan Cup later that year, after such a lay-off. This sparkled hopes Yeats could not fulfill in 2005 (in fact this would be his worst season ever), but it was all worth the wait when Yeats won his first Ascot Gold Cup on his first run in 2006. A fine season with two more wins earned him a trip to the Melbourne Cup, where he ran quite well in 7th - not beaten far - but without ever threating to win. A good break after ensured Yeats would be back for more, and since 2007 he has been invincible on the both sides of the irish sea, and two more Ascot Gold Cups and another Goodwood Cup was his for the taking. His two sole losses since the Melbourne Cup have come in the Prix Du Cadran at Longchamp, and it was pure emotions among his many fans to see him score in style at that venue when he took the Prix Royal Oak, the french St.Leger, in great style under a masterful ride in oct 08.
Tenderly handled, Yeats is seven now and only had 24 races so far, of which he won 15, and it was the news we all waited for when it was announced that he would stay in training as a 8-year-old. Yeats is all class and heart, and you simply cannot afford to miss him next year. Who needs young superstars that race only a couple of times when old friends run like him?
Update june 2009: Yeats clearly is immortal now - what was a distant dream when I wrote the lines above became glorious reality on a sunlit afternoon at Royal Ascot, june 18th 2009. In a race that had left Aidan o´Brien nervous and under pressure as hardly ever before, Yeats, under an aggressive and masterful ride by Johnny Murtagh managed to create history when becoming the first horse - ever!- to win FOUR GOLD CUPS! Yeats came out of the race bouncing and an ambitious 2009 campaign, his last year in training, is planed, that might well culminate in another trip to Longchamp on that first sunday in october, but in an altogether more prestigious race. Great stayers like Ardross, Levmoss and Westerner turned up for the Arc, and even though they may have failed to win, our admiration and repect became even deeper after that. Whatever happens, lets just hope for more magic moments in 2009!

Letters (from www.racingpost.co.uk):

A pair of staying heroes to remember forever
23 JUNE 2009

ROYAL ASCOT 2009 will forever be remembered for Yeats's historic fourth Gold Cup, and rightly so.

While 'history' is usually thought of as something that happened a long time ago, it is humbling to see it unfold in front of our eyes - and somehow difficult to gauge. As Aidan O'Brien said: "History is so very hard to change and fairytales don't normally come true." How lucky we were that Yeats's team believed in the impossible and allowed him to fulfil his destiny to become a true racing great.

But, while it may seem strange to name another Royal Ascot winner in the same breath as Yeats, he, too, made history. Caracciola became the oldest Royal Ascot winner when, aged 12, he ran away - ears pricked, legs seemingly of one half his age - with the Queen Alexandra Stakes, and to see these old warriors compete, still so much in love with racing, is what it is all about.

Incidentally, it was a 15th career success for both, even though Caracciola contested a fair number of races more.

It is a great feat to keep a racehorse not only fit, but sweet and still eager to do it at such a level for such a long time - and we must not forget Caracciola became the oldest winner of the Cesarewich last season, as well as the oldest stakes winner when taking a Listed contest on his last start before Ascot.

One cannot praise highly enough O'Brien andNicky Henderson, and their teams performed miracles. A mere thank you does not seem enough to express the gratitude we, the racing public, have for being able to enjoy them for such a long time.

I remember Caracciola from his first steps on German racetracks, now nearly ten years ago. It is heartwarming to see horses not being ruined by an excessive two-year-old career - both ran only once in their first season - but being campaigned with far more in mind.

The marvellous sight of Yeats running away with the Gold Cup - the dark, powerful, muscular athlete that he is - and Caracciola - much leaner, but little ears forward, striding clear of opponents half his age and less and making light of the gruelling two-and-three-quarter miles - will stay with us forever.

Catrin Nack Hamburg

from www.herald.ie:

What a jockey. What a trainer. What a horse. There was simply no underestimating the history witnessed at Royal Ascot yesterday afternoon as Yeats cruised into racing folklore, into the hearts of the racing public and onto the front pages as he became the greatest stayer ever witnessed on the flat.


Question marks were raised on the back of his Navan run, which was a well-below-par effort on his seasonal bow, but Yeats just arrived at Ascot and did what everyone around him hoped, and partly expected, he would do. He eclipsed his rivals, leaving them for dead to claim a fourth consecutive Ascot Gold Cup, and became the first horse to do so.

No matter how much team Ballydoyle expected success or how patriotic any punter was, nobody in their wildest dreams could have expected Yeats to be quite as impressive as he was.

There was little pace early on, but it would have taken almost a biblical act from the man above to stop this great horse as he went on for a historic three-and-a-half length success.

Arkle, Red Rum, Istabraq and Moscow Flyer. They were all horses that even the non-educated in racing can relate to. Yeats yesterday added his name to that illustrious list, but the difference is that he is the only flat recruit among them -- and what a credit he is to the flat code.

Beforehand, Johnny Murtagh described him as the Muhammad Ali of horseracing, and Johnny Murtagh was able to speak on his behalf and say Yeats was the greatest, and who can argue.

It was almost unbelievable to see Murtagh kick for home so soon, a good three-and-a-half furlongs out, but Yeats responded with every urging, gradually moving through the gears that five years ago made him a Derby favourite. And try as he did, Patkai just couldn't get within an ass's roar of the champion.

There are those with a jealous tone to their twang that often criticise Aidan O'Brien's success. They say that his ability to churn out winners is to do with his backing from Coolmore and the fact that he has the very best in equine talent at his disposal.

Not that he needed to, but yesterday proved Aidan O'Brien's masterful talent for training horses, as he helped Yeats to become the first horse in two lifetimes to win the Ascot Gold Cup at eight, and the first ever to win four of them.

Top-quality flat horses just don't stay around. The pastures of stud call loudly in their third or fourth year, and while those pastures almost loomed last year, utmost credit must be given to connections of Yeats who took their chance, returned to the scene of the crime, but got their reward and returned unscathed. Future targets for Yeats will not be discussed for now -- they don't have to be. Regardless of what he does in the future, the legend of Yeats will live on for many, many moons to come.

Mention Yeats, and poet William Butler comes to most people's minds. But mention Yeats today, and Royal Ascot, the Gold Cup, and Aidan O'Brien would now figure for many. Both of these Yeats have mapped their way in history, and if William Butler wrote the story of his thoroughbred namesake it would almost be put down as too far-fetched. But far from it.

Often a shy and retiring figure in front of hoards of press after a big race win, Aidan O'Brien's post-race reaction flowed as fluent as ever as he summed up his thoughts following Yeats' incredible victory.

"Unbelievable is all I can say," began O'Brien. "I have been sick all morning, I really believed this couldn't happen -- history is hard to change. I knew we had a wonderful horse, but usually fairytales don't come true."

O'Brien has been in a similar position before when Istabraq returned to Cheltenham to try to claim a fourth Champion Hurdle. That didn't go according to plan and many feared a similar nightmare yesterday, but thankfully for O'Brien that didn't transpire.

The master of Ballydoyle continued: "He's an unbelievable horse and we knew there would never be another one of him. How Johnny could ride him with such pressure on his shoulders and the way he handled it, and the way he rode it, was something else. I couldn't believe it.

"I've never felt this much pressure before a race, not since Istabraq and I remember the way things can happen."

Put in as a 5/2 chance when betting opened yesterday morning, the money just never stopped coming for Yeats throughout the day and his win marked an absolute hammering for the bookmakers.

O'Brien summed up the efforts by stating: "Horses like Yeats only come along once in a lifetime. He is one of the special ones. It's more than money or value, it is really, really special."

For Johnny Murtagh, it was one of his most memorable days in the saddle. "Muhammad Ali told everyone he was greatest, and he was. Yeats has shown everyone today that he is the ultimate heavyweight champion."

Murtagh added: "I had no doubts. After Navan, I looked at Aidan and said 'Jesus, Aidan', and he just said to me, 'He'll be grand for Ascot', and he was dead right.

"We kept saying the ground was too soft at Navan, but nobody believed us and people tried to pick holes in him. He loves fast ground, he loves Ascot and he comes alive here.

"This is one of the greatest days of my riding career and the feeling I had coming past the line for the horse alone was incredible. I have had a good week, but for the horse to win four Ascot Gold Cups is fantastic and the crowd turned out in force to see him -- and he didn't disappoint."

He surely didn't.

It was history in the making, unprecedented and superb for racing, the likes of which will never be seen again.

Unless he goes for five of course...

- Niall Cronin

YEATS on Famous Racehorses

Yeats @ Goodwood, 2008:
photo by Daniel Krüger

Farewell to a Champion

The Prix Du Cadran on Arc-Day was chosen as Yeats´ farewell from racing, a fitting stage for one of the greatest Stayers ever, although a slightly unlucky one as well. The Cadran did not seem to bring the best out of Yeats over the years, and he was denied a fairytale ending in 2009 as well but left the racing stage with his held high: Paraded first with a specially designed rug and then in front of an adoring crowd with this pacemaker Windsor Palace, Yeats clearly rose to the occasion and left his lacklustre Irish St. Leger run way behind him. Animated by the cheers and wellwhishes before the race he understood that this race meant business and he, once again, gave his all, even though it wasnt enough on the day. Yeats fought vainly for an excellent 3rd spot and wasn´t far away at the line, and we cheered him home, all the way. The King of Stayers has left his stage to rule a new kingdom at Coolmore Stud, and we will be looking out for his sons and daughters to show some of the determination, power and grace that he showed in seven wonderful seasons in training.



His farewell-rug
(photo: Rosie Cross, with many thanks)

Near, but far - towards the finishing line for one last time:

galopping home - pleased with himself; and it even says "Champ" on his saddlecloth :)

Watch History beeing made - taken from youtube.com - RIP Veracity

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