SIR IVOR

OWNER - R R Guest

TRAINER - Vincent O'Brien

JOCKEY - Lester Piggott

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS - 2000 Guineas, Derby, Champion Stakes, Washington DC International

Sir Ivor was the first Epsom Derby winner to race in the USA since Papyrus in 1923. He duly won the Washington International, but the race did little for harmony in transatlantic racing relations, for Lester Piggott's handling of the colt provoked a bemused American press into heaping criticism on his apparently indifferent head. The controversy still goes on. Was this one of Piggott's finest hours, riding his horse with such supreme confidence that he was able to win despite encountering traffic problems at a crucial stage of the race? Or was he so inept that Sir Ivor was nearly beaten unnecessarily?

Owned by Raymond Guest and trained in Ireland by Vincent O'Brien, Sir Ivor came to Laurel Park as probably the best European challenger there had yet been for the Washington International. He had won three of his four races as a two-year-old, including the Grand Criterium at Longchamp, and as a three-year-old had taken the Two Thousand Guineas Trial at Ascot before beating Petingo and ]immy Reppin in the Two Thousand Guineas itself and then producing a telling burst of speed to win the Derby from Connaught. Defeated in his next four races the Irish Derby, the Eclipse, the Prix Henry Delamarre and the Arc - he returned to winning ways at the end of the season when cruising home in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket.

Despite those defeats his form was of the highest order, and he was favourite for the International, his odds of 19-10 at the off being slightly shorter than those of the American horse Czar Alexander. Fort Marcy, who had won the race in 1967, was third favourite in a field whose eight runners bore witness to a truly international contest. Apart from the two Americans and Sir Ivor from Ireland, from France came Carmar­then, third in the Arc, La Lagune, winner of the Oaks, and Petrone, facile winner of the Prix Henri Fay; from Argentina, Azincourt ll; and from]apan, Takeshiba-O. After days of heavy rain and snow the going on the grass track at Laurel Park was soft, conditions very much against Sir Ivor. Although he had won the Derby, plenty of people were still convinced that he did not truly stay a mile and a half and that Piggott's sensitive handling of him at Epsom, producing him at the very last moment, had masked this lack of stamina. Soft ground would put stamina at a premium over the twelve furlongs, and doubts about Sir Ivor getting the trip contributed to Piggott's tactics.

Takeshiba-O made the early pace followed by the two American horses Czar Alexander and Fort Marcy, while Piggott was content to keep Sir Ivor well covered up at the back of the field with La Lagune. This order was maintained as the runners came past the stands and started to make their way along the back stretch, and with half a mile to go the field was tightly bunched. Coming round the final turn Takeshiba-O dropped away rapidly and was soon in last place, with Petrone and Azincourt likewise back-pedalling. Sir Ivor came smoothly round the retreating horses to take third place on the rails behind Czar Alexander, with Fort Marcy on the outside. For a moment Fort Marcy grabbed the lead, then Czar Alexander took it back. Carmarthen was a close fourth, and as he made his challenge he completed the box around Sir Ivor. Now they were in the home stretch, and Sir Ivor seemed hopelessly hemmed in as the American horses pushed for the line. Then, as they came inside the final furlong, Piggott got the break he needed. Carmarthen drifted to the the centre of the course, Fort Marcy ducked in towards the rail, and a gap had appeared. With one brief spurt of acceleration Sir Ivor was through it. Under the whip, he spurted past Czar Alexander shortly before the line and went a length up before Piggott, the race won, dropped his hands. At the line Sir Ivor had won by three quarters of a length.

This had been Sir Ivor at his brilliant best, striking with one deadly burst of speed. But the American press, used to seeing horses flat out from the start and going at it hammer and tongs, were not in tune to the subtleties of Piggott's unleashing that burst, and the criticism started.

What really matters is not how the horse won, but that he did win, and that in doing so he ended his racecourse career displaying that sparkling but short-lived turn of foot for which he will long be remembered.