Platinum and The Fugue fly flag for Yorkshire

PHIL Kirby, the rising star of the Yorkshire training ranks, took his burgeoning career to new heights when bargain-buy Platinum lived up to his name by landing the prestigious Old Borough Cup at Haydock.
Russ Kennemore celebrates as he rides Platinum to victoryRuss Kennemore celebrates as he rides Platinum to victory
Russ Kennemore celebrates as he rides Platinum to victory

Newmarket’s Cesarewitch, one of the most prestigious and historic autumn handicaps for stayers, beckons after this six-year-old recorded his fourth victory from 12 starts after Middleham-based Kirby bought the horse for £2,000 as a Christmas present for his equine artist wife Philippa.

This win came on a day which will always be remembered for the commanding manner in which Yorkshire Oaks heroine The Fugue beat the colts in the Red Mills Irish Champion Stakes without coming off the bridle, even though the rain-softened ground was less than ideal.

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Owned and bred by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and his wife Madeleine, the York course specialist outbattled triple Group One winner Al Kazeem, who appears to have lost the spark that he showed in high summer.

This fairytale win vindicated the faith of trainer John Gosden and jockey William Buick, who both paced the Leopardstown track repeatedly before giving The Fugue the all-clear to run.

The rain even saw Lady Lloyd Webber consider not flying to Ireland for this 10-furlong championship. “I’m speechless. It’s really exciting to have a world-class filly. It is like a dream. I didn’t expect to reverse the Al Kazeem form, he’d beaten us twice this year,” she said.

Within minutes of the race finishing, the rain was so torrential that The Fugue would probably have been withdrawn.

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Unlucky in last year’s Oaks and Breeders’ Cup, an elated Buick said: “She’s now one of the greats. I’m so glad she is getting the rub of the green. She’s beaten arguably the best middle distance horses that are around and I’m so lucky to ride her.”

Another tilt at the Breeders’ Cup in the USA beckons for the four-year-old, who came to prominence when winning York’s Musidora Stakes last year.

“It shows the Yorkshire Oaks form was not a fluke,” said Gosden, who did not rule his stable star out of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – Europe’s richest race – if the ground is good or quicker at Longchamp in early October.

This is the elevated level that Kirby, like every young trainer, wants to aspire to. A moderate jockey in his time – he says of his association with Ferdy Murphy: “I rode a winner on my first ride and it went downhill from there” – he spent time working as a farrier before becoming champion point-to-point trainer in 2007.

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Yet his career has gathered a momentum of his own since he took over the training operation at Kate Walton’s Sharp Hill Farm Stables on New Year’s Day, a week after his unforgettable gift to his wife, and this was the yard’s 26th Flat winner in 2013.

Kirby, the son of a greyhound trainer, was at a loss to explain how he had transformed Platinum, a modest hurdler with Rebecca Curtis, into a doughty stayer who had the class to win this £40,000 prize – 20 times his purchase prize – by a length-and- a-quarter under Russ Kennemore.

“I couldn’t find an owner for him, so I gave him to Pippa as a Christmas present,” explained Kirby, 34, who grew up at Castleton on the North York Moors.

“He was a cheap buy but has always had ability. It has just taken him a while to find his feet.

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“If you look back through the quotes, they’ve said he’s been hard to train, but we’ve never had a minute’s problem since he arrived.

“He’s always been for sale, but he’s a bit dearer now! He’s in the Cesarewitch and he’ll probably take his chance. He was bought to go hurdling, so he’ll be doing that at some stage.”

Another dual-purpose Yorkshire trainer enjoying a landmark victory at the Merseyside track was Malton-based Brian Ellison, 61, who has decades of experience on contrast to Kirby.

Top Notch Tonto’s 22-1 surprise win in the Betfred.com Superior Mile was the first Group win in Ellison’s career; he normally specialises in handicaps like the 2011 Ebor that he won with Moyenne Corniche.

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Fittingly, Ebor-winning jockey Dale Swift was aboard Top Notch Tonto who is now ante-posted favourite for the Betfred Cambridgeshire, one of the big autumn handicaps.

“After the way he’s won today, he’d look well-in. That would be very ground-dependent, though. He does want plenty of cut in the ground,” said Ellison, who trained his first winner in 1989.

“He’s such a happy horse. We had an open day at Malton and everybody wanted to see him because he’s so flashy.

“Dale has worked for me for a long time since he was a 7lb claimer. He’s very underrated.”

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Asked what took him so long to achieve a win at this level, Ellison joked: “Jockeys.”

The Group One Betfred Sprint Cup went to the Irish raider Gordon Lord Byron, who came to prominence at York last year.

He enjoyed a smooth passage under jockey-cum-trainer Johnny Murtagh, who stepped in for the ride when Ryan Moore, originally booked by trainer Tom Hogan, switched to Richard Fahey’s Garswood.