Richard Fahey’s plaudits for Ryedale Group 1 star

Unbeaten in five races last year as a juvenile, the Richard Fahey-trained colt hit the heights by accumulating earnings of more than £500,000 and winning the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp, the first anniversary of which comes this Sunday at Longchamp.

Wootton Bassett, named in honour of the Wiltshire town which has become famous in recent years for military repatriations, was unable to maintain his first-season brilliance this term and, after failing to win in four races, all at Group 1 level, the decision has been made by Fahey and the horse’s owners to call it a day and provide him with the opportunity of passing on his talents to his future progeny.

Wootton Bassett, whose glorious juvenile campaign included jackpot victories in richly-endowed sales races at York and Doncaster, has run two creditable races this term.

He finished fifth, beaten less than four lengths in the French 2,000 Guineas over a mile in May, and fifth in the Prix Maurice De Gheest over seven furlongs in August.

“Things just haven’t worked out this year. He’s had a few little problems, but in general, he’s been disappointing,” said Fahey.

“After disappointing last time out at Haydock, I sat down with the owners and we decided that it would be in his best interests and try to get him a job covering mares. There has been interest in him, but nothing concrete has been decided yet.”

Fahey has nothing but good memories of Wootton Bassett, who joined his Musley Bank yard after being bought as a yearling for £46,000. He proved some bargain.

“To win two big sales races was great, but the highlight was winning the Group 1 in France. He was very genuine and a real trier and he went very fast very easily,” he said.

Paul Hanagan will remember him with equal affection. “He’s the best horse I’ve ever ridden and I really hope he has a good retirement,” said the champion jockey. “Horses like him don’t come around too often.”

• It’s jackpot time at Redcar on Saturday and local trainers are hoping to cash in by bagging a sizeable first prize, which last year amounted to £130,000 and gloriously fell to the Geoff Oldroyd-trained Ladies Are Forever.

The totepool Two-Year-Old Trophy, which carries Listed status, has attracted a massive 74 entries.

Ryedale trainers are responsible for quite a few of them. Among them are Tim Easterby, a past winner of this race, Richard Fahey, David O’Meara, Linda Stubbs, last year’s hero Geoff Oldroyd, and Ollie Pears, who has had this contest in mind for his recent winner Passionada for some time.

Pocklington owner-breeder Reg Bond, whose colours were carried to success 12 months ago, has a couple of irons in the fire this time. The Oldroyd-trained True Bond and the Bryan Smart-trained Bop It, a half-brother to Hoof It, and an exciting and well-regarded juvenile, in whom he owns a share. It’s going to be nail-biting stuff.

• Freddie Tylicki enjoyed a day to remember at Haydock last Saturday, winning two major handicaps –and also meeting Lester Piggott!

The legendary jockey, now 75, appeared at the Lancashire course to celebrate the annual race named in honour of his dazzling career, which started and ended at Haydock.

And Tylicki managed to clinch the contest aboard the Richard Fahey-trained Marine Commando, whose thrilling success in the five furlong handicap was achieved in a blanket finish of North Yorkshire horses.

Just a neck behind him in second was Tim Easterby’s Confessional, with Kevin Ryan’s Racy only a head behind in third, with Easterby also supplying fourth-placed Hazelrigg, who was just over a length further adrift.

“It’s not every day you receive the opportunity of meeting Lester Piggott,” said Tylicki, who had earlier snared the fillies’ handicap in another tight finish riding the David Nicholls-trained Askaud, who scrambled home by a short-head and half a length from Kenyan Cat and Antigua Sunrise.

Tylicki, champion apprentice of 2009, who missed much of last season after shattering his shoulder in a bad fall at Musselburgh, is enjoying a fine season. He is now on the 50-winner mark.

• Marine Commando was the middle leg of a sizzling 1,858-1 Haydock hat-trick on Saturday for Richard Fahey on an afternoon when the Malton trainer saddled four winners.

Also triumphant with Border Revia, the mount of Tony Hamilton, at Ripon, Fahey sandwiched Marine Commando’s success on the opposite side of the Pennines with wins from Valery Borzov – a 22nd winner of the campaign for crack 3lb claimer Lee Topliss – and Lexington Bay, whose valuable handicap victory was gained in the hands of another accomplished apprentice, Neil Farley, who is attached to Declan Carroll’s Sledmere yard.

Also on the mark the following day at Musselburgh with Fishforcompliments, Fahey, who has won more than £1.5 million in prize money this season, began this week on the threshold of 150 winners, a similar figure to that of Middleham colleague Mark Johnston and a tally which sees the pair duelling for second place behind Richard Hannon in the numerical table in Britain’s trainers’ table.

• If it’s Ripon, Tim Easterby can be guaranteed to be among the winners. And if it’s Ripon’s final meeting of 2011, which it was last Saturday, it was only right and fitting that the course’s most prolific scorer should share in the honours.

The Great Habton trainer sent out Jonny Lesters Hair to win the ten furlongs handicap under a most enterprising ride from David Allan, who kicked clear of his rivals rounding the home turn and poached a long lead.

“I thought he’d overdone it,”

admitted Peter Easterby, Tim’s legendary father and assistant. But Allan knew exactly what he was doing and Jonny Lesters Hair maintained his strong gallop all the way to the line to win, unchallenged, by five lengths.

“I suppose,” said Easterby snr, clearly fearful of what the handicapper might do now to Jonny Lesters Hair, “he’s going to get crucified for this!”

• Paul Midgley, whose upwardly mobile Internationaldebut completed a hat-trick of wins when scoring at Beverley early last week, is into the realms of setting a new career high.

The Westow trainer’s previous best score in a season was the 45 winners he sent out in 2009, but that tally has now been equalled and bettered – and still with no sign that his winners are set to dry up in the immediate future.

While Internationaldebut’s success in Beverley’s feature race supplemented his recent victories at York and Doncaster, to provide Midgley with his 45th win of the current campaign, he followed up with Another Wise Kid, another progressive sprinter, at Ripon on Saturday.

Plans for Internationaldebut, who has been a revelation in recent weeks, may now include the valuable Coral Sprint Trophy at York’s final meeting of the season next weekend, while future ambitions could also see the Ryedale gelding competing at the Dubai Festival in January.

• Patrick Holmes will always have a soft spot for Imperator Augustus, who provided him with his first winner as a trainer at Carlisle in the summer.

Peter Beaumont’s former assistant, now based at his former boss’ famous Foulrice Farm stables at Brandsby, had good reason to take an increased shine to Imperator Augustus after he had bounded home an easy winner at Musselburgh last Sunday.

The former Aidan O’Brien inmate has clearly appreciated his shift from County Tipperary to Ryedale and, judged on the style of his latest success, he can provide the highly experienced Holmes, who has had the best part of 40 years in racing, with further success.

• The jumps season is beginning to gather pace and Malcolm Jefferson plainly has his team in excellent heart.

The Norton trainer travelled to Perth last week and was rewarded for his long journey to Britain’s most northerly course by saddling a winner on each of the two days of the meeting.

Dougie Costello steered Quite The Man, described by Jefferson as “still a big baby”, to a winning debut over fences at 9-4, while Harry Haynes was in the saddle 24 hours later aboard The Panama Kid in a 25-1 success for Jefferson in the handicap chase.

It was Haynes’ first winner since suffering a bad bout of concussion in a heavy fall at Wetherby in April, an injury which relegated him to the sidelines until late-August.

Talking of jockeys on the sidelines, spare a thought for Ritchie McGrath, who came to grief at Market Rasen last Saturday when the Tim Easterby-trained Residence And Spa was badly hampered at the first flight in the juvenile hurdle.

McGrath suffered a broken jaw, having won a valuable Listed hurdle race earlier in the afternoon aboard 20-1 shot Rumble Of Thunder. A typical tale of racing’s dramatic ups and downs.