Winning the Grand National three years ago with a patched-up Paul Nicholls reject called Silver Birch was a marker well and truly laid down but, putting the subsequent Cheltenham and Galway successes to one side, as well as his recent domination of racing at Perth, Dirar’s success at York was the clincher.
Dirar had warmed up for the Galway Plate with victory in a little handicap at Ayr and, after an excellent showing when third to Overturn at Ballybrit, he was aimed at the Ebor. With Wayne Lordan unavailable, Jamie Spencer got the call and Dirar earned his place in racing history.
Elliott was back with four horses at Perth again yesterday. Beforehand, his strike rate at the course was a quite amazing 51 winners from 173 runners. If the Perth raids have provided the staple diet as he climbed the ladder, Aintree, Cheltenham, Galway and now York have added the caviar.
Elliott wants to train in Britain and it must surely now be a matter of deciding on the best offer. If anyone thought Silver Birch was a one-off fluke for a rookie trainer, they must surely now acknowledge that this is the finest young prospect since Michael Dickinson.
BLAST FROM the PAST
A QUICK double-check confirmed that it is 31 years since my favourite racehorse, Sea Pigeon, landed the Ebor under Jonjo O’Neill in a ding-dong battle with Donegal Prince.
Margaret Thatcher had been in Downing Street for three months, Village People topped the charts and Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest were European champions. The race wasn’t televised as ITV crews were on strike and I remember listening in on the old “blower” service in a betting shop in Saltcoats.
The link between 1979 and 2010 is Philip Robinson, among the winners on the Knavesmire last week at 49 years young, and who was on his way to becoming champion apprentice for the first time when he rode Donegal Prince in the Pigeon’s Ebor.
Robinson’s winning ride on Yaa Wayl on Friday was welcome proof that the old “kick ’em in the belly and throw the kitchen sink at ’em” style of years gone by can be more effective than the circus acts who get beaten on horses which would have won if the jockeys stopped admiring themselves on the big screens and concentrated on riding.
HOLIDAY MONEY
I’VE hopefully uncovered a little gem lurking in the last, the 5.20, at Musselburgh today, a run-of-the-mill mile handicap for three-year-olds which was won last year by trainer Brian Ellison with 25/1 shot Lakeman.
Today, Ellison runs Royal Holiday, a winner second time out at Southwell last season and landed with a handicap mark of 72 which he clearly didn’t merit. Six further attempts since have seen him fail to trouble the judge and his latest run at Newcastle was off 55.
With the handicapper having relented to a surely feasible mark of 52, Ellison has employed the bang- in-form David Allan for the ride and declared a pair of blinkers for the first time. Royal Holiday won’t be 25/1 like Lakeman but he won’t be favourite either so, be patient, wait for the last and hopefully collect.
WELL WORTH IT
I SAW more than enough from Motherwell at Odense midweek to believe they can reach Friday’s Europa League draw and, amazingly – to my mind anyway – we can back them at 6/5 to win this week’s return leg.
That price covers not only them winning and qualifying, but also them winning and going out and, after a week when York banker Sariska auditioned for a cigar advert and a 100/1 shot came from nowhere to win the Nunthorpe, a 120% return on a footy match looks enticing.
