Dermot Weld tries to rekindle the best in The Grey Gatsby
Hambleton’s Kevin Ryan trained the middle distance horse, now six, to win the 2014 French Derby – the Prix du Jockey Club – before beating Epsom Derby winner Australia in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown under an inspired Ryan Moore.
That victory in September 2014 was the horse’s last triumph, though The Grey Gatsby was desperately unlucky when beaten by the Weld-trained Free Eagle in a thrilling finish to the 2015 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.
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Hide AdIn total the horse has earned owner Frank Gillespie, a North West builder and developer, more than £2.7m in win and place prize-money.
Weld said: “He has been a grand horse and perhaps he has been unlucky a few times.
“We beat him by a short-head one day in Royal Ascot with Free Eagle and sometimes the ground didn’t go his way. He just needs a bit of luck.
“The Grey Gatsby’s owner had two-year-old filly Tilly Trotter in training with us last year and she won twice.
“That’s how The Grey Gatsby came to me and, to be fair, he arrived in great condition. I have no definite plans – we’ll see how he settles in.”