Emotional Ebor win as Sir Henry’s words pay dividends

“The great Sir Henry told me last Christmas that this was an Ebor horse,” said Scarborough-born Henry Ponsonby, who formed a syndicate of 12 racing enthusiasts, including rugby union international Ben Kay’s mother, to buy Tiger Cliff.

“He said the same again in the Spring. Just before Royal Ascot, he reminded me that you can’t then do both the Northumberland Plate and the Ebor in the same season. His last words to me were ‘tread very carefully’.

“We have. Mind, I’ve had to educate one or two of my owners who were eyeing up pound signs, but he would be very proud of us.”

The complexion of this year’s race, the signature race of the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival, changed on Thursday night when the Knavesmire, and its then lightning-quick ground that played to the strengths of The Fugue in the Yorkshire Oaks, was hit by an unexpected thunderstorm.

By then, soft ground specialists like William Haggas’s well-fancied Harris Tweed and Jonjo O’Neill’s Well Sharp, who beat Tiger Cliff at Royal Ascot seven days after Sir Henry succumbed to cancer, had already been withdrawn because of the 48-hour declaration rule.

More torrential rain in the early hours of Saturday saw the ground description change to soft and prompt six withdrawals, meaning just 14 runners went to post for this iconic one-mile, six-furlong race.

There was further drama at the start when Sir Michael Stoute’s Opinion was very slow out of the stalls as Highland Castle set a strong early pace, with the market leaders in rear.

As the pace quickened, the strong-travelling Genzy appeared the most likely winner halfway up the home straight with Number Theory in close pursuit.

Yet, while the gaps did not open for the likes of the Haggas-trained Guarantee, Tiger Cliff did enjoy a fortuitous clear passage as the four-year-old swooped late under the shadow of the packed stands to prevail by half-a-length from Genzy and Number Theory, with the favourite, Ted Veale, back in fourth. Mark Johnston’s Oriental Fox was the best of the Yorkshire-trained runners in fifth.

The immediate response was slightly mixed; Jonjo O’Neill will have rued the decision not to run Well Sharp while the aforementioned Haggas immediately nominated Newmarket’s Cesarewitch for Guarantee in October – the extra half-mile should be ideal.

The Skipton-born trainer received some consolation afterwards when he learned that his father Brian’s Harris Tweed had prevailed at Goodwood. The downside was the Ebor was this horse’s priority and 2013 could have been his best chance.

Then the racing fraternity appreciated the significance of Tiger Cliff’s victory.

This is a fragile horse which was nursed by the ailing Sir Henry before the training licence at Warren Place was passed to his widow, Lady Jane Cecil, the sister of Wetherby trainer Richard Guest.

She was not at York to celebrate the most notable win of her brief career as a licenced trainer and also feel the heartfelt warmth of the reception afforded to Tiger Cliff as he was led into the winner’s enclosure by the aforementioned Ponsonby, who was sporting a large white rose – another favourite of Sir Henry, who was such an astute gardener when not training or presiding over his stud at Helmsley.

“I’m very emotional. I know Sir Henry would have loved this,” said Ponsonby. “He wasn’t a Yorkshireman but he really loved Yorkshire. I think he had something to do with the taps being turned on and altering the going to such an extent. I thought we were going to be in the money, but that we weren’t going to win.”

Much of the credit must go to the Cecil yard’s loyal assistant trainer, Mike Marshall, who has tended to Tiger Cliff’s niggles and not over-exerted the horse on the gallops.

Though the gelding will, in time, switch to a hurdling career with Alan King, this was only the horse’s seventh start because of his fragile legs and uncertainty still surrounds the future of Warren Place stables where stable staff are working tirelessly to honour Sir Henry’s legacy by overseeing the training of 100 horses.

“It hasn’t been easy. He’s not a straight-forward horse,” said Marshall, one of Flat racing’s unsung heroes who prefers to stay out of the limelight by looking after the horses at home.

“This is so special because Sir Henry loved York and the people loved Henry. All our owners have been very kind and supportive and given us a chance – all we can do is carry on.”

Fifteen years after Tuning won Sir Henry’s last Ebor under Kieren Fallon, Tiger Cliff’s win ended a memorable week which will long be remembered for Declaration Of War’s tenaciousness in the Juddmonte; The Fugue’s electrifying Yorkshire Oaks wins; veteran jockey Steve Drowne’s comeback win in the Nunthorpe on rank outsider Jwala and the emergence of new Yorkshire champions like Kevin Ryan’s Gimcrack winner Astaire.

As for the crowds, the four-day festival – now in its third year – attracted 81,533 racegoers. Though attendances on both Friday and Saturday were significantly up on last year, the overall number was down by 9,807 and can be attributed to the ‘once in a lifetime’ crowds that flocked to see Frankel 12 months ago.

York’s executive is conscious that it will take time for the four-day meeting to become established.

For, as an ailing Sir Henry Cecil made painstakingly clear to Henry Ponsonby when plotting Tiger Cliff’s Ebor win, patience is a virtue.