Admiral rules under Egan
John Egan may have missed his breakfast but he showed he still had the stomach for a big-race winner when making all aboard 28-1 outsider Admiral to take the totesport Chester Cup.
Keen to partner a horse he thought might have a squeak, Egan wasted away to put up just 1lb overweight at 8st 1lb on the winner.
He might have been lacking in pounds but Egan was missing nothing in guile as he rode his rivals to sleep in one of Flat racing’s most celebrated prizes, beating Vinando (7-1) and Greenwich Meantime (11-2) by a length and a quarter and a head.
Dictating a pedestrian early pace for the first circuit, his 16 rivals inexplicably allowed him all the leeway he needed to kick for home five furlongs out and build up an advantage that was held all the way to the winning post.
But Admiral’s victory did not go entirely without hitch as the gelding had to be reshod before the race after losing part of the filling material in one of his often-troublesome hind feet.
“A piece fell out of his foot coming out of the paddock and he has got very brittle feet but he was calm when the farrier was seeing to him,” explained Egan.
“When I got him out in front he was loving it and I think he could have gone around again.
“I wanted the rail and it was the plan to make the running as once you get in front around here you can just jog round.
“I knew half a mile out that I still had plenty left but it is easy when you are riding something like this. I thought that if I could get to the five-pole and still just be creeping then they would have a job to get past me.
“He thought he was just out for a hack he was going so easy. It’s fantastic.”
Egan admitted to skipping breakfast in his bid to draw the correct weight for the race.
“It’s easier for me than some of the other lads but I have been in the sauna all day to only put up 1lb over,” he said. “You won’t hear me complaining now though!”
Tim Pitt, who only took out his training licence last November, has made a sensational start to his career with the exploits of this horse and sprinter Les Arcs.
Pitt’s yard in South Yorkshire is owned by Admiral’s part-owner, football agent Willie McKay.
“It was a great ride by John as he has battled all week to get down to eight stone and he has given him a superb ride,” said Pitt, who formerly assisted John Gosden, Peter Chapple-Hyam and Gerard Butler among others.
“He has awful feet. He’s got more filler in his feet than he has foot and we took a tiny little bit off in the saddling boxes, but by the time he had got to the start his shoe had come off. But he’s not bad for a horse with three legs and no feet is he?
“Willie deserves a lot of credit as he lets me get on with things and hopefully this is the start of things to come.”
McKay, who had backed the winner at 33-1 to the tune of £2,000 each-way, said he had wanted to have more on.
“I tried to phone Mike Dillon (Ladbrokes’ public relations chief) but his phone was turned off,” he said.
Needless to say there was the usual share of hard-luck stories in behind the winner, but plenty of jockeys had only themselves to blame for their fast-finishing efforts.
Vinando took second for Frankie Dettori, while Greenwich Meantime finished third having had to come widest of all in the straight and Dancing Bay (20-1) kept on for fourth from the rear.
Vinando’s trainer Charles Egerton said: “It is slightly frustrating to finish second but he has run well.
“He is in no-man’s land in that he is not well handicapped. He is probably Listed class but he struggles in Group races but that was his best-ever run, it is just irritating to find one too good.
“I’ll consider the Queen Alexandra at Ascot for him or the Northumberland Plate. He would be better on a more galloping track.”
Richard Fahey was rueing his luck after seeing Greenwich Meantime forced to travel ide all the way round.
“He was unlucky – he was definitely the best horse in the race, the first two were drawn one and two and they walked round,” said the trainer.
“Our horse ran well but it just never happened. He’ll win the Northumberland Plate, won’t he?”
Dancing Bay’s rider Jamie Spencer also felt unfortunate to have been beaten.
“It would have been nice to get the Chester Cup – I was a bit unlucky,” he said.
“I was bang on the fence following Frankie but there just wasn’t enough pace. He’s a credit to Nicky Henderson, for a nine-year-old to come and run fourth in a big handicap like that.
“He’s run to his rating and hopefully he’ll be all right at Ascot over two miles and six furlongs in the Queen Alexandra. I’d love to ride him and if they get a bit of juice in the ground he’ll be a hard one to beat.”
Kerrin McEvoy was banned for two days (May 21 and 22) for careless riding aboard the sixth-placed Bulwark.
